Programming Is More Fun Than Ever
I have a few posts about testing AI workflows, like the workflow around the model, prompt approaches, pre-planning, building features with AI, and test plans before PRs. Different prompts, different commands, different strategies. This one is different. I want to talk about something simpler: programming became more fun than ever, at least for me.
Some programmers are passionate about creating things, even useless ones, just because they enjoy turning imagination into something real. I'm one of those. I always have ideas I want to test, even if I'll probably discard them later. Quick experiments. Curiosity runs. Things I build to see if the idea even makes sense.
But I also have ideas I want to build and keep improving, testing, and improving again. Pet projects. Eternal projects. Things I really care about and come back to over and over. This blog and Wise Drop are examples of that second type.
Before AI, both types of ideas cost time. A lot of time. I didn't always have enough patience to finish something knowing I might throw it away right after. The friction was real. Starting from scratch meant hours or days before I could even tell if an idea was worth keeping. That killed a lot of experiments before they started.
Now everything changed. I can create, test, adjust, discard, start again, discard again, and do it a thousand times. For a creator, that's amazing. The throwaway ideas became cheap. The pet projects became easier to evolve. Both feel lighter.
And I'm not glamorizing sloth or lazy work. It's the opposite. AI speed lets me care even more about details. Since the output is fast, I can guide agents to do exactly what I want, give good feedback, adjust, set rules and boundaries, and refine until it feels right. Less time fighting boilerplate, more time thinking about what actually matters.
Creating for fun is not a waste of time
Unfortunately, some people feel like they're wasting time when they build things just for testing or for fun. I have a different opinion. When something feels like a waste of time, it's usually because you don't see a benefit from that action, or at least not a long-term one.
Creating may not pay off in the short term, but it does in the long term. Creating is an action that makes the creative side of your brain work. A muscle grows when you exercise it. The same applies to your mind. If you stop only consuming and start forcing your brain to create new things, you make it stronger.
In the short term you may not notice a difference. But after weeks, your mind gets sharper. Before you realize it, you think more clearly, recognize patterns better, see opportunities other people don't, and get new ideas more often. It's not magic. It's practice.
Being a creator is a compound effect. Each project, each mistake, each adjustment is a brick of knowledge placed in your wall of wisdom. The experiments you discard still count. The pet projects you keep still count. Everything adds up, even when it doesn't feel like it in the moment.
Don't be just a consumer. Start building. Start turning your thoughts, even the simple ones, into real things. You won't regret it.