AI-Powered Coding Revival: From Burnout to Builder

A former developer who abandoned coding years ago has made a remarkable return to building, powered by artificial intelligence. The individual, now working as an investment associate, created over 60 financial calculators in just two weeks using AI tools.

The project demonstrates a growing trend where domain expertise combined with AI assistance is enabling people to build software without traditional programming backgrounds. What started as a quest for a better compound interest calculator evolved into a comprehensive financial toolkit.

The journey began in school, where the developer studied programming and built initial projects. However, the combination of writing code slowly, encountering frequent bugs, and battling imposter syndrome eventually led to a difficult decision.

Convinced they weren't cut out for development, the individual pivoted to finance, becoming an investment associate at an early-stage angel fund. For years, they didn't write a single line of real code.

Despite stepping away from programming, the developer maintained a deep interest in financial mathematics. They became a devoted follower of Warren Buffett's philosophy, particularly the concept of compound interest as a mental model for long-term thinking.

Watching numbers grow over 30-40 years keeps me patient when markets get wild. It's basically meditation for long-term investors.

The catalyst for returning to coding was surprisingly mundane: every compound interest calculator online was terrible. The developer encountered ugly interfaces, intrusive ads, and a lack of customization options for compounding frequency.

Most calculators failed to provide the detailed year-by-year breakdowns that serious investors need. After trying numerous options, the conclusion was simple: they all suck.

When the concept of vibe coding—using AI to generate code based on natural language descriptions—began gaining traction, an idea clicked. Perhaps they could build the calculators they'd always wanted without being a "real developer" anymore.

The approach was straightforward: describe exactly what was needed and let AI handle the implementation. This represented a fundamental shift from traditional coding to a more collaborative, descriptive process.

The experiment began with a simple compound interest calculator. Using Windsurf with the Claude AI model, the developer described their requirements: monthly, quarterly, and yearly compounding options, a year-by-year breakdown table, and support for recurring contributions.

The AI delivered exactly what was requested, complete with validation, nice components, and even tests. The success encouraged expansion, and within two weeks, the project had grown to include over 60 different calculators.

The suite expanded to cover a wide range of financial and utility tools:

• Mortgage and loan amortization calculators
• Savings goals and retirement projection tools
• BMI calculator and timezone converter
• Regex tester for developers

The total investment in API costs for this two-week sprint was approximately $100, using the Opus 4.5 thinking model. The technology stack selected by the AI included Next.js, React, TailwindCSS, and shadcn/ui, with support for four languages: English, German, French, and Japanese.

Through this experience, the developer discovered that their years away from coding weren't wasted. The foundational knowledge remained intact: understanding of software architecture, principles of good user experience design, and specialized domain expertise in financial mathematics.

The missing piece wasn't knowledge, but efficiency. Traditional typing and debugging had been the bottleneck, not conceptual understanding. AI filled this gap perfectly by handling the grunt work of implementation.

Vibe coding didn't make me a 10x engineer. But it gave me permission to build again.

The psychological impact proved significant. Ideas that had been accumulating for years suddenly felt achievable. The barrier between concept and creation had been dramatically lowered, representing a more profound victory than any technical achievement.

The project is now live at calquio.com, with the compound interest calculator remaining the developer's favorite page—finally matching the exact specifications they'd envisioned years ago.

This story reflects a broader shift in software development. AI tools are democratizing creation, allowing those with domain expertise but without traditional programming skills to build sophisticated applications.

The developer remains curious about similar stories, wondering how many others have returned to building after stepping away. The comments section on the original post shows early interest, suggesting this experience resonates with many in the tech community.

As AI continues to evolve, the line between "developer" and "builder" may continue to blur, creating new opportunities for innovation across industries.