What if you treated Claude like a Junior dev?
Have it write small chunks of code, which you code review and unit test.
Have it write small chunks of code, which you code review and unit test.
The only thing where I noticed a pronounced speed up is when I use other languages I'm not super familiar with. AI can more easily help me translate concepts from languages I do know better, and then a good old Google search is often enough to fill in the rest of the blanks for me to be reasonably productive in a way that I wouldn't be without AI
For instance, say I wanted to plot a complicated Matplotlib diagram. It takes me 10+ minutes plus many context switches to get the syntax right (I don't use Matplotlib enough to have all the args at the tip of my fingers). Also I don't know everything Matplotlib is able to do -- I haven't read the entire docs. Fortunately LLMs have and they get me to the right ballpark in 10-20 seconds. I usually want to try maybe 10-15 plots before settling on something. LLMs definitely do get me there much faster.
I think if you have a clear idea of what you want to do, and how to do it, then maybe the time savings are not compelling. But if you're in space where you're ideating and groping at an idea, LLMs can significantly cut down the iteration time and even open up new channels of inquiry that you didn't know existed.
They're primarily generative assistants. Using them to implement ideas in production is probably a secondary use.