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Why would someone want to learn code when AI does it better and faster?

4•manimonji•3h ago
I know it sounds like I'm some sort of self-taught "prompt engineer" but actually I spent some time learning to code, and a mistake I made was focusing too much on learning different frameworks and syntax etc etc. But it's impossible to consistently program and only learn syntax and no problem solving. So I learned a bit that too. But it hurt me very bad when I found out, not only AI is better than me in syntax, so it is in problem solving (however I sometimes catch their mistakes, but they're generally better than me). And they are rapidly becoming better. Recently I don't learn as much new stuff about programming and etc. For example, today I used beam search without knowing what it is and how it works, and I know it's something that I'd rarely use again and it and It's obvious that I used AI. Have you seen that meme about someone saying "I made this website in 10 minutes" and then sending a localhost url? It kinda wants to tell us just using AI won't do it. But so if someone knows the very basic, general things, they can perform as good as someone who actually can code well without AI? (I'm not talking about myself, still learning, always will be learning). So I think it looks like the better choice is to just focus on prompting AIs, finding good ideas and things like that and put less time on coding!? (don't judge me, I love coding. Or I did sometime. I sometimes still do). And I know if I'm gonna get discouraged this easily and think of quitting I'd better quit (honestly I don't think like that, but that's the answer you get if you talk of quitting). I don't want to quit. I'm just wondering and I just don't know what to tell to someone if they ask me this. Also I don't know if this is the right place to ask questions and discuss too?

Comments

hnthrow10282910•2h ago
Why learn math when a calculator can do it? Why read a book if AI can summarise it? Why walk to the store if someone can deliver it?

There is no free lunch. The trade off is you get short term gains and long term cognitive dementia. You become a useless generalist.

ciwolex•2h ago
- Like every muscle, doing it by yourself, develops your brain's thinking abilities.

- Yes, AI can do whatever the brain can do, but that doesn't develop it.

- What sets humans apart is the ability to think about a situation and do something about it. The ability to think sets us apart. That ability should be developed regardless of what AI can do.

- AI could be better. So what? Comparing yourself with others is the root of disappointment and dissatisfaction. Compare yourself with yourself. Are you better today than you were yesterday?

- Competing with AI is an ever losing battle. Don't compete with AI. Develelop yourself.

codingdave•2h ago
AI does not do it better. It just does it faster. Sometimes that is useful. Sometimes that is harmful. You would want to learn to code to be able to tell the difference.
kypro•2h ago
> AI does not do it better. It just does it faster.

Untrue for the majority of engineers, and almost all with less than a decade experience.

The AIs will only get better from here too.

kypro•2h ago
If you genuinely enjoy building, then I think you should just focus on building and not worry about the code. If you can get the results you want without caring, then just do that.

Anything you learn that has any value (which is very little these days) will soon become worthless as AI continues to improve.

If you're learning to code because you're a problem solver like myself, and you enjoy challenging your mind, then this isn't the field for you anymore.

I'm looking to retire soon because I feel like I have no professional purpose as SWE anymore. I used to enjoy building things, but I think that was because I liked the challenge of building things that were difficult, and I don't find any aspect of working with AI challenging really.

Even before you starting coding, just knowing how to do something complicated the right way used to be hard.

There are problems where if you can't figure out the math or don't know the algorithms in the field, then you basically cannot solve the problem. You don't even really know what you're looking for.

Today if you're trying to solve some complex scheduling problem you can just ask an AI and it might crap out a genetic algorithm, or if you need to align two objects in 3D space you can ask an AI and it will crap out an implementation of the Kabsch algorithm. You don't need to know how they work or the math behind them. You don't even need to know they exist.

I would hate for you to waste as much time as I have learning useless stuff.

Ask yourself why you want to learn to code, and pursue that in a more valuable way.

I'm Eric Ries, author of "The Lean Startup" and new book "Incorruptible" – AMA

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