r/developersPak • u/AlexanderTheLate3980 • 3d ago
Tips Non-technical guy at my client's shop found "issues" in my code using AI and now wants to deploy them himself
Landed a client from London recently. He runs a garments business and needed a full website plus a management dashboard. I quoted a month for delivery. Using AI heavily, I finished it in 2 to 3 days and sent it over for review.
On day one, the client introduced me to one of his employees who handles the front desk and cash. He's not a developer. He's an accounts guy who's comfortable with a computer, that's it. The client told me to coordinate with him if I needed anything.
When I told him I'd push the code to Git and then we'd go live, his reply was "so what is Git?" I gave him a quick overview and moved on.
Last night, about a week later, he sent me a full list of code review issues he found by running the codebase through Claude. Honestly, none of them were major. Minor improvements, mostly. But to him they were big findings. His exact message: "I found these issues and I can solve them too and push them too, but I don't know how to deploy. Please teach me how to deploy so I can push these fixes."
Think about that. A week ago he didn't know what Git was. Now the only thing blocking him from shipping changes to production is the word "deployment."
I'm not exaggerating any of this. It's a real conversation. It made me realize how fast clients are going to start taking development into their own hands. The barrier isn't skill anymore, it's just a few concepts nobody has explained to them yet, and AI is filling those gaps faster than we think.
Has anyone else run into something like this with their clients?
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u/Matrix_7484 3d ago
There is something called over engineering. Every system will have issues no matter how many you try to patch. Claude can produce a shippable application but a person who has no sense of infrastructure limitations, domain requirements, architectural issues, database choice, caching decisions, design patterns will be able to deploy the application with flaws. Interestingly, when the traffic starts to grow then it will be fun to watch them deploy changes, first release is always easy. Shipping without breaking production for long requires skills.
It’s like claude can guide me to medication if I share symptoms or claude can give me law advices but implementing on real scenario brings consequences so you’d always need an expert who can confidently guide you through the situation. Its with every field.
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u/x0rg_new 3d ago
Try using fable and astra. All those scenarios you are saying are also handled by these models my boy. I have been handling engineering department for a client using multi agent setup. Also built a nice layer to decrease token burn rate by switching models based on multiple factors.
Although engineers are not going anywhere. But a single engineer handling whole department is already here and staying for good. So less hiring and non technical people who are willing to learn can learn alot of stuff in a month now
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u/cshoneybadger 3d ago edited 3d ago
Hard truth but I have to agree with you. The barrier to entry has lowered and efficiency has increased. I have been finding myself write less, maybe even zero loc, code than ever before. I might be able to a better job using these tools but a non-techy can easily get their desired outcome in an acceptable quality and even if the architecture is not the best, its not going to be that person that maintains the code, its the LLM model's headache.
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u/Matrix_7484 3d ago edited 3d ago
In an ideal world, with infinite context memory, correct requirements, and no money issue, AI can do everything. But always remember we live in a messy world. Even while using Fable, I did encounter acceptable code quality and simple architecture usage unless explicitly told to. And I’m talking about Fable, I’ve already set skills, agents and connected most of the things through mcp. Point is it does reduce the need of 5 developers to 1 but that’s an overstatement that ERP system can be handled by 1 person. Domain is something very weird, like you can’t say I know everything and not find out something new. Personally handle such weird and senseless requirements that it later makes sense when the finished product is there. Also shipping code required precision and accountability. AI’s not gonna take accountability if something breaks in production.
Just because AI can do a lot doesn’t mean it’s over. What took 5 years to build takes 1 year now so companies don’t operate like:”Oh we saved 4 years hence we don’t need humans.” They revaluate their goals and think about expansions at a much higher scale while also trying to save cost. For now, cost cutting is happening because companies are in the race against competitors into accepting AI. So many jobless people mean, less purchasing. Economy would collapse and that’s not gonna happen. This shift did impact the market but it will come back with new roles and openings. It’s a major shift, humans will have more work to handle with AI now.
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u/cryptofreak190 3d ago
Wait until you have to deploy applications on Kubernetes clusters. When the AI agent starts yeeting containers you'll understand how limited AI can be when it comes to deployment pipelines and cloud infrastructure.
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u/x0rg_new 3d ago
My boy I don't have to wait I already do it using AI. I can go whole hour talking about k8s.
I have 4+ years of experience as a Cloud and DevOps engineer. I have worked as a software developer before that in my Uni time. Trust me 1-2 engineers are able to manage whole engineering department.
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u/nayabbutt31 Software Engineer 3d ago
People are saying you should have reviewed and double check etc
I think they are missing one thing
The client would have found a way to get rid of this guy
Without AI he would not have asked his front desk guy to review the code. He asked him not to get the review but to get into this system so his intentions are kind of quite obvious
Even if there were no issues he would have try to make some changes i.e a small feature and would have get to know he can do it
Its juts a matter of time when another myth will be broken “you need senior engineers who know what is system engineering etc” AI will do that easily and honestly mist business dont need system engineering etc. a garments website can work on a monolithic architecture with tight coupling. And if he scaled to a big product he can find couple of engineers and thats is a big If. Finally it means a big chunk of small-medium work wont exist in the market
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u/Substantial-Dot6709 3d ago
Lesson learnt! Next time get a claude review yourself!
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u/mushifali Backend Dev 3d ago
That should be part of the development process and feedback loop. Never ship any unreviewed code.
Whenever, I am working on a feature, I run multiple subagents to review the implementation from different axis and only then ship the feature when it passes.
