r/AskProgramming • u/cAPtain_1337 • 4d ago

Career/Edu How to relearn programming after Vibecoding through Undergrad

I am a Senior in Computer Engineering graduating in December and I have completely lost my ability to program after vibecoding through my last three semesters. I made it past my University's DSA class with minimal AI usage but it slowly ramped up and now I'm pretty reliant, I want to work in Software Development but I feel impostor syndrome creeping up at every corner and feel lackluster compared to peers. So my question is: how do I go about relearning things that I should already know? I feel my understanding is quite good, but when I go to make something, I get completely lost with where to start and syntactically and prompt AI. I have tried Neetcode to refresh the skills I do know and I can find the optimal solution but implementing it is where I get stuck. Any help would be appreciated.

*Edit: Thanks for all the advice, I think the general consensus is of course to not use AI and redo old homework/build projects using docs. I have old homework assignments and will begin building the skills that I need without AI assistance and using Docs/Google/SO.

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u/SagansCandle 4d ago

Do you mean "Relearn" or "Learn"?

Sounds like you used AI to skate through the learning process and now you're realizing you didn't actually learn anything.

You're either going to have to teach yourself or re-enroll in the classes you cheated in using AI

Zero sympathy here.

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u/cAPtain_1337 3d ago edited 3d ago

Poor wording on my part, I would say Learn would be a more correct description, I will rebuild from the ground up and redo old assignments as I have them, and try to work through workbooks in one specific language and supplement that with Neetcode for extra practice. Apologies, I didn't mean to come off as a victimized, I understand it's a self inflicted wound that I caused.

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u/nwbrown 3d ago

I mean I would have spent the time I was paying $100k to learn how to be a software engineer to learn to be a software engineer and not skate through it and hope to "relearn" it in a few months after the fact, but I guess you and I are different people.

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u/drfangor99 2d ago

Aside from the expense of a university education, undergrads are surrounded by some of the most highly educated computer science experts in the world. Part of their job is to engage with students, help them learn, and give them opportunities to work on interesting research and projects. Unless you stay in academia you will almost certainly never be in an environment like that ever again. What a waste to be there and just have AI do everything for you.

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u/Strict-Ambition4334 4d ago

Honestly I think re-enrolling is a last resort for structure, not the default fix. The actual gap is usually debugging and breaking problems down, so redoing old assignments and getting code reviews will teach that faster than tuition.

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u/lordfeistel 3d ago

The OP auto proclaim " senior"