AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#1

Post by akmittal » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 4:42 PM UTC

I am a full stack developer with a full time job. I try to work on side projects like a lot of other developers.

In last ~10 years I have started 20+ projects and for each project spent anywhere between 2 weeks to 6 months. I have completed just 2 projects which were fairly short(~4 week). So recently when started some big side project, There was almost no chance of me completing it. I was just doing it for fun.

All this changed with AI code assistants. I picked a fairly big project which involved writing crawlers for multiple sites. There was no chance of me completing it, until I started using AI code assistant. It sped up the development by 5-10x(can I call myself 10x developer now?). Completed the project in ~3 weeks.

Curious if others were able to do the same.

(This is not an Advertisement for AI code assistants. These has their own problems. I have less confidence in my product, Code reviews are difficult and I have go and make sure all security best practices are handled.)

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#2

Post by recvonline » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 5:31 PM UTC

Same here! I built around 6 side projects this year! One literally in 1h which now serves my little community I living in (A fun side effects I got from this: Now I can see my ideas fully fleshed out, and realised that, a), most of these ideas are stupid and better solved by existing solutions , or b), that the code was never the problem but tweaking the UI or user facing part to really hone in the problem I am trying to solve!

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#3

Post by linesofcode » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 7:19 PM UTC

I’m practically alt-tabbing between projects at this point the iteration speed is so fast. Multi-tasking like an octopus man.

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#4

Post by pillefitz » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 8:41 PM UTC

Same here. While I'm excited to build quickly, I'm also trying to fathom the implications of it. If the marginal value of app development drops to zero, then what? I will neither take pride in the craftmanship of building using my own skills, nor benefit monetarily.

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#5

Post by is_true » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 8:44 PM UTC

How is your workflow?

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#6

Post by billylo » Sat, Dec 20, 2025, 11:59 PM UTC

Same here. Agents has allowed me to take on more experiments because the cost for testing ideas is now much much lower.

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#7

Post by al_borland » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 1:15 AM UTC

There were a few things that would have been projects that I was able to knock out quickly with AI. However, it didn’t feel like I made it, so it wasn’t as fulfilling as seeing the results of something I made myself.

I need to ask myself what the goal of these projects are. Am I just looking for the end result so I can use the thing that I need, but doesn’t yet exist? Or am I trying to occupy my time with something I enjoy, learn some things along the way, and have something I feel good about using at the end because I made it?

There is a lot of talk of the digital garden. A project you can work on and cultivate over time and putter around with. A hand built project feels like a garden, while AI feels more like factory farming.

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#8

Post by akmittal » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 1:44 AM UTC

is_true wrote: post #5

How is your workflow?

I am using Antigravity with claude sonnet/opus 4.5. I still try to write front end components to give it some personality, AI is using same design/animations for everyone

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#9

Post by muzani » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 2:08 PM UTC

al_borland wrote: post #7

There were a few things that would have been projects that I was able to knock out quickly with AI. However, it didn’t feel like I made it, so it wasn’t as fulfilling as seeing the results of something I made myself. I need to ask myself what the goal of these projects are. Am I just looking for the end result so I can use the thing that I need, but doesn’t yet exist? Or am I trying to occupy my time with something I…

I see it as a punching bag analogy. It's a strike. A repetitive strike. I try to make the strike shorter and stronger each time.

The last time I tried to make a goth girl dating sim, it took half a day. The next time, I hope it would take an hour to reach the same level. Or be a better simulation.

Is it pointless? Maybe. But like with strikes, I enjoy the power. AI might add some distance, but striking a punching bag with a club is still satisfying.

Re: AI Code assistants has made completing side projects so easy

#10

Post by bluestatistics » Tue, Dec 23, 2025, 6:18 PM UTC

recvonline wrote: post #2

Same here! I built around 6 side projects this year! One literally in 1h which now serves my little community I living in ( A fun side effects I got from this: Now I can see my ideas fully fleshed out, and realised that, a), most of these ideas are stupid and better solved by existing solutions , or b), that the code was never the problem but tweaking the UI or user facing part to really hone in the problem I am tryi…

what coding agents you are using?