Learning Development with AI

It's undeniable that AI is rapidly changing the landscape, and we all need to adapt. Many find AI to be a helpful tool, and I’ve personally found it beneficial in my workflow. It helps me solve common problems, complete tedious tasks, and serves as a great starting point when I have no idea where to begin.

However, I'm particularly interested in how new programmers should use AI during their learning process. How can they leverage it to learn faster without missing crucial knowledge?

There’s a parallel to the past when programmers would copy code from Google without fully understanding it resulting in functional but poorly understood code with potential implementation gaps. Now, it’s even easier to fall into this trap with AI. On the other hand, it’s also easier than ever to get any concept explained in a style that helps you learn.

New programmers face a dilemma: they need to grasp the fundamentals, like building a basic to-do application or understanding JavaScript’s prototype chain. At the same time, they could use AI to complete these tasks and quickly move on to building full-fledged applications. AI makes it easy to write code without actually being the problem solver. This is great for developers who already have the skills and can use AI to automate tedious work, while still digging into and solving complex problems when it matters.

This is a complex issue I’ve been thinking about while mentoring a friend who wants to learn programming. I believe there’s a sweet spot where new programmers can learn the craft while using AI to speed up debugging and explore modern tools.

This process won’t be easy, and it will vary from person to person, but getting it right is crucial.

Another consideration is that the interview process often lags behind current industry practices. A candidate who can easily solve problems with AI might struggle to do so manually, hurting their job prospects and forcing them to learn skills they might never use on the job.

I'm curious to hear your thoughts; please leave a comment below. Are you teaching development with an AI focus? Are you learning development and have found how to integrate AI?