In 2021, I was grinding to hit a deadline. It was stressful. Multiple developers were working on the same parts of the codebase simultaneously, which meant constant merge conflicts that needed constant management. We took on a lot of tech debt and cut features just to ship. The result was a product no one was really happy with. The business was moving fast with limited developer resources, and we were on to the next project before we could clean up the mess.
I was unhappy with the quality of the work we were putting out despite the extra time and effort required to ship. I've always leaned toward reliability and maintainability. I understand the need to balance these tradeoffs based on business needs, but shipping janky code fast has never sat well with me. I was getting burned out on feature work and looking to pivot.
Luckily, I had a great manager who wanted to help. I joined our SRE subgroup and stepped away from features. One of the responsibilities of our small group was to handle all code review for the entire development team.
I spent the next two years diving into code review. I enforced standards, mentored developers, wrote code snippets to demonstrate what I was looking for, and paired when needed. I kept PRs moving because I didn't want the team blocked.
I started mentoring junior developers more formally and later took over leading a team of offshore developers working across the tech stack.
At this point it had been a while since I was really shipping my own code. I focused on planning, architecture, and delegation. I still personally reviewed code from about 30 developers. I was promoted to Associate Director of Engineering.
Soon after, the company (like many others at the time) began shrinking. Now the development team is quite small and I'm back in an IC role.
But things are different.
The Skills Transfer Directly
I still do all the planning and high level architecture. But now instead of delegating to a team, I'm delegating to Claude.
The experience I gained focusing primarily on code review for years has become invaluable. I'm constantly reviewing AI generated code. There is a strong correlation between communicating requirements to junior and mid level developers and doing the same with an AI assistant. Clear requirements, well defined scope, and strong architectural guidance matter just as much.
By leveraging tools like git worktrees, I'm able to work on multiple tasks simultaneously. I'm not writing every line of code. I'm directing, reviewing, and course correcting. That's management.
The Point
Real AI-driven development is more akin to a tech lead, staff engineer, or engineering manager role than traditional IC work. You're planning. You're reviewing. You're making architectural decisions. You're unblocking.
I used to think stepping away from code was a detour. Now it feels like preparation.
