AI Coders give you the edge.The 6 Rules I Follow When Working with AI Coders.

Published: November 18, 2025

Coding by hand is a business liability. AI Coders give you the edge.

The 6 Rules I Follow When Working with AI Coders.

This post builds on my earlier one - 'Coding by hand is obsolete'

Over two decades coding by hand in SAS, Python, SQL, VBA - across enterprises and SMBs - and the last two with AI, I've reached one conclusion:

Coding by hand today is a business liability.

It's slower, costlier, and less scalable. The P&L edge of AI-assisted coding is too big to ignore. It's the same shift as manual ledgers to accounting software- or calculators to Excel

It's no longer optional. The skill now is turning domain knowledge into working systems with AI - not syntax

The only question is how fast people adapt. Those who move fast keep the edge

When I say AI Coders, I don't mean copy-pasting code from ChatGPT. I mean working with proper AI coding tools like Cursor, Claude Code, Gemini CLI, or Mito-AI (for Jupyter). With them, I've delivered client projects I'd once have declined, and built www.tigzig.com, my analytics portal with 30+ live micro-apps - open source, free and in real use.

These six rules are how I now execute - automations, models, analytics tools, full AI agent systems

My 6 rules for working with AI Coders

From live projects and lessons learnt the hard way

Give it everything it needs

Background, logic, schema, goal, and constraints
Include examples, sample rows, and even failed attempts

AI Coders amplify your clarity. Garbage intent in, garbage code out

2. Tell - state clearly what you want

Set the scope and how you want it done
Mention format, structure, and integrations upfront

Don't make it guess - it's a coder, not a mind reader

3. Ask - Interrogate first

Never execute blind. Ask for a plan first

Demand 2-3 alternatives and trade-offs
Clarify architecture, dependencies, and data handling.

If you don't get it, don't run it. Clarity before execution

4. Iterate - There's no magic prompt

You still build in loops - just faster.

Review, test, and refine outputs step by step.
Ask it to do security and performance reviews.

AI speeds the iterations but doesn't skip them.

5. Validate - Inspect what you expect

Test and verify

Stress-test it
Try and break it.

AI or no AI, the buck still stops with you.

6. The grind doesn't go away

You still put hard hours:

to debug, test, and validate.
to review logs, edge cases, and data errors.

Faster. Easier. Scalable. But still a grind - just a better one.

📍 Get started: - For a quick start: youtube.com/@VoloBuilds on YouTube - practical tutorials from an experienced developer. Simple to complex builds across major tools.

📍 More tutorials: YouTube - plenty of solid content out there.

Best used with an AI agent