Ask HN: What percentage of code do you still write by hand?

2 points | by aurareturn 15 hours ago

8 comments

  • civancza 1 hour ago
    1% probably? i use claude or gemini in Cursor or Warp. it's a game changer. Now i can focus on stuff like research, architecting, marketing etc.
  • johncoltrane 14 hours ago
    If you mean "without AI assistance", then 100%. But I use snippets and keyword-line-filename-etc. completion extensively, so… maybe 95%?
  • aurareturn 15 hours ago
    For me personally, I've gone from writing 100% in 2022 to 90% in 2023 to 60% in 2024.

    In the last 3-4 months, I probably write less than 5% of the code I ship.

    Something happened in the last 3-4 months. I guess it's a combination of models reaching an inflection point for agentic coding, cheaper tokens, and easier to access tools. The change for me was gradual at first then very sudden.

    I mainly write Typescript, Go, and SQL.

  • paulcole 2 hours ago
    0%.

    My job isn’t as a programmer though. I used to write scripts “by hand” to automate processes and do other things to help me in my job. I liked the outcome not the act of coding. I’m a self-taught coder and it was sometimes slow going.

    So it’s a no-brainer to me to hand it all over to AI.

    Instead of being limited by my technical ability, I’m limited by how well I understand and can explain our business.

  • KellyCriterion 15 hours ago
    around 20%

    I'm using Claude mainly, Gemini as Backup

  • ok_dad 15 hours ago
    100%
  • peach_mango 14 hours ago
    100% in c++ & rust