Zahed Heidari
Senior Software Engineer
I'm a Senior Software Engineer specialising in AI integration and intelligent tooling. At Blue Beck, I'm a core developer on SMARTY's React Native app, serving 500k+ users, and I champion the team's adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices.
Outside of client work, I build web and mobile products with React Native and Next.js, and explore how AI can act as a reasoning partner for developers rather than just a code generator - externalising what you know, what you suspect, and what constraints you're working within.
I speak on helping developers adopt AI deliberately, so they stay sharp and ship faster without losing the thinking that makes them good engineers in the first place.
Developers Now Have a Second Brain: Learning to Think With AI
AI tools are often positioned as a way to write code faster — but their biggest impact is in how developers think, reason, and make decisions.
This talk reframes the conversation: instead of chasing prompt tricks or the latest tooling, it centres on the mental models and workflows that make AI genuinely useful in day-to-day engineering.
You'll leave with:
A repeatable approach for debugging complex issues using AI — without outsourcing your thinking.
Practical strategies for navigating unfamiliar codebases with more confidence and speed.
A clearer way to structure technical decisions and pressure-test your assumptions using AI as a thinking tool.
A framework for staying in control of your craft — regardless of which AI tools dominate next quarter.
Mental models outlast tools. This talk gives you ones worth keeping.