Generative AI for Developers: How To Use AI In Your Workday

Follow a real dev day to see where AI delivers and where it falls short. Uses ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Copilot.

What you'll learn
- Apply AI tools to real development tasks like debugging, writing SQL, and transforming unstructured input into usable assets.
- Avoid common pitfalls when using AI for code generation or documentation.
- Build and optimize a simple interactive app using AI as your pair programmer.
- Work faster and more effectively by integrating AI into your daily developer workflow.
- Use AI to improve legacy code, normalize schemas, and document release changes.
- Identify when and how to use AI as a helper, not a replacement, for writing, reviewing, and refactoring code.
- Use AI to clarify vague requirements, organize tasks, and communicate with stakeholders.

Requirements
- No prior AI or machine learning experience is needed.
- Basic familiarity with software development concepts will be helpful but not required.
- A sense of curiosity and a willingness to test tools and iterate.
- This course is designed to meet you where you are, whether you’re hands-on in code or supporting a technical team.
- Some examples use HTML, JavaScript, and SQL, but you don’t need to be an expert in any of them.

Description
If you’re a developer curious about AI but overwhelmed by the hype, this course is for you.

This course follows a realistic developer workday, from 8 AM to 5 PM. Each hour introduces common tasks you face already, and shows how AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot can help you move faster, think clearer, and get better results with less context switching.Where it makes sense, we use multiple tools head-to-head so you can see how they work. First, I walk you through some foundational concepts to help you avoid pitfalls, then we start our day as a software developer.Here's how it unfolds:

8 AM: Morning Inbox TriageStart your day with a mess. Your boss sent a vague, stream-of-consciousness email. Use AI to extract tasks, identify what's unclear, and write a clean reply without switching out of developer mode.

9 AM: Write What You Mean, Not What You SayTake rough dev notes or Jira tickets and turn them into polished updates. AI helps you translate shorthand into clear, professional communication for stakeholders or product teams.

10 AM: Fix Ancient CodeYou've inherited a legacy codebase. Let AI explain what the code is doing, find bugs, suggest improvements, and even rewrite it. You’ll compare output from different tools to see where they shine or fail.

11 AM: Regex and Other CrimesStop suffering through regular expressions. Use AI to write, explain, and debug regex patterns with real-world test data and examples. Learn how to tighten your prompts and validate the results.

12 PM: Lunch and Data MigrationsMigrate content between databases. AI maps schemas, writes SQL, flags risky fields, and reminds you to hash those passwords. You’ll get real help instead of random Stack Overflow links.

1 PM: The Database Doctor Is InImprove your schema. AI helps spot design flaws, propose normalization, and generate optimized CREATE TABLE statements with constraints, keys, and indexes.

2 PM: Screenshot Says WhatExtract work from screenshots. AI turns whiteboards, Jira tickets, and Slack screenshots into actionable checklists or development tasks. Then it helps you delegate or document them.

3 PM: Canvas Playground - Tic Tac ToeBuild a working HTML5 Canvas game from scratch. Let AI generate, review, and improve your code. Watch it refactor its own work and explain the logic behind each improvement.

4 PM: To Vibe Code or Not To Vibe CodeUse AI as a coding partner. Build a small commodity trading app using an agent inside VS Code. Learn how to guide the AI, fix its mistakes, and avoid over-editing too soon.

5 PM: Docs, Notes, and Final PolishClose your day with clean documentation. AI summarizes commits, formats release notes, and even rewrites your update email for execs, marketing, or your changelog.

I want you to have the superpowers of AI, without drowning in the hype-swamp. Join me!

Who this course is for:
- Developers curious about AI but unsure where to start using it for real work.
- Engineers, tech leads, or junior devs who want to integrate AI tools into their daily workflow.
- Software developers tired of AI hype and looking for practical, honest guidance.
- Productive coders who want to spend less time on routine tasks and more time on high-value work.
- Developers who’ve tried AI and been underwhelmed, and want to get better results.
- Developers exploring ways to make their tooling smarter without adding complexity.
- Builders who want to compare AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot in action.
- Any developer who wants to “use AI without losing your mind.”
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