ChatGPT is really an amazing tool. It’s far from perfect, but if you learn how to use it well, you can extend your skillset by miles. Don’t be mislead by its capabilities though: as a developer, you need to fully understand the output to be able to apply it well.
Is ChatGPT the ultimate developer?
My honest opinion: no. But it is the ultimate team member! Using ChatGPT can speed up your process a lot once you learn how to prompt. It’s free version can help a lot and even though I’m not trying to sell ChatGPT here, the Pro version comes with massive benefits for a developer. You can set up a project that allows to set instructions for the entire project. Explaining the full context in these instructions helps to keep all chats in the project within that context.
The main challenge with using ChatGPT is that it seems to make just a bit too many assumptions. This is why you still need a developer that fully understands the code to be able to implement it correctly. Copy-pasting blindly will often result into bugs or broken products on the long run.
Why should I use it if you have to doublecheck everything?
It’s incredibly fast. Simple tasks like refactoring code, setting up a boilerplate based on your existing code and creating utility classes can be done by just giving ChatGPT the correct prompt. Besides that, debugging your code using ChatGPT is a smart move, as long as you give it enough context. Forgot the exact syntax (which can easily happen when switching between various coding languages like JavaScript, PHP, C# etc.)? ChatGPT got you!
I’ve been using it for quite some time and it helped me optimize my code, allowing me to deliver even better products. Better quality lasts longer, that also applies to digital products. Read more about quality being one of The core concepts of a good website.
Examples of what ChatGPT can do
I know I’ve said that you should always understand everything you apply. But I did make one exception: I created my first Chrome Extension that allows me to track my time on Gitlab issues. Because I never build Chrome Extensions before, I had ChatGPT build it for me. Because I only use it internally I didn’t mind making this exception, as it saved me a whole lot of time, it works and I don’t need to understand it yet. Of course, anything that is publicly available should be fully understood by the developer.
The main thing I use ChatGPT for though, is refactoring and debugging code. During the coding process, often you find an even better way to code it that your initial code. It can be quite time-consuming to do this manually, but when given the right context, ChatGPT will speed this up by doing it for you. A quick double check and you’re ready to go!