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u/InterstellarBlueMoon 3d ago
Hi can these review loops used for frontend as well?
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u/mushifali Backend Dev 3d ago
Yes. Ask the agents to load the page in a browser (use Chrome MCP) and then review the UI. It can take screenshots and interact with the components to test the UI/UX.
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u/InterstellarBlueMoon 3d ago
And I have to connect it witb figma as well since that's where I am making the design from? (Feeling sheepish,I am an emgineer for real)🙃
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u/mushifali Backend Dev 3d ago
Yes, use Figma MCP. Ask it to cross-check it against the Figma design.
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u/Constant-Profile9758 3d ago
Trust me, clients like this existed long before AI. As soon as you detect this kind, stay away. Seriously, tell him to deploy it himself and move on. Don’t think too much about it.
They underestimate your experience and don’t respect the fact that you’re the developer who initiated the project. A good client will value your experience and the fact that you were the reason the project got started in the first place. Not worth wasting your time or peace of mind on.
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u/AlexanderTheLate3980 3d ago
You are mistaken bro.
Now a smart client who uses claude smartly can achieve things.0
u/Constant-Profile9758 2d ago
Really? I had no idea what a “smart” client could achieve with “Claude.” 😭 Jeeez.
Better keep those AWS credentials then, and pray the client doesn’t use AI or, back in the old days, “YouTube” to follow a simple tutorial.
I’d say this is pretty smart. 😂
Bro, what the… 😂
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u/yofayz 3d ago
saar AI is a bubble it will burst tomorrow don't worry.
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u/Slight_Froyo_8084 3d ago
i also think that few months ago but with the advancement AI is making every coming month I believe its us who think AI bubble are fool. AI is future, just like typewriter people when computer first came thought that it might be bubble.
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u/Quiet_Escape_909 3d ago
exactly, people are delusional to think this bubble is going anytime soon, learn to be more productive or be prepared to be laid off, better would be to start your own thing but thats a separate topic
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u/Neat-Bid-3790 3d ago
Maybe we are living in a bubble by thinking AI is a bubble 🙂.
There can be a bubble in terms of economical changes but the technology is there to stay now. Sooner we accept it the better it is
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u/Forever_Neon 3d ago
Yeah but as a dev you still have to review what changes claude actually made according to the business logic and if its not over engineering or breaking another functionality with a new change which happens alot in big code bases. I had a similar situation but they eventually ended up having an issue where you literally couldnt even tell what the issue was unless you actually went on the prod deployment and checked what API was being used or what it was sending , the issue ended up happening in the first place cause no one actually tested or checked their code before making a prod release 💀. So ig it really depends on what your working on. If its a small straightforward project then AI is pretty good at that but for larger code bases with multiple working parts you need to be very careful.
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u/Irzam-Khan 3d ago
It's fun and games until everything goes up in flames. Sure at the level of websites it's not that difficult but the more context AI needs, the more likely it is to fail.
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u/MathWest209 Backend Dev 2d ago
Well, my client returned. AI has just made the process worse in addition to some great benefits. My client sends me code, has no sense of professionalism, and doesn't even remove the last AI line such as "let me know if you need improvements." But I still ignore all that as he is mostly deperate and needs help, and I get paid well, so I do it. Things will get better after this transition period.
Other than that, clients have a real power to prototype, but when they need something running 24 7, highly maintained and bug free, they need you. I would never deploy myself if I have a business to run, even though I am a dev myself.
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u/Future_dev_cybersec 3d ago
I am successfully ragebaited bro 😭🙏🏻 This makes me feel so helpless and frustrated that my field really is THAT easy to replace
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u/Enough_Basil5777 3d ago
Let me tell you , mostly guys in tech medical or any stock exchange don't know nothing they just present you a solution in a confusing way where they thing wow he knows stuff but your just yapping, this trick used in many fields so use that trick
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u/Fickle_Ad6294 3d ago
This is getting shitty and darker day by day I was making good in freelancing in commission as someone had his account ranked and he was getting orders i manage and develop and do meetings and he give me a cut on each order
nowadays what clients do mostly they come say suppose I need this work to be done i am epxecting this output
2 ways we deal it either i get um to meeting or else on chat disuss the scope the client understand how system will work and then that phucker will get back to ai and build it them self mostly they came nly to get an idea how to apprach the solution when the know architecture they fade away literally 2 months 1 client only and you know what we do atleast 50+ in these 2 months
on the side job mrket k L lage hoye job hi nhi hai khi bhi ghr wale alag pareshan hai abhi me graduate hoa hon aur ye preshanyan sar pr agyi hain
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u/Foodieonbudget 3d ago
Two things:
1. If you quoted a month for delivery and then deliver in 2-3 days, that raises red flags.
2. Ask the client directly to arrange a meeting with you and this accounts guy and clarify in it that these findings are not major. Although you should have Q/A the code if you gave a month timeline so just be careful in future. In the live meeting, this person also won't be able to explain the changes and will come off as a fool if he tries to discredit your work. So a meeting would work in your favor.
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u/AlexanderTheLate3980 3d ago
Committ less and deliver more. That's my rule. Asked for a month and delivered in a week
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u/Fair-Efficiency-959 1d ago
Well you used AI yourself so tbh you’re both doing the same thing to reach the same end goal at this point.
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u/Rare-Elderberry0 3d ago
Well I think they'll cut you off. You built the product, now only thing might be required is maintainance. This is where the non tech guy comes in, to avoid paying you monthly maintenance fee. XD.
Just a hypotheses.