The "10x developer" meme got a sequel nobody asked for. Now it's the "10x AI-assisted developer," and the plot holes are even worse.
I constantly hear this tale from senior engineers. They plug in an AI coding assistant, watch it blast out functions at terrifying speed, and feel like superheroes. But later, the pull request arrives for review. And they face the music.
The 17-Edit Problem
One team went as far as to measure it. On average, they found that AI-generated code required 17 additional edits per function to adhere to the style rules already in place. Nothing crazy. Just basic rules like naming and error handling conventions that, when followed, help keep a codebase maintainable half a year down the line.
Seventeen edits. Per function. That's not a productivity boost. That's a cleanup job with extra steps.
