[14] AI Power User – Software Engineer

AI Tip of the Week

Brainstorm names of stuff (give an example to point AI in the right direction)

PROMPT: “Help me come up with some names for fragrances in a high-end elixir line that are storytelling related.  An example would be ‘A Call to Adventure’ “

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2/9/2025

Okay it’s software engineering season.

Almost every all-knowing AI report says that software engineers are finding almost an immediate value from AI.  This makes sense to us because prompting an AI is pretty much like coming up with a good algorithm for code. Plus, engineers are used to tinkering around and finding the right “thing” that works for solve a particular issue.

One of our favorite tools for software engineers is GitHub Copilot.  Right now it’s FREE in Visual Studio Code (also free!). Today we’ll share with you a super basic workflow for GitHub Copilot to generate Python code.

Do this:

1. Go to https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2024/12/18/free-github-copilot and follow the setup instructions. No credit card needed!
2. Do all the Python setup rigmarole from here: https://www.python.org/
3. Open VS Code and either with a CTRL + I to do this inline in the editor or open the side pane GH Copilot Chat via the cute robot icon, try this prompt “Do a call to Open AI’s Chat Completions API with the system prompt, “You are a workplace coach.”
4. You will now see some “shadow code” that shows around 17-20 lines of code that does this.  You have the option to keep this or delete it and start over.  Try to run this code and see what errors you get.
5. To fix issues, highlight a section of code, and type in the chat, “help me fix this”
6. If you want help in understanding what a piece of code (this code or any other) does, try this:  highlight a section of code and type in the prompt box “Explain this like I am a Python beginner”
7. If you want to generate test cases for a piece of code, highlight the code and type in the prompt box, “Generate me 5 accessibility/edge case/security/etc test cases for this”

Go forth and tinker friends! Even if you are NOT a dev, it’s a fun tool to try and see what all the hype is about!

PS: You can also do dev scenarios using any AI product you want by asking the exact same prompts above and then copy/pasting the responses into an IDE.

Happy Coding!

💗 Dona and Jeremiah