As a Software Engineer working on Gen AI features, I’m constantly exploring tools that can speed up my development workflow. Recently, I got to try Cursor for the first time in a professional setting, and wow — it completely changed how I tackle rapid prototyping and spike sessions.
First Time Cursor User? No Problem! 🦾
Being a first-time user of Cursor for office work, I was initially skeptical about diving into a new IDE (I love IntelliJ too!). But the setup was surprisingly straightforward. Within minutes, I had Cursor configured with my work environment, and here’s what really impressed me: my work data remained completely secure within our enterprise version of Cursor. No more worrying about sensitive code or API keys accidentally leaking — everything stays within the controlled environment.
From Zero to Working POC in 24 Hours⚡
My mission was to build a Generative AI conversation system that could extract meaningful insights from sales conversations using our internal GPT Gateway. What would typically take days or even weeks of planning and development became a reality in just one day.
Here’s what I accomplished:
- GPT Gateway Integration: Connected to our internal GPT Gateway API with proper authentication
- Prompt Engineering: Built sophisticated prompts for extracting various business insights from conversation data
- Structured Output: Generated JSON responses with timestamps and detailed analysis
- Error Handling: Implemented retry mechanisms and fallback strategies
The Cursor Advantage: Learning While Building ❤️🔥
- Intelligent Prompting: Cursor’s AI-assisted coding (powered by Claude 3.5 Sonnet ) made prompt engineering feel like a conversation. Instead of manually crafting complex prompts, I could describe what I wanted in natural language, and Cursor would help me refine and structure them. The iterative process of tweaking prompts became incredibly efficient.
- Rapid POC Development: Building a proof-of-concept usually involves a lot of trial and error. With Cursor, I could:
- Generate boilerplate code instantly
- Debug API integrations
- Refactor code on the fly
- Handle complex JSON parsing and data transformation
- Validation and Iteration: What really stood out was how quickly I could validate my output and iterate. When the GPT Gateway returned unexpected responses, Cursor helped me understand the issues and suggest fixes. The feedback loop became incredibly tight — test, analyze, improve, repeat.
Spiking Made Simple 🧠
For anyone who’s done spike sessions, you know the challenge: how do you estimate effort for something you’ve never built before? Cursor changed this game entirely.
- Accurate Estimations: Since I could build a working prototype in a day, I now had concrete data points for:
- API integration complexity
- Prompt engineering requirements
- Error handling scenarios
- Performance considerations
- No Implementation Surprises: The biggest win? Even though we haven’t moved to actual implementation yet, Cursor helped us thoroughly test the API integration and understand the data flows during our spike session. We’ve already identified the edge cases and validated the core functionality, which means when we do implement this feature, our sprint planning will be much more accurate. There won’t be any surprises about API limitations or integration complexity.
The Developer Experience Revolution 🤖
Tools like Cursor are fundamentally changing how we approach software development. Here’s what I noticed:
- Reduced Cognitive Load: Instead of spending hours on boilerplate code and debugging syntax errors, I could focus on the actual business logic and user experience.
- Faster Learning Curve: New technologies and APIs become less intimidating when you have an AI assistant that can explain concepts and generate working examples.
- Better Code Quality: Cursor’s suggestions often led to more robust error handling, better documentation, and cleaner code structure than I might have written manually.
Showcasing AI Innovation 💡
Working on Generative AI features at work is incredibly exciting, and tools like Cursor help us move faster than ever. Our conversation insights system demonstrates how we’re leveraging AI to extract meaningful insights from customer conversations — helping teams understand key business dynamics in real-time.
Building this sophisticated system in a day really shows both the power of modern AI tools and the maturity of our internal AI infrastructure.
Final Thoughts 🫡
As developers, we’re living in an amazing time where AI is augmenting our capabilities rather than replacing them. Cursor represents the future of development — where the focus shifts from “how do I write this code?” to “what problem am I solving?”
For anyone considering trying Cursor for their next spike session or POC, my advice is simple: just do it! The learning curve is minimal, the productivity gains are massive, and the quality of your prototypes will surprise you.
The future of development is collaborative, intelligent, and incredibly fast. And I’m excited to be building the tools that will define this future at work.
Building the future of AI-powered sales insights, one spike session at a time 🎯