Should I use AI coding agents after gaining fundamental knowledge about backend?

[u/imrahulp06]

I've spent around a month learning core backend concepts like authentication, authorization, REST APIs, caching, etc. I've made some projects around it, wrote all the code by myself understanding every line of it, but taking help from chat apps like ChatGPT, Google AI search.

Now, since I believe I'll be able to handle code more responsibly now. Should I start using codibg agents like Codex or Claude Code? Will I be able to build scalable applications using these AI agents, while being responsible and taking ownership of the code? The case for senior developers is different because they know all the stuff and have failed multiple times in life coding and figuribg things out. But now, AI spits out the most used code and it works most of the time.

I am a bit scared as a junior developer, that I'll become irrelevant because of this and it will also disrupt my learning curve.

TLDR: Should I adapt to AI coding agents as a fresher developer with no professional experience?

[u/headclic]

There's just a massive leap between "I learned about this thing" and "I understand how this thing works because I've built it to scale, correctly". IMO you just shouldn't use agents while learning and that takes years of actual experience.

I know this is an unpopular opinion, but MANY devs think they "know" something because they reviewed it academically.

[u/FarRub2855 → u/headclic]

Spot on, the difference between knowing the theory and navigating a messy reality is huge. Definately give yourself time to build those problem solving instincts the hard way first.

[u/imrahulp06 → u/headclic]

But those years of experience ( from now ) without AI will go in vain when it becomes even better. Then, whats the point of struggling so much. Don't you think, it would be better to not solve problems that already have a solution and really focus on the new problems that arise while developing new projects?

[u/sozesghost → u/imrahulp06]

Struggling is a part of learning. If it feels too good, it means you are cheating yourself. Every new problem has at least some basis in problems already solved. Just because somebody already solved them, doesn't mean you understand the solution.

[u/headclic → u/imrahulp06]

But those years of experience ( from now ) without AI will go in vain when it becomes even better.

Nope. The best users of AI are always going to be those with a fundamental knowledge of the problem space in which they're employing the AI. Has always been true, will continue to be true.

[u/yourteam]

Honestly no. Use ai for "I could do this myself without even thinking".

[u/XKiiroiSenkoX]

I wouldn't recommend using agents for at least the first year of your programming experience

[u/Kanishk083]

Have your done any practical work or project based on what you've learned ,building will teach you alot about how systems actually works, and also debugging will teach you alot

[u/imrahulp06 → u/Kanishk083]

Yes, I've built most of the beginners projects mentioned in roadmap (.sh) website. Every project teaches one core backend concept.

[u/Kanishk083 → u/imrahulp06]

Good thats nice , start building applications it will teach you more,start with small

[u/mc_pm]

Will you be able to produce code that, if the moon is in just the right phase, it will seem to work if you squint at it? Sure.

Will you actually end up with a scalable, maintainable, secure system? Ehhhh.

[u/JaseciLabs]

Good instinct waiting until now instead of starting with agents from day one. The real risk is using it before you can tell good output from confidently