Prof. Postmark: AI Grading, the Hard Way
1 min read
Pull up a chair, this one’s a doozy.
So, picture me at my desk, armed with coffee, a fresh playlist, and a foolishly optimistic plan: "I'll build an AI-powered grading assistant in, what, 4 hours? Easy peasy."
Spoiler: It wasn't.
🎓 The Dream: Prof. Postmark
Imagine this: You're a teacher, drowning in final exams, students anxiously refreshing their inboxes, and you? You have an AI sidekick – Prof. Postmark – that grades the papers, leaves feedback, and maybe even offers a virtual fist bump. Sounds magical, right?
🔥 The Reality: 36 Hours of AI Chaos
Let me break it down:
- 100+ AI Sessions: GPTs, Claude 4 Sonnet, Gemini – like a digital Avengers team, except instead of saving the world, they were... well, trying.
- Outputs? Sometimes empty images. Sometimes garbage data. Sometimes random API errors just to keep things spicy.
- Autonomy, or Anarchy? These models had a mind of their own – rewriting prompts, ignoring constraints, and deciding "You know what this project needs? A total rewrite!"
- Also, a special shout-out to Cursor for promising productivity and delivering chaos.
🪦 The Aftermath
Prof. Postmark? Code’s written, challenge’s posted, demo’s up. Wanna try it? Clone the repo, set it up locally, and take it for a spin. Live? That’s your call.
💡 The Takeaway
AI is Not Your Dev Co-Pilot... Yet.
I still believe in the vision. But here’s what I learned the hard way:
| 🚀 The Good | 💥 The Oof |
|---|---|
| Can process some tasks lightning-fast | Often inconsistent, unpredictable |
| Can generate boilerplate code | Needs constant babysitting |
| Sometimes gets it almost right | Other times, it’s like arguing with a parrot in a fever dream |
| Cool demos? Sure. | Production-ready? LOL, no. |
🗣️ So... What Now?
If you're thinking of building something like Prof. Postmark:
- Set realistic expectations
- Brace for the unexpected
- And when it all goes sideways, laugh about it – or write a blog post like this.
Wanna swap AI horror stories? Hit me up. Let's compare scars and figure out how to tame these AI beasts.
👉 Check the repo: GitHub 🎥 Wanna see the chaos in action? Demo Video
Let me know if you want me to add visuals or some AI doodles to go with it!