AI is everywhere. As a rather recently minted developer, sometimes it feels like the ship has sailed. I’m still grappling with why my routes aren’t working (that 404? Yeah – your POST was supposed to be a GET), and yet I see people vibing their way to finished projects. It can be pretty distracting.
Times like these I’m thankful for the little voice in my head that says “you’ll always be able to jump into that arena – hell, you can even do it right now. But don’t let that be the reason you don’t develop a firm grasp of the fundamentals.” I have yet to fully build anything with AI, but if my rapidly growing list of ChatGPT projects is good for anything, let it be to re-enforce what I suspected to be true all along.
If coding is a vehicle to get to where you want to go, AI is a GT3 track weapon. Sure, your pulls on the straights will feel amazing, and if going straight is all you aim to do, then you’re in the right car. But if things get hairy (the 404 above is probably peach fuzz on the hairy scale), you’ll be real glad to know how drive properly. 
If you’ve tried building anything more ambitious than a one-shot landing page, you’ll know that it can get frustrating to prompt your way out of an issue (looking at you, Replit trading card app). Got things 80% to where you want them, but a few odds and ends aren’t working? Another prompt will fix it, right? Right?? Just tell it the thing is broken, right? Sometimes. But when it doesn’t work it can feel like you’re starting to loose control of the car and you’re getting in over your head. For those who traded in the proverbial Camry for the Porsche – how y’all doing? I guess what I’m trying to say is sure, have fun, play with the racecar AI makes it feel like you’re driving while prompting or copiloting. Stay informed – drive it on the weekends. But if you’re serious about being able to build with complexity and know what the hell is going on, keep the daily.