Do I Stop Learning Coding? DSA?
Hey.
I don’t know how to start this. It’s all over me. I’ve been trying to learn Coding, Data Structures, Algorithms, Design Patterns, Best practices etc… but will I still need that? Am i wasting my time? Can really AI do all this, and actually do it better? Are we in an Era, where one should only need to learn the ‘basics’ of development, so that I can understand some LLM generated code? Where do we go next? How will DEV interviews look like in 5 years? Is LeetCode still a thing now? Did I waste all my time?
What happened to those days where we’d spend hours watching youtube videos, taking online bootcamps, reading documentation all just to be able to develop our app or do something. All is thrown to the garbage now? This is a frustration post. I don’t do what to do next. I just loved coding, and enjoyed code-crafting. Anyone has the same crisis? How are you coping? What are you doing next?
15 comments
If you had a kid, would you tell him not to bother learning to read since he can just listen to audiobooks? Would you tell her not to learn math because she can just use a calculator? Would you tell them not to learn a musical instrument because they can just listen to spotify?
As a former kid, I remember challenging the idea of learning math, due to the calculator existing. The counter argument was always, “you’re not always going to have a calculator in your pocket”. It turns out that was dead wrong.
However, I’m still glad I learned math and wish I had learned even more.
A calculator is useless without knowing what to type in, as well as having a rough idea of what kind of answer to expect incase it’s typed in wrong. The counter argument against, “but I have a calculator”, isn’t, “you won’t always have a calculator”. The real counter argument is that knowing how to do the math enables the use of the calculator, and the more math a person knows, the more useful that calculator becomes. A mathematician or physicist can do things with a calculator that I don’t even know are possible.
When a person doesn’t know what they don’t know, even AI can become nerfed. To get the most out of the AI, they need to know that what is being asked is possible, how to ask it in an intelligent way, and how to understand and make use of the result. All of this requires a base of foundational knowledge. The larger that base, the further the AI can be pushed while also maintaining understanding and control.
However, I’m still glad I learned math and wish I had learned even more.
A calculator is useless without knowing what to type in, as well as having a rough idea of what kind of answer to expect incase it’s typed in wrong. The counter argument against, “but I have a calculator”, isn’t, “you won’t always have a calculator”. The real counter argument is that knowing how to do the math enables the use of the calculator, and the more math a person knows, the more useful that calculator becomes. A mathematician or physicist can do things with a calculator that I don’t even know are possible.
When a person doesn’t know what they don’t know, even AI can become nerfed. To get the most out of the AI, they need to know that what is being asked is possible, how to ask it in an intelligent way, and how to understand and make use of the result. All of this requires a base of foundational knowledge. The larger that base, the further the AI can be pushed while also maintaining understanding and control.
Was going to make a reply, but yours was perfect.
Yes, probably... For a few years now I've been telling people to assume if they're in a tech job it will be their last. That's not to say there will be no tech jobs, but they will be very hard to get and less well paid making them relatively unattractive vs other work.
As it stands it would be a mistake to focus on a career at all. It might take a few decades, but AI and robotics will eventually automate all productive labour whether we like it or not. Any job you do is at risk of disruption in various ways from here until the end.
If you're still in school "learn to be a plumber" is decent advice. If you're older your best bet is probably to look for various low-skill and semi-decent paying jobs.
Your main focus should be trying to achieve financial independence, your physical security and food/water security – in this order. You should also learn basic survival skills and learn how to build things. Can you grow your own food? Can you make and repair tools?
In addition to the job losses political systems are likely to break down over the coming decades as AI and wealth inequality destabilises and erodes the political order. Meanwhile technological risks will undermine our security.
Your concern about your passions and career will seem silly soon. While it's good people are starting to worry about mass joblessness I feel most people are still misunderstanding the full impact AI will have on society with time. Be thinking and planning for the next decade and the decade after that, not the fact there won't be any tech jobs in a few years.
As it stands it would be a mistake to focus on a career at all. It might take a few decades, but AI and robotics will eventually automate all productive labour whether we like it or not. Any job you do is at risk of disruption in various ways from here until the end.
If you're still in school "learn to be a plumber" is decent advice. If you're older your best bet is probably to look for various low-skill and semi-decent paying jobs.
