Learning to Code While AI Is Trying to Do It For Me

I think I picked a pretty weird time to seriously learn programming.

Every other week there's a new AI model, someone saying software engineering is dead, someone else saying it's more important than ever, and some dude on Twitter claiming he built an entire startup over the weekend without knowing what a variable is.

So naturally, perfect time to learn how to code.

My goal is pretty simple. I want to get good enough that when I have an idea, I don't think:

"Damn, I wish somebody would make that."

I think:

"How the fuck would I build that?"

I want to eventually do this professionally too, obviously. But right now I'm more focused on actually becoming useful than worrying about job titles.

Starting With Python

Python was the first language I actually tried to understand instead of just copying shit.

At first, even something like this had like seven questions attached to it:

if answer.lower() == "yes":
                        print("Hello")

Why the colon? Why is that line moved over? What's the dot doing? Why two equals signs? What happens if I remove one?

And Python's response when you mess up one character is basically:

Absolutely fucking not.

The biggest thing I learned pretty quickly was that watching someone code and understanding what they're doing does not mean you can do it yourself.

So I started trying to beat tutorials.

If the tutorial says, "We're going to build a temperature converter," I pause it and try making one first.

Usually mine is worse.

That's fine.

The tutorial I was watching only did Celsius and Fahrenheit, so I added Kelvin. Suddenly I had problems the tutorial wasn't solving for me anymore.

That's when I actually had to program.

Google something. Try it. Break it. Fix it. Realize I fixed it wrong. Break something else. Fix that.

Repeat.

Programming Isn't Really About Memorizing Code

This was probably the biggest thing that clicked for me.

I originally thought programmers basically collected syntax in their brain until eventually they knew enough spells to create Facebook.

I'm realizing that's not really it.

The actual skill is breaking a problem into pieces.

I made a little student grade program. Nothing crazy. Enter names and grades, store them, reject invalid grades, calculate averages, shit like that.

But even something that simple forced me to ask questions.

What if they enter 150?

What if they enter -20?

What if they type "banana"?

What if they type DONE instead of done?

Every answer creates another question.

And I'm starting to realize that's basically programming.

CSS Is Witchcraft

Then I started HTML.

HTML had me feeling like a genius for about 20 minutes.

<h1>Hello</h1>

Holy shit. A heading.

Then CSS showed up and humbled me immediately.

I'm building my portfolio, It's All Subjective, while I'm learning.

I didn't want the usual white-background "Hi, I'm John and I'm passionate about coding 🤓" portfolio.

I wanted mine dark, purple, programming-inspired and a little weird.

Which meant immediately trying to build shit I didn't know how to build.

CSS has taught me that knowing properties and understanding layout are VERY different things.

You think:

margin-left: 100px;

Move thing right.

Easy.

Except now another thing moved.

Or it looks perfect at 100% zoom and turns into complete garbage when you zoom out.

Then you discover Flexbox and think you've found God.

Then Flexbox introduces you to 14 new problems.

Eventually I realized I needed to stop thinking about individual elements and start thinking about relationships.

Parent. Child. Container. Viewport. Document flow.

CSS still randomly chooses violence, but at least now I understand why sometimes.

Building Before I'm Ready

I'm also done waiting until I'm "ready" to build things.

Because what the hell does ready even mean?

Learn HTML, then CSS, then JavaScript, React, Node, databases, APIs, authentication, deployment...

At that rate I'll build my first website when I'm 47.

So I'm building now.

My code is probably going to look stupid to me six months from now.

Good.

That means I got better.

I've basically made one rule for myself:

Make every project slightly harder than what I currently know how to do.

Not impossible.

Just hard enough that I get stuck.

Because getting stuck seems to be where most of the actual learning happens.

Google Isn't Cheating

I also used to think looking things up meant I didn't really know programming.

That's dumb.

There's a massive difference between Googling:

"Build me an entire student management system Python code"

and:

"Python find highest value in list"

One is asking somebody else to solve the problem.

The other is looking for a tool.

I want to figure out the logic myself.

