Been programming since the 90s. Trained as an electrician at Miele, studied mathematics, and have been freelancing as a software developer since 2006 — primarily in Java. I'm pragmatic, believe in accountability, and also work part-time as a tradesman. https://speakerdeck.com/pedda 2025-11-20 06:46:20 -0500 <strong>The Journey:</strong> From "GitHub Copilot just annoys me" through "Agents hallucinate APIs" to "Holy shit, I just completed a 2-week feature in 4 hours." This talk documents 2 years of trial-and-error with AI coding tools – and the moment everything clicked. <strong>The Mind-Blowing Result:</strong> Portal format integrations that used to take 2-3 days? Now done in 2-4 hours, fully tested, production-ready. Multi-file refactorings across 53 Maven modules? Completed autonomously with 90% success rate. The "10x developer" isn't a myth – it's what happens when you combine 20 years of experience with systematic AI workflows. And with the right approach, 20x is within reach. <strong>What you'll learn:</strong> - Why autocomplete ≠ programming (and when it still helps) - The context death problem and why auto-compaction is poison - Analyze → Plan → Execute: Multi-phase workflows with review gates - Skills > MCP: 83% token savings with the right approach - Recursive instructions: How to teach LLMs to persist - Real productivity metrics: What 20x actually looks like in practice <strong>Real-World Application:</strong> Portal Export Engine – Engel & Völkers' internal solution for transforming property listings and automatically publishing them to 50+ international portals (ImmoScout24, Idealista, PropertyFinder, etc.). 264k LOC, 53 Maven modules, 99.9% SLA, processing 50,000+ properties daily. This is where workflows prove themselves or fail. This is where I went from frustrated to mind-blown. <strong>With live demo</strong> on real production code: From merge request review to feature implementation – watch a multi-day task complete in minutes. <strong>For:</strong> Java developers who want to use AI productively without being enslaved by their tools. Developers who are tired of AI hype and want to see actual, measurable results. <strong>The Journey:</strong> From "GitHub Copilot just annoys me" through "Agents hallucinate APIs" to "Holy shit, I just completed a 2-week feature in 4 hours." This talk documents 2 years of trial-and-error with AI coding tools – and the moment everything clicked. <strong>The Mind-Blowing Result:</strong> Portal format integrations that used to take 2-3 days? Now done in 2-4 hours, fully tested, production-ready. Multi-file refactorings across 53 Maven modules? Completed autonomously with 90% success rate. The "10x developer" isn't a myth – it's what happens when you combine 20 years of experience with systematic AI workflows. And with the right approach, 20x is within reach. <strong>What you'll learn:</strong> - Why autocomplete ≠ programming (and when it still helps) - The context death problem and why auto-compaction is poison - Analyze → Plan → Execute: Multi-phase workflows with review gates - Skills > MCP: 83% token savings with the right approach - Recursive instructions: How to teach LLMs to persist - Real productivity metrics: What 20x actually looks like in practice <strong>Real-World Application:</strong> Portal Export Engine – Engel & Völkers' internal solution for transforming property listings and automatically publishing them to 50+ international portals (ImmoScout24, Idealista, PropertyFinder, etc.). 264k LOC, 53 Maven modules, 99.9% SLA, processing 50,000+ properties daily. This is where workflows prove themselves or fail. This is where I went from frustrated to mind-blown. <strong>With live demo</strong> on real production code: From merge request review to feature implementation – watch a multi-day task complete in minutes. <strong>For:</strong> Java developers who want to use AI productively without being enslaved by their tools. Developers who are tired of AI hype and want to see actual, measurable results. Thu, 20 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0500 https://speakerdeck.com/pedda/from-annoying-to-useful-my-journey-with-ai-assisted-development-in-2025 https://speakerdeck.com/pedda/from-annoying-to-useful-my-journey-with-ai-assisted-development-in-2025