This essay is based on a conversation with Rahul Devikar, a 34-year-old senior software engineer at Microsoft who lives in the Seattle area. It has been edited for length and clarity.
I have been working as a software developer at Microsoft since 2018. Over the years, I’ve had a front-row seat to how AI has changed the way software is built.
One of the largest projects I’ve worked on is Microsoft 365 Agents SDK, an open source library for building AI agents. It was my first open source project at Microsoft and we took it from idea to public preview in just a few months.
Although projects like this require a lot of work, I haven’t experienced much of the AI fatigue that I’ve heard other engineers talking about. That’s because overall I think AI has made it much easier to implement projects.
However, AI comes with its own challenges. Sometimes an AI agent hallucinates, and it can be frustrating to figure out why. However, as long as you check what is created, in my opinion AI helps more than it hurts.
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The biggest AI time saver isn’t writing the first code
In my experience, it used to be much more common to work long hours just to meet a deadline. There were often concerns about whether we would complete a project on time. Now we can typically create the first version much faster and instead spend more time refining and improving it.
Some projects that once took about a month can now be completed in three or four days – or a week at most. By using a combination of internal tools like Copilot and external tools like Claude, we have many more opportunities to create proofs of concept, and AI has significantly accelerated development.
However, for larger product releases, the biggest time savings don’t come from writing the first code. They are due to changes made after the first version was created.
When you design something, show it to other people, and realize that certain things need to be improved, you have to go back and make those changes. For example, in 2020, this process would have taken another month or two. Nowadays it is often a matter of days or weeks.
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The biggest challenge is recognizing when the AI is wrong
Despite the advantages of AI tools, they are not perfect and can make mistakes.
I’ve seen AI agents hallucinate when asked to complete technical tasks. The biggest challenge isn’t that they’re hallucinating – it’s recognizing when they’ve hallucinated. If you don’t yet understand the task itself or don’t know what to expect, it can be difficult to tell when the AI has made a mistake. I have found that the better you recognize these errors, the more successful your use of AI is.
Overall, I think AI should be viewed as an assistant and not a replacement. As a user, you have context that AI doesn’t always have. One of my biggest concerns is that people will become too reliant on AI without developing the underlying knowledge themselves. I think this could lead to more “AI weaknesses”.
Now is the time to experiment with AI
I think there is a comparison between AI and the Internet. When the internet first came along, there was a lot of hype about it. Nowadays it is such a normal part of our lives that we can no longer imagine life without it.
I think AI is on a similar path. There’s a lot of excitement about it at the moment, but eventually it will just become part of everyday life. People today will no more think about the use of AI than they will about using the Internet.
That’s why I think it’s a good idea to experiment with AI tools and try vibe coding. If you have an idea, try to implement it. I think a lot of people would be surprised at how much they can accomplish.
When it comes to working with AI tools, I think it’s helpful to remember that you’re working with an AI, not a human. The tool may not understand what you are trying to say, even if another person would understand it.
Usually you have to describe your wishes in much more detail. I’ve found that it’s more effective to break a task into smaller steps rather than asking the AI to do everything at once. This approach tends to make the entire process much more efficient.
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I am skeptical that AI will replace software developers
Personally, I’m experimenting with AI tools like Agents365, Claude and GitHub Copilot to get more hands-on experience with the technology. For example, during tax season, I set up an agent to help me understand my taxes.
Despite the benefits of using AI that I have seen over my years at Microsoft, I am skeptical that it will lead to fewer software development jobs. Although layoffs have occurred in the tech sector in recent years, this is not the first time layoffs have occurred in the industry.
I’m sure AI played a role in some of the layoffs, but I also think that engineers who continually learn new technologies will be in a much better position in the future. Software engineering has always required constant learning, and I don’t think that will change. I think it will create more opportunities for new product development, and at the end of the day engineers will still be needed to design and develop them.
AI can recommend different approaches or generate code, but it is still up to engineers to decide which technologies to use and how to build the product.
Do you have a story to share about learning AI or working in tech? Contact the reporter by email at jzinkula@businessinsider.comor via Signal at jzinkula.29.
https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-software-engineer-ai-hallucinates-deadlines-job-less-stressful-tech-2026-7