Your main focus should be trying to achieve financial independence, your physical security and food/water security – in this order. You should also learn basic survival skills and learn how to build things. Can you grow your own food? Can you make and repair tools?
In addition to the job losses political systems are likely to break down over the coming decades as AI and wealth inequality destabilises and erodes the political order. Meanwhile technological risks will undermine our security.
Your concern about your passions and career will seem silly soon. While it's good people are starting to worry about mass joblessness I feel most people are still misunderstanding the full impact AI will have on society with time. Be thinking and planning for the next decade and the decade after that, not the fact there won't be any tech jobs in a few years.
"How are you coping?"
I'm using AI at work; however, I still believe fundamentals are valuable.
This is why at 37 I still do every day a session of MathAcademy[1] and recently I built a tool to practice coding&algorithms[2] that I plan to do a session each day because I believe coding&math will prove useful in the future and the only way to get really good at them is to practice them in a deliberate way and also have a sort of review component built in place.
These 2 take around 1h combined each day. Will I look back in 10 years telling myself I wasted this time? Probably not, because I really enjoy doing both of them and I really like learning stuff, so at least I can look back and know I had fun learning.
[1] https://mathacademy.com/
[2] https://github.com/zuzuleinen/algotutor/
I'm using AI at work; however, I still believe fundamentals are valuable.
This is why at 37 I still do every day a session of MathAcademy[1] and recently I built a tool to practice coding&algorithms[2] that I plan to do a session each day because I believe coding&math will prove useful in the future and the only way to get really good at them is to practice them in a deliberate way and also have a sort of review component built in place.
These 2 take around 1h combined each day. Will I look back in 10 years telling myself I wasted this time? Probably not, because I really enjoy doing both of them and I really like learning stuff, so at least I can look back and know I had fun learning.
[1] https://mathacademy.com/
[2] https://github.com/zuzuleinen/algotutor/
Ok I have to ask you are you in it for the paycheck or the passion? How you answer determines your path. If a paycheck optimize for the largest salary you can conceivably obtain based on your ability and education. If passion follow your passion, get educated and eventually you will find some work in your field. The passion is contagious and will positively affect your life in ways you can't even imagine at your age currently (self satisfaction plays a lot into child rearing). Notice I didn't say money. The day I stop learning is the day I die. My advice, don't stop learning.
Yes as a hobby but knowledge work will be dead. Even meta is laying off further 10% of its workforce. Software engineering as a career path is just done.
producing code is just part of the programming, albite a very important part. from my very limited exp, i say programming is more about ...reasoning about behavior, managing complexity, making tradeoffs, handling failure, and building things that still make sense six months later.
AI gets your there faster, but you still need to do the work.
Also think about.. understanding correctness, performance, memory, concurrency, failure modes, and long-term maintainability is another.
just IMHO.
AI gets your there faster, but you still need to do the work.
Also think about.. understanding correctness, performance, memory, concurrency, failure modes, and long-term maintainability is another.
just IMHO.
You have to build something for yourself that makes money.
> I’ve been trying to learn Coding, Data Structures, Algorithms, Design Patterns, Best practices etc… but will I still need that? Am i wasting my time? Can really AI do all this, and actually do it better?
Yes. No. No. Not really.
I think you should double down on this. You can only know when the AI is wrong if you know the fundamentals and the interviewers will test you on that.
If it goes wrong, you are paid to explain exactly why it went wrong. Not just writing the code; generated or not.
> How will DEV interviews look like in 5 years? Is LeetCode still a thing now?
They will just do Leetcode in person and quiz you with a whiteboard.
> Did I waste all my time? What happened to those days where we’d spend hours watching youtube videos, taking online bootcamps, reading documentation all just to be able to develop our app or do something.
It is a scam if you are not genuinely interested and are there because of the salary.
The point is don't wait for someone to tell you to just build something. You have to do it and learn as you go along.
> I’ve been trying to learn Coding, Data Structures, Algorithms, Design Patterns, Best practices etc… but will I still need that? Am i wasting my time? Can really AI do all this, and actually do it better?
Yes. No. No. Not really.
I think you should double down on this. You can only know when the AI is wrong if you know the fundamentals and the interviewers will test you on that.
If it goes wrong, you are paid to explain exactly why it went wrong. Not just writing the code; generated or not.
> How will DEV interviews look like in 5 years? Is LeetCode still a thing now?
