Best use of LLMs isn't code
The best use of LLMs has nothing to do with code. I'll be honest — I don't love the hype around LLMs. And yes, I know it sounds tedious to remind people that an LLM is **not** intelligence. It's a language model trained on a massive amount of data. But I think it matters to keep saying it. Here's what actually changed for me. <!-- excerpt --> ## The real problem I've always had more ideas than time. Side projects, libraries, architectural experiments — things I wanted to explore but couldn't justify spending weekends on. They just sat there, accumulating. LLMs didn't magically turn those ideas into products. They didn't write production code for me. They didn't "solve" anything. What they did: they gave me **someone to think with**. ## Brainstorming at 2 AM I could take a half-formed idea and brainstorm it. Poke holes in it. Explore adjacent solutions. Ask "what if" without committing hours to a prototype. Some ideas I threw away — and that's **valuable too**. Some I shaped into concrete libraries and tools. I once read that ideas should be shared, not hoarded. That you grow them by discussing them openly. LLMs became that for me — a thinking partner available at 2 AM when the idea won't let you sleep. ## A caveat LLMs are biased. Without clear instructions and constraints, they can confidently lead you in the wrong direction. You should never trust what comes back on the first iteration. But here's the thing — that's exactly why brainstorming with them works. You're not asking for answers. You're asking for **angles**. The output isn't the point. The thinking it triggers in **your** head is. I used to think I understood system design, architecture, distributed systems. I worked with these things — but working with something and truly understanding it are not the same. Brainstorming with an LLM exposed the gaps I didn't know I had. It broke my **illusion of understanding** and replaced it with something real. ## What most people miss The real power isn't vibe-coding. It's not "look, it wrote a React app." It's **iteration**. Building anything meaningful — a startup, a product, a career — is the result of **thousands of iterations**. You think, you try, you fail, you learn, you refine. LLMs compress that loop. They let you iterate on the **idea itself** before you write a single line of code — stress-test it, find angles you hadn't considered, discover where it connects to something bigger. ## What I learned That's not artificial intelligence. That's a **damn good tool**.
The best use of LLMs has nothing to do with code.
I’ll be honest — I don’t love the hype around LLMs. And yes, I know it sounds tedious to remind people that an LLM is not intelligence. It’s a language model trained on a massive amount of data. But I think it matters to keep saying it.
Here’s what actually changed for me.
The real problem
Section titled “The real problem”I’ve always had more ideas than time. Side projects, libraries, architectural experiments — things I wanted to explore but couldn’t justify spending weekends on. They just sat there, accumulating.
LLMs didn’t magically turn those ideas into products. They didn’t write production code for me. They didn’t “solve” anything.
What they did: they gave me someone to think with.
Brainstorming at 2 AM
Section titled “Brainstorming at 2 AM”I could take a half-formed idea and brainstorm it. Poke holes in it. Explore adjacent solutions. Ask “what if” without committing hours to a prototype.
Some ideas I threw away — and that’s valuable too. Some I shaped into concrete libraries and tools.
I once read that ideas should be shared, not hoarded. That you grow them by discussing them openly. LLMs became that for me — a thinking partner available at 2 AM when the idea won’t let you sleep.
A caveat
Section titled “A caveat”LLMs are biased. Without clear instructions and constraints, they can confidently lead you in the wrong direction. You should never trust what comes back on the first iteration.
But here’s the thing — that’s exactly why brainstorming with them works. You’re not asking for answers. You’re asking for angles. The output isn’t the point. The thinking it triggers in your head is.
I used to think I understood system design, architecture, distributed systems. I worked with these things — but working with something and truly understanding it are not the same. Brainstorming with an LLM exposed the gaps I didn’t know I had. It broke my illusion of understanding and replaced it with something real.
What most people miss
Section titled “What most people miss”The real power isn’t vibe-coding. It’s not “look, it wrote a React app.” It’s iteration.
Building anything meaningful — a startup, a product, a career — is the result of thousands of iterations. You think, you try, you fail, you learn, you refine.
LLMs compress that loop. They let you iterate on the idea itself before you write a single line of code — stress-test it, find angles you hadn’t considered, discover where it connects to something bigger.
What I learned
Section titled “What I learned”That’s not artificial intelligence. That’s a damn good tool.