On January 30, 2026, a friend sent me an email. Written via Claude Code.
He’s an experienced developer living what he calls his “post-work life” — essentially retired, spending his days on whatever interests him. That month, Claude Code interested him a lot. He’d been raving about it for weeks. I nodded politely.
The email contained a tech stack recommendation and step-by-step installation instructions. “Just try it,” he said. Then he sat me down, made me install it, and showed me the first few things it could do.
Three days later, on February 2, I got my “Welcome to Pro plan” email from Anthropic.
By the end of the month, I had 12 projects.
Some context
I’m not the person you’d expect to go on a coding bender. Or maybe I am — it depends on how you look at it.
I’ve been in performance marketing since 2006. Google Ads, Meta Ads, data pipelines, automation. For almost 20 years, I’ve lived at the intersection of marketing and technology.
But in 2021, I decided to formalize the “technology” part. I enrolled in a Python Back-End Developer bootcamp at CodersLab in Warsaw — weekend classes, in person. Finished in 2022. Then I did their JavaScript + React + Redux program in 2023, this time remotely.
After that, I worked as a junior backend developer. I can write Python. I understand APIs. I know what a JSON payload is. But I also Google basic syntax, forget how decorators work, and my code works but isn’t elegant.
This turned out to be the perfect background for Claude Code. Enough technical understanding to direct it. Not enough to be faster doing it myself.
The obsession phase
The first week was pure exploration. I connected Claude Code to the Google Ads API and just… asked questions. About my own client data. “Show me campaigns where CPC increased more than 20%.” “Find ad groups with zero conversions.” Simple stuff.
But seeing my own data respond to natural language queries did something to my brain. Every client question became a potential automation. Every repetitive task became a potential script. Every “I wish I could…” became “wait, maybe I can.”
Within two weeks I had built:
- A Google Ads audit system that generates presentation decks automatically
- A Meta Ads analyzer with browser automation
- A campaign management CLI with safety rules for real-budget operations
- A multi-client data analysis platform
- A client offer generator (that took 7 iterations to get right)
These are the professional tools. I wrote about them in detail in another post. But the professional stuff isn’t the whole story.
The personal stuff
A website in 2-3 days
A former colleague and I had been talking about building a website for a joint project. Bilingual (English and Polish), with a specific dark terminal-inspired aesthetic.
I built it in 2-3 days of calendar time. Honestly, the actual work was closer to one intense day — I took a 2-day break between sessions. 14 pages, full design system, dark/light mode, responsive, deployed on Vercel.
Before Claude Code, this would have been a “we should hire someone” conversation. Instead it was a “I did it over the weekend” message.
An ADHD task board
I have ADHD. I’ve tried every task management tool. Notion, Todoist, Linear, sticky notes, bullet journals. They all have too many features, too many views, too much friction.
So I built my own. A Kanban board with four columns: Today, Next, Later, Done. Drag and drop. Dark mode. Tags for different clients. Built on Node.js with a JSON file for storage.
No database. No auth. No collaboration features. No settings page. Just the absolute minimum that works for my brain.
It’s objectively ugly. I use it every day.
A fundraiser for a friend’s dog
My friend Patrycja’s dog needed knee surgery. 12,000 PLN. She asked for help setting up a fundraiser on zrzutka.pl.
I opened Claude Code. Not to write code — to write copy.
The emotionally compelling campaign description. The medical cost breakdown. Pre-written messages for different platforms — Messenger, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram — in 5 variants for different audiences (close friends, acquaintances, dog lovers, general public). Structured the medical documentation.
No code was written. This was a copywriting and campaign strategy project done with a “coding” assistant. The fundraiser went live and got funded.
Claude Code is not just for code.
A dystopian video game
One evening I gave Claude Code a chaotic prompt in Polish. Something about 4 friends and 2 dogs escaping post-capitalist Warsaw in the year 2089.
It made an ASCII terminal game in Python. I said “make it a browser game.” It did. I said “make it isometric with pixel art.” It did. I said “add missions and a health system.” It did.
From a single messy prompt, I ended up with an HTML5 Canvas game with programmatic isometric pixel art, multi-stage missions, random events, and named characters based on my real friends.
Is this useful? Not at all. Is it the most fun I’ve had with a computer in years? Absolutely.
This website
The site you’re reading this on. Astro framework, static generation, Vercel. Custom admin panel with a rich text editor and an AI writing assistant. Blog system, design system, dark/light mode, bilingual support.
One session to build the structure. A few more to refine.
The meta-moment
At some point I had 9 repositories and needed to push them to GitHub. But first: security audit. Was I accidentally committing API keys?
I used Claude Code to scan all 9 repos. It found exposed credentials in git history. Fixed .gitignore files. Standardized documentation.
Then my tokens ran out. So I used OpenAI’s Codex to do the final security check. It worked fine. Use whatever tool gets the job done.
What it costs
- February: Claude Pro ($20/month)
- March: Claude Max ($100/month) — I was hitting token limits daily
- Bonus: $43 in free extra usage credits
- Total month one: ~$63
A single day of my consulting time costs more than a month of Max. The math is not subtle.
What I actually think
After 30 days and 12 projects, here’s my honest take:
Claude Code is a multiplier, not a replacement. It multiplied my Python skills into production tools. It multiplied my marketing knowledge into automated systems. It multiplied one messy prompt into a video game.
But it multiplied what I already had. The marketing strategy is mine. The statistical significance check that Claude missed — I caught that because of 20 years of experience. The safety rules for the campaign CLI — I knew what to protect because I’ve seen budgets go wrong.
If I had no domain expertise, Claude Code would have helped me build impressive-looking things that don’t actually work. The Meta audit would have gone to the client with meaningless statistics. The campaign CLI would have no safety rails.
The tool is extraordinary. But it needs you to be good at your thing.
And one more thing — the friend who showed me Claude Code? He was right. But I wouldn’t have listened if he hadn’t literally sat me down and made me install it.
Sometimes the best tech recommendation is someone who won’t let you say “I’ll try it later.”
12 projects. 30 days. One pushy friend. The code isn’t always pretty. The results are.