They will just do Leetcode in person and quiz you with a whiteboard.
> Did I waste all my time? What happened to those days where we’d spend hours watching youtube videos, taking online bootcamps, reading documentation all just to be able to develop our app or do something.
It is a scam if you are not genuinely interested and are there because of the salary.
The point is don't wait for someone to tell you to just build something. You have to do it and learn as you go along.
These posts where people start from a worldview that believes AI can and will do everything all have a flawed premise. It can't. It won't.
Even if it could, it is a bad idea. How many sob stories are posted to HN about someone building a small startup that is utterly reliant on a 3rd party, and then they crash out and fail when that 3rd party has a problem. And the responses are always the same: "ooh, harsh way to learn that lesson... sorry." AI is no different. It is a 3rd party dependency. It will fail you. You need to have the skills to respond and adapt when those failures occur.
If AI helps you and makes your life easier, great. Use it. If it does 98% of the work for you, that is amazing. But if you could not have done it without AI, then it isn't helping you, it is a crutch. Think about airline pilots. They often (mostly?) just chill and observe while the autopilot does everything. But they can step up, take control, and do everything when needed. Can you imagine flying with a pilot who says, "No, I don't know how to land a plane. The autopilot does that for me." Don't be the software equivalent of a pilot who can't land their own plane.
Even if it could, it is a bad idea. How many sob stories are posted to HN about someone building a small startup that is utterly reliant on a 3rd party, and then they crash out and fail when that 3rd party has a problem. And the responses are always the same: "ooh, harsh way to learn that lesson... sorry." AI is no different. It is a 3rd party dependency. It will fail you. You need to have the skills to respond and adapt when those failures occur.
If AI helps you and makes your life easier, great. Use it. If it does 98% of the work for you, that is amazing. But if you could not have done it without AI, then it isn't helping you, it is a crutch. Think about airline pilots. They often (mostly?) just chill and observe while the autopilot does everything. But they can step up, take control, and do everything when needed. Can you imagine flying with a pilot who says, "No, I don't know how to land a plane. The autopilot does that for me." Don't be the software equivalent of a pilot who can't land their own plane.
All reasonable questions that are very hard to answer.
If I could see the future well enough to answer those questions, I'd be a bitcoin billionaire.
Consider that as of (always and) 2026 you are held accountable for whatever AI-slop* you produce. Will that change within 5 years? The mindset is shifting from doing the right thing, to instructing the AI to do the right thing. Even if you're not responsible for the instructing part (e.g. using AI export feature drafts, to use an AI software factory to refine and implement), you're still owning said implementation in the end because you're responsible for the refinement and review. You should know how to do the work and reason about it—but you're also responsible now for correcting AI—less work but more responsibility.
Holy fuck, another young person give up on life thread.
Yes, as a software developer you will still need to learn to write software. The most important skill learned from this, speaking from 20 years experience writing open source and corporate software and 30 years military, is systems of organization. Call it architecture if you want. You won’t know how to put the Lego pieces together until you have done it yourself many different times.
AI can write software for you, as can a rookie, but only an experienced developer can determine what’s crap and how to do it better according to evidence.
Yes, as a software developer you will still need to learn to write software. The most important skill learned from this, speaking from 20 years experience writing open source and corporate software and 30 years military, is systems of organization. Call it architecture if you want. You won’t know how to put the Lego pieces together until you have done it yourself many different times.
AI can write software for you, as can a rookie, but only an experienced developer can determine what’s crap and how to do it better according to evidence.
Just because AI makes code that technically works, doesn’t mean it is designing good maintainable systems.
Even if I’m using AI to write some code, I’ll often have it do it several times, because the first way it does it seems overly complex and kind of dumb. When it does this, logical errors are also harder to spot.
Knowing how to code, and having experience, will help you have opinions about these kinds of things, challenge poor ideas from the AI, and when it can’t get out of its own way you’ll maintain the option to do it yourself.
Even if I’m using AI to write some code, I’ll often have it do it several times, because the first way it does it seems overly complex and kind of dumb. When it does this, logical errors are also harder to spot.
Knowing how to code, and having experience, will help you have opinions about these kinds of things, challenge poor ideas from the AI, and when it can’t get out of its own way you’ll maintain the option to do it yourself.