A developer asks whether AI coding tools are helping them learn or think less
Terrible_Spare_8371 · reddit · 2026-07-26
A beginner developer asks whether AI is helping them code or just helping them avoid learning.
- They describe building an API route with an AI coding tool that initially worked.
- After a database field changed, the code broke and successive AI fixes made the flow harder to understand.
- They then retried with a smaller route, using AI only when stuck, writing validation themselves, logging each step, and learning how the database client handles errors.
- The post concludes that AI helps ship more features, but less AI can mean deeper understanding.
The author asks for rules on when to let AI write code and when to force yourself to reason through it.
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