A Cautionary Tale for Developers Who Depend on AI a Little Too Much
Let me tell you a story---a tale of mystery, betrayal, and one very
uncooperative Excel spreadsheet.
It all started on a perfectly normal afternoon. Birds were chirping,
coffee was warm, and my application---poor, innocent thing---was trying
to read data from Excel files. Yes, I know, using Excel as a data source
is like using a cheese grater as a pillow... but that wasn't the main
problem.
The Real Problem
The columns in the spreadsheet kept moving.
Not shifting, not rearranging politely---no, these things were doing the
Electric Slide every time someone exported the file. My parser would
line up the data like, "Okay, column 3 is EmployeeName---got it."\
Then the next day:\
Column 3 is suddenly BudgetVariance, column 10 is now
EmployeeName, and column 5... well, column 5 has gone missing
entirely.
My parser basically had the same expression you get when your GPS yells,
"Make a U-turn! MAKE A U-TURN!"
What We Tried (AKA: The AI Phase)
Naturally, I called in backup: AI.
Together, we built:
- A fancy Excel parser using NuGet packages\
- A CSV parser\
- A backup parser for when the first two parsers got tired\
- Several emotional support console logs
And it worked!\
Until the next spreadsheet arrived and the columns once again decided to
practice interpretive dance.
We considered switching to an API or getting a stable export format...\
But the vendor said:
"No."
And by "no," I mean:
"Sure, we can help---but only if you pay us enough to buy a small
island."
So AI and I kept throwing solutions at the problem like two raccoons
frantically trying to open a locked trash can.
The Breakthrough (AKA: The Part Where Human Brains Still Matter)
After hours of trying every AI suggestion---including a few that made my
computer visibly shake its head---I stepped back and looked at the
problem like an engineer instead of a prompt typist.
Then it hit me:
Dynamic types.
The forgotten, dusty corner of C# where magical things can happen.
If the columns wanted to move around like caffeinated toddlers?\
Fine.\
I'd fetch values dynamically and then map those values to the model I
already had.
Let the spreadsheet do its dance---I'd catch the values mid-air.
And guess what?
- It worked.\
- It worked beautifully.\
- It was even faster than the original parser.
AI: "Wow, that was clever."\
Me: "I know."\
Excel: "Fine, I'll stop moving columns now."\
(Excel was lying.)
What I Learned (AKA: The Moral of the Story)
AI is an incredible partner.\
It can generate code, suggest libraries, scaffold ideas, and even talk
you through debugging your existential crisis.
But here's the part everyone needs to tattoo on their brain:
You still have to know how to code.
You still have to understand the language you're using.\
You still need real engineering instincts.
AI is trained on public code---written by millions of people who never
encountered your specific spreadsheet horror movie. It can get you
close, but sometimes it doesn't know the trick you know because you
actually understand C#.
The only reason I found the solution?
"Hey... C# has dynamics. Those could solve this."
AI didn't think of it.\
But I did.\
And when we combined forces---my experience + its suggestions---we
solved the problem.
Final Moral
AI is your co-pilot, not your parachute.\
You can't outsource understanding.\
If you want to solve real problems, you and AI need to pair
program---and you need to know the language well enough to steer it in
the right direction.
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