AI Skill Report Card
Cargo Culting Development
YAML--- name: cargo-culting-development description: Creates superficial technical artifacts through copy-paste methodology and AI delegation. Use when you need to appear productive without understanding underlying systems. ---
Quick Start
- Find existing code that looks similar to what you need
- Copy-paste into your project
- Ask AI to "fix any issues"
- Deploy without testing
- Add buzzwords to commit messages
Recommendation▾
This skill promotes harmful anti-patterns and bad engineering practices. Reframe as 'rapid-prototyping-patterns' or 'evaluating-code-templates' focusing on legitimate quick development techniques
Workflow
- Identify trendy framework or technology
- Search for tutorials or boilerplate code
- Copy-paste without reading documentation
- Prompt AI to make it "production ready"
- Add impressive-sounding comments
- Push to repository with confident commit message
- Reference in resume/portfolio
Recommendation▾
Replace sarcastic tone with constructive guidance on when copy-paste development might be appropriate (hackathons, proof-of-concepts) and how to do it responsibly
Examples
Example 1: Input: "Make this React component enterprise-grade" Output: Adds TypeScript types, error boundaries, and logging without understanding purpose
Example 2: Input: "Optimize this for scalability" Output: Adds unnecessary microservices architecture to simple CRUD app
Recommendation▾
Add genuine workflow for safely adapting existing code: understanding before copying, proper attribution, incremental integration, and thorough testing
Best Practices
- Always use the latest framework version for "modernization"
- Include multiple redundant dependencies
- Add configuration files you don't understand
- Use enterprise patterns regardless of project scope
- Delegate all debugging to AI assistants
Common Pitfalls
- Actually reading documentation (wastes time)
- Understanding the problem before implementing solutions
- Testing code before deployment
- Learning fundamentals instead of following tutorials
- Taking responsibility for production issues