Using Claude Code makes you a worse developer, but a slightly better manager | Evgenii Pendragon<br>Like many other engineers in the field I have started using Claude Code to be more familiar with the tech and to keep up with the trends. I have used Claude Code in several personal projects at this point. The more I used Claude Code, the more I noticed that both my ability to write code by hand started to get rusty. Throughout my time working in those projects I have noticed that it became difficult to keep up with understanding of the entire project and the codebase, since I didn&rsquo;t write it. And because I have not been writing code while using Claude Code, I started to forget even the basic statements and structures of the language that I was using.<br>Why is that bad?#<br>Making Claude write all of the code leaves developers in a code reviewer seat. And to review code one needs to know how to code well in the first place. If I do not practice writing code, I start to lose the ability to evaluate the code well. This fact is further fueled by the desire to trust that the model knows how to code better than I do since it seems so &ldquo;intelligent&rdquo;. And I believe that this is a dangerous path, which could lead a lot of software engineers into becoming &ldquo;LLM babysitters&rdquo; instead of experts in the domain of building efficient applications accomplishing niche business needs.<br>It is very easy to embrace that AI will give you a solution at the click of a &ldquo;Submit&rdquo; button after you provided the prompt. The feeling of convenience and ease slowly creep in and lull you into a feeling that you are still &ldquo;engineering&rdquo;. But as time goes on, we see more and more examples of AI being ok at prototyping and &ldquo;one-shotting&rdquo; features, but not precise engineering. Engineering is a science. Prompting is an ever-evolving &ldquo;art form&rdquo;, which rarely yields the precisely expected result. At best the results could be described as &ldquo;good enough&rdquo;.<br>Managing Claude taught me how to be a better Team Lead#<br>On the positive side of working with Claude, I noticed that instructing Claude Code made me better at instructing and managing devs on my team. I felt as if I became more direct with my requests, especially when doing code reviews. It made me realize that I should approach managing my team with the same sense of ownership as I would my projects made with Claude. If I know what is good for the product, I can ask my team to implement it in the way that I best understand. I should provide as much context for the requests as possible to get the results that I expect. And I should talk about the code with my developers who work on different specific areas and know it well if I need more input on some decision making. I do the same things with Claude: I manage it, I provide context, I ask it questions about the code.<br>Relationships at the core of the culture#<br>Working with a team of devs is a lot more fulfilling and engaging than managing an AI agent. At the core of working with the developers lies the relational aspect. When I work with my team, I develop meaningful relationships with them that fuel our work. It is a place where professionalism and expertise meet with collaboration, passion, and care. My teammates care about the product and have a deep domain context and experience that is specific to the problem, and not generic. They provide meaningful feedback to implementation plans, and help with my blind spots - much better than any current LLM ever would - even Fable. They understand not only the local code context, but also a broader business and product context that is the impetus for all of the changes to the application in the first place. They are constantly on a lookout for improvement opportunities. And the care for their craft, the results that we deliver, the challenges that we overcome, and the victories that we achieve - all of that makes for fulfilling and purpose-driven work that no LLM will be able to simulate.<br>Working with Claude could be fun when you get near instant results and feedback. Working with a team of dedicated to their craft developers leads to much better results for the product that we are working on, for the team cohesion and chemistry, and for a deeper understanding of the end product. I&rsquo;ll take my team over AI any day of the week.