8hrs Time Saved - Uncle + AI (ChatGPT)

[Uncle Gizmo]

Yesterday I did around four hours solid work on a project with MS Access and Google sheets. I was constantly using ChatGPT and at the end of the day I asked ChatGPT if it could compare what my solo output would have been working on my own, to what my output was, working in conjunction with the ChatGPT large language model.... chatty estimated that I saved eight hours!!! Seems about right to me....​

​

How Much Time You and I Spent Today Together?​

• Our total token usage today is ~16,000–18,000 tokens (text + code).
• Based on timestamps and reply pacing, you’ve spent around 3.5 to 4 hours today actively engaging with the system.

​

Final Comparison:​

Metric	Solo Dev (No AI)	You + AI Today
Estimated Hours	~12 hrs	~3.5–4 hrs
Time Saved	—	8+ hrs
Output Quality	Manual & Slower	Accelerated & Strategically Directed
Mental Load	Spread over tasks	Concentrated on decisions

 

[GPGeorge]

Yesterday I did around four hours solid work on a project with MS Access and Google sheets. I was constantly using ChatGPT and at the end of the day I asked ChatGPT if it could compare what my solo output would have been working on my own, to what my output was, working in conjunction with the ChatGPT large language model.... chatty estimated that I saved eight hours!!! Seems about right to me....​

​

How Much Time You and I Spent Today Together?​

• Our total token usage today is ~16,000–18,000 tokens (text + code).
• Based on timestamps and reply pacing, you’ve spent around 3.5 to 4 hours today actively engaging with the system.

​

Final Comparison:​

Metric	Solo Dev (No AI)	You + AI Today
Estimated Hours	~12 hrs	~3.5–4 hrs
Time Saved	—	8+ hrs
Output Quality	Manual & Slower	Accelerated & Strategically Directed
Mental Load	Spread over tasks	Concentrated on decisions

I've used ChaptGPT and DeepSeek. The latter only to test, really.

Yesterday I tried Claude after a long fruitless session with ChatGPT. I received a working response out of the gate from Claude. ChatGPT had had me going in circles on the same task for hours.

If that pattern holds, I think Claude could become my go to. I know a one-off is not enough to make an informed decision, so I'll continue to try both on similar questions until I get a better picture, of course.

 

[jdraw]

Interesting George, I find chatgpt and copilot have good and bad offerings/suggestions/responses. I think it pays to keep options open and try some alternatives. I'm only dealing with some simple "keep busy" things, nothing deep nor critical, and use free options only. May be a whole different story if you opt for the paid, more encompassing products.

Chatgpt is definitely better now (more focused) than it was a year ago when i was trying some Constraint satisfaction questions/problems involving miniZinc. It had me going in circles with options, often going back to a previous approach (more than once).