A classic David and Goliath story with an AI twist

For most of my career I have been a ‘David’, the solo freelancer battling projects and looming deadlines. It always felt like there were only so many stones I could sling at my Goliaths. There was a limit to how fast I could react, how quickly I could reload, and how hard I could sling.

Then AI showed up and handed me an arsenal and virtually infinite power boosts.

If you follow tech feeds on X, LinkedIn, or Reddit, the narrative is doom and gloom - the end of developers as we know them. I've flip-flopped between "the sky is falling" and "this is incredible." Watching an AI agent build a complete CRUD app in 10 minutes (something that would've taken me a day) triggered both reactions simultaneously. First thought: "I'm screwed." Second thought: "Wait, I can use this."

Having a negative reaction is valid and I have entertained those thoughts. It’s a little harder to see the positive side, but when you intentionally look, you can see it. The tools, speed and assistance that is available to a developer’s fingertips and voice prompts is incredible. What formerly took a team of designers, developers and testers can now be done by a single developer and a team of Ai agents.

Which brings me back to David and Goliath. Actually, two Goliaths.

The first Goliath is big deliverables, looming deadlines and difficult challenges. Most projects have a Goliath. I always bet on myself and mostly win but there have certainly been some close calls and stressful times.

The second Goliath in this story is big development teams and consulting companies and marketing agencies. They walk into projects with a full roster of designers, developers (one for each tech stack), testers, projects managers and additional people “critical to a project’s success”.

There was always a limit of just how big a Goliath I could tackle. Being responsible and respectful of clients’ businesses and investments meant having to pass on some battles.

With the advent of AI the scales change. Freelancers and small development shops like myself are no longer a David fighting with a slingshot. We have an army of AI bots and agents ready to do whatever is required.

This past month I tackled a project with some challenging designs and technical hurdles. I had AI handling the grunt work while I focused on solving the complex problems. It felt great. I spent time figuring out how to use AI to help me instead of worrying about how it could hurt me.

Big projects, technical challenges and slow moving teams don’t stand a chance against a nimble AI-wielding developer. The Goliaths are still out there. But David's got better weapons now.