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How I’m Using AI to Become a More Creative and Irreplaceable Developer
Introduction With the rise of AI technology, much of the code written today is now being generated by artificial intelligence. In 2024, 41% of code pushed to GitHub was generated by AI. By the end of 2025, that number is expected to exceed 90%. As a result, many developers are worried they will lose their jobs as more people adopt this emerging technology. The Problem I Noticed One problem I’ve noticed when using AI tools like large language models (e.g., ChatGPT) is that they provide quick and polished responses — sometimes too quick. This can make developers passive, relying on the tool to do all the thinking. Letting AI do most of the work dulls our creativity and weakens our critical thinking — two qualities that AI still lacks. AI is supposed to boost our creativity. But in reality, it can create a false impression: we feel productive because we’re building something, but it’s mostly the AI doing the hard work. Use AI to help you think like a Senior developer “You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.” — Jon Kabat-Zinn Whether we like it or not, AI is the most powerful tool we have today for building software — from generating boilerplate CRUD code, to setting up secure authentication systems, to designing architectural solutions for complex business problems. This leaves many developers wondering where they will fit in the future of software development. Micha Kaufman, CEO of Fiverr, offered an important perspective on how AI raises the bar for what’s considered “difficult”: “You must understand that what was once considered ‘easy tasks’ will no longer exist; what was considered ‘hard tasks’ will be the new easy, and what was considered ‘impossible tasks’ will be the new hard.” In other words, AI is shifting the level of difficulty upward. And we must adapt. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, even claimed: “AI will replace mid-level engineers soon.” That means junior to mid-level developers are the most at risk. What used to be a senior developer’s responsibility may soon become entry-level work. And what was once impossible — like building a full app in minutes — might become the new standard. This gives us a clear challenge: to continue growing into developers who can solve difficult, creative, and human-centered problems — ones that AI still can’t solve on its own. So here are the practical way how we can use AI to improve our creativity as developer 1 Define the Hard Problem in Your Own Words Instead of saying “Spring boot auth not working,” say: “In my current project, user sessions are being invalidated unexpectedly after login. What are all possible areas in a Spring Security + JWT setup that could cause this?” This helps you practice problem decomposition. AI can help by: Listing edge cases. Offering ways to debug or log the issue. Helping build mental models of how the system components interact. 2 Ask AI to Expand Your Options Before jumping to a solution, ask: “What are 5 different architectural solutions for handling large-scale job scheduling in Spring, and what are their trade-offs?” Or: “How do senior developers approach debugging a flaky integration issue?” This stimulates systems thinking, trade-off analysis, and creative solution design. 3 Use AI to Model “How a Senior Dev Would Think” Instead of asking for code, try: “How would a seasoned engineer approach designing a modular Spring Boot app to handle frequent requirement changes?” This lets AI surface strategies, heuristics, and patterns you can adopt and master. 4 Challenge Your Own Solutions You: “I’m thinking of using @Transactional with propagation REQUIRES_NEW for this flow.” Then ask AI: “What risks or hidden pitfalls does this approach have?” This simulates a senior peer-review, forcing you to see blind spots or optimize. 5 Simulate Real-World Design Discussions Ask: “Let’s simulate a design review for a multi-tenant SaaS app. You play the role of the skeptical architect, challenge my proposal.” You’ll strengthen your ability to defend ideas, think critically, and grow architecturally. 6 Learn Creative Patterns, Not Just Solutions Ask AI things like: “What lesser-known Spring features or patterns can lead to cleaner code?” “How do modern microservices teams achieve resilience beyond circuit breakers?” Now you’re expanding your creative toolset.
Introduction
With the rise of AI technology, much of the code written today is now being generated by artificial intelligence. In 2024, 41% of code pushed to GitHub was generated by AI. By the end of 2025, that number is expected to exceed 90%. As a result, many developers are worried they will lose their jobs as more people adopt this emerging technology.
The Problem I Noticed
One problem I’ve noticed when using AI tools like large language models (e.g., ChatGPT) is that they provide quick and polished responses — sometimes too quick. This can make developers passive, relying on the tool to do all the thinking. Letting AI do most of the work dulls our creativity and weakens our critical thinking — two qualities that AI still lacks.
AI is supposed to boost our creativity. But in reality, it can create a false impression: we feel productive because we’re building something, but it’s mostly the AI doing the hard work.
Use AI to help you think like a Senior developer
“You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.”
— Jon Kabat-Zinn
Whether we like it or not, AI is the most powerful tool we have today for building software — from generating boilerplate CRUD code, to setting up secure authentication systems, to designing architectural solutions for complex business problems.
This leaves many developers wondering where they will fit in the future of software development.
Micha Kaufman, CEO of Fiverr, offered an important perspective on how AI raises the bar for what’s considered “difficult”:
“You must understand that what was once considered ‘easy tasks’ will no longer exist; what was considered ‘hard tasks’ will be the new easy, and what was considered ‘impossible tasks’ will be the new hard.”
In other words, AI is shifting the level of difficulty upward. And we must adapt.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, even claimed:
“AI will replace mid-level engineers soon.”
That means junior to mid-level developers are the most at risk. What used to be a senior developer’s responsibility may soon become entry-level work. And what was once impossible — like building a full app in minutes — might become the new standard.
This gives us a clear challenge: to continue growing into developers who can solve difficult, creative, and human-centered problems — ones that AI still can’t solve on its own.
So here are the practical way how we can use AI to improve our creativity as developer
1 Define the Hard Problem in Your Own Words
Instead of saying “Spring boot auth not working,” say:
“In my current project, user sessions are being invalidated unexpectedly after login. What are all possible areas in a Spring Security + JWT setup that could cause this?”
This helps you practice problem decomposition. AI can help by:
Listing edge cases.
Offering ways to debug or log the issue.
Helping build mental models of how the system components interact.
2 Ask AI to Expand Your Options
Before jumping to a solution, ask:
“What are 5 different architectural solutions for handling large-scale job scheduling in Spring, and what are their trade-offs?”
Or:
“How do senior developers approach debugging a flaky integration issue?”
This stimulates systems thinking, trade-off analysis, and creative solution design.
3 Use AI to Model “How a Senior Dev Would Think”
Instead of asking for code, try:
“How would a seasoned engineer approach designing a modular Spring Boot app to handle frequent requirement changes?”
This lets AI surface strategies, heuristics, and patterns you can adopt and master.
4 Challenge Your Own Solutions
You: “I’m thinking of using @Transactional with propagation REQUIRES_NEW for this flow.”
Then ask AI:
“What risks or hidden pitfalls does this approach have?”
This simulates a senior peer-review, forcing you to see blind spots or optimize.
5 Simulate Real-World Design Discussions
Ask:
“Let’s simulate a design review for a multi-tenant SaaS app. You play the role of the skeptical architect, challenge my proposal.”
You’ll strengthen your ability to defend ideas, think critically, and grow architecturally.
6 Learn Creative Patterns, Not Just Solutions
Ask AI things like:
“What lesser-known Spring features or patterns can lead to cleaner code?”
“How do modern microservices teams achieve resilience beyond circuit breakers?”
Now you’re expanding your creative toolset.
