How AI Coding Changed Completely in 18 Months — Is Prompt Engineering Dead?
In late November 2024, I used AI for the first time. Eighteen months later, the changes I've witnessed aren't just about better tools. The entire way of working has transformed — and the pace of that transformation is accelerating. At first, a new paradigm emerged roughly every six months. Then every three months. Now, something new drops almost every week. AI has moved past its infancy and entered a full-blown transition period. Standing in the middle of it, I thought it was worth looking back at these 18 months. The Past — Copy-Paste and Prompt Engineering The Chat Window Era To be precise, it started with asking ChatGPT about code. I'd paste a function or an error message, get a response, copy it, and move it to my editor. The novelty of asking AI instead of searching Google was refreshing, and I was genuinely impressed by the accuracy. But fundamentally, the workflow wasn't all that different from a search engine. Ask a question, read the answer, manually apply it...