I always knew there could be a point where something in the software development industry would change so drastically, that I would either be in danger of becoming obsolete, or I would need to relearn how to build software.
I pushed back on AI for a good while, but it won. It is so tied into how we are building software as an industry that I had to take a deeper look.
It really came from a conversation with some friends. I realized I was behind. It felt as if everyone except for me was using AI in some way. Some way too much, in my opinion, and others more selectively.
I decided that I was already behind and needed to spend the time relearning how to make software in 2026.
My day job does have a Claude subscription, but it’s usually out of tokens by the time I get to it. So I decided to really dig into Codex. Partly because it’s free for the time being. I wanted to be able to use it as I wish, and then worry about the cost.
I like that Codex isn’t really an editor. At first I didn’t like the fact that it just made changes to my repo. But if you’re branch is clean, using git diff is a great way to see what it’s doing, and just discard or refactor what you don’t like. Years of code review turned out to be super helpful.
AI Process For Now
Turns out my standard flow for building software is a great fit for AI. I like to sit and think about the problem, sketch out some sort of design; classes, functions, I/O, etc… Then implement that design. Sometimes test first, sometimes just start hacking things if I’m unsure how things might work out.
So now, I do that same thing. But once I get to the implementation stage, I plug what I am trying to do into Codex. Since it has context of the project, and a smaller scope to think about, it usually has good results.
I’ve gotten better at telling it to build a plan so I can see what it’s choosing to do. Then alter and implement once I’m happy.
So for now, I keep a text file open all day just for prompts. I like to write them up in a text file and make sure it’s super specific before going to Codex.
I still can’t get anything to create an entire app by me telling it what to build. But going to a hack night Thursday and maybe I can learn that. (I haven’t been to a hack night in years.)