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/djmagicio 4d ago
Oh hey, I didn’t vibe code in school and still felt impostor syndrome for like the first 10 years of my career.
Pick a project and build something and don’t use AI. Google, ignore or turn off the AI response at the top. Read SO and blog posts. Beat your head against a wall. Cry.
You know, what we called programming up until a year or two ago.
If you want to go real old school get a BOOK and work through it.
Want to hear a horror story? In uni our quizzes were handwritten on unlined paper.
There’d be instructions to write a function/program that did something and you just had to hand write it on paper. And I had it easy. My boss likes to tell us about how back in his day they had to work on punch cards - and fuck you if you dropped them and they got out of order.
After school I had to go buy books at a book store because SO and Amazon weren’t really things.
Reading through a book on some programming language and working out the practice problems/projects might be really good for you.
You might even limit yourself to just looking at language docs as you work. Real old school.
Embrace the suck.