I used AI massively to build TrainUs.
Given my background (a computer science engineer) and my professional experience (I worked as a developer), I have the technical skills needed to build this kind of application. My problem was never skills, or even ideas for an app: I’ve always had plenty of ideas for personal projects. My problems have always been time and motivation.
Lastly, in my professional field, I need to learn how to use these kinds of tools, and doing so on personal projects allows for a lot more experimentation than at work. And let’s be honest, it’s also fun to try out these tools everyone’s talking about.
Time
A software project always takes more time than you think, and it often follows the Pareto principle: the first 80% of the project takes 20% of the time needed to do the whole thing, and the last 20% takes 80% of your time. That’s often why POCs (Proof of Concepts) take so little time: they never do that last 20% — which is often the least interesting part anyway.
Motivation
I already spend 8 hours a day in front of a screen, so I want to do something else with my free time. And while there’s real pleasure in fixing a bug that’s resisted you for hours, the code itself was never my goal: I’ve always been interested in the product behind it. I’m the lazy type when it comes to a product’s architecture, but uncompromising when it comes to tests and documentation.
Basically, I generally don’t feel like writing code, I feel like creating something useful (at least for me).
The AI
So, AI solves this equation.
For time, it can work on its own while I do something else (like my workout). Careful, though! It’s not always free either: it represents a mental load (at least at times, for me, since I’m still holding its hand a bit). Plus, it’s super efficient at handling the remaining 20%! Example: its CSS expertise lets it quickly fix small GUI glitches that would have taken you quite a while.
For motivation, it lets you refine your ideas and turn them into a product you can actually try out. The creating part stays on your side.
The fun
Okay, AI is a bit what everyone’s talking about right now. THE big ongoing revolution. The thing that’s going to change everything forever. So naturally, that makes you want to try it.
Sure, reviewing generated code isn’t exciting, and honestly I’ve done little of it. But sending a prompt and getting the new feature back within an hour max (TrainUs is still a small app) is genuinely pleasant. And once you know how to go about it, having it write complete documentation in several languages is, for a solo developer with very little free time, pretty impressive.
Well, it’s not perfect, but it’s still quite a tool! I haven’t fully explored it (if that’s even possible), but it’s super interesting, and yes, I do plan to keep using it.