If I know I need to find the highest number in a list but forgot the exact function?

I'm looking that shit up.

There is no trophy for remembering every Python function.

And Then There's AI

This is obviously the weirdest part of learning programming right now.

AI can write code. A LOT of code.

It can debug, explain errors, write tests, build components and look at a screenshot of my website and tell me why my CSS decided to commit suicide.

That's insanely useful.

It's also dangerous when you're learning.

I could tell AI:

"Build my entire responsive portfolio."

And probably get something better than what I've made.

But then what exactly is my portfolio demonstrating?

That I'm really good at copying shit from ChatGPT?

So I'm trying to use AI more like a teacher than an employee.

Instead of:

"Give me the code."

I'm trying to ask:

"What do I need to understand to solve this?"

Then I go try it myself.

That's been a much better system.

AI can speed up the learning without doing all the learning for me.

Because I really don't want to become somebody who can build amazing software as long as ChatGPT is open, but the second something breaks I'm completely useless.

If AI gives me 300 lines of code and line 187 breaks, somebody still needs to understand what the hell is happening.

I want that person to eventually be me.

Where I'm Going

JavaScript is next.

Then deeper JavaScript, Node, databases, React and eventually full-stack development.

I'm keeping Python around too, especially because I want to work with AI eventually.

The giant project in my head is basically a social platform built around movies and TV.

Think bits of Letterboxd, IMDb, Reddit, Instagram and Discord.

Reviews, discussions, communities, feeds, threads, profiles and eventually AI actually built into the platform instead of some useless chatbot button shoved into the corner.

Right now I am nowhere remotely close to being able to build that.

Like, not even in the same postal code.

And that's kind of the point.

That's the mountain.

Right now I'm celebrating when I make a fucking div stay where I told it to stay.

Eventually that becomes databases, authentication, APIs, WebSockets, recommendation systems, AI, deployment and a million other things I don't understand yet.

I'll get there.

Being Bad at Programming Is Actually Pretty Fun

One thing I'm enjoying is how quickly your brain starts changing.

A few weeks ago I'd look at a website and see:

Navigation bar. Image. Button.

Now I'm starting to see:

Container. Flexbox. Max-width. Fixed header. Media query. Hover state.

I'm probably wrong half the time.

But I'm looking at it differently.

Same thing with errors.

At first red text appeared and my debugging strategy was basically:

oh fuck

Now I'm actually reading the error.

Revolutionary technology.

And when something doesn't work, I'm trying to ask:

What did I expect?

What actually happened?

Where did those become different?

That has helped way more than randomly changing code until the computer stops yelling at me.

The Actual Goal

I don't want to memorize programming.

I want to become comfortable not knowing something.

Give me a problem I've never seen before.

I might not know the answer.

That's fine.

I want to know how to start.

Break it down.

Build the first part.

Get stuck.

Research.

Try something.

Break it.

Figure out why.

Keep going.

That's basically what I want out of all of this.

Eventually I want a software job, obviously. Preferably one that pays me a disgusting amount of money.

I have bills.

But before that, I want independence.

I want to have some stupid app idea at 2 AM and instead of wondering whether it exists, open VS Code and start building it.

I'm still very much a beginner.

I still Google basic shit.

I still forget syntax.

I still spend embarrassing amounts of time fighting CSS.

But I'm a better beginner than I was before.

And the biggest change is probably this:

Before, when I didn't know how to build something, I thought:

"I need to learn how to build this."

Now I'm starting to think:

"Fuck it. Let me try."

Usually what comes next is broken code.

But it's my broken code.

And then I get to figure out why it's broken.

For now, that's the plan.

Learn shit. Build shit. Break shit. Figure out why. Use Google. Use AI. Don't let AI do all the thinking. Build something slightly harder. Repeat.

Hopefully somewhere along the way I stop being somebody who's learning programming and just realize:

Oh shit. I guess I'm a programmer now.

Anyway.

Back to fighting my CSS.

The programming field vast, the internet is vaster!

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Project cycles terrify me!