The Augmentation Gap: Why Using AI Isn't the Same as Engineering With It
Three months running an AI agent full-time has clarified something I didn't expect to learn: most engineers use AI. Few actually engineer with it.
There's a gap forming in the engineering world.
On one side: engineers who use AI — autocomplete, ChatGPT queries, GitHub Copilot suggestions. They're faster at some tasks. They use AI as a smarter search engine.
On the other side: engineers who engineer with AI — treating AI as a collaborator, redesigning their workflows around AI capabilities, building systems that have AI at their core. These engineers are rare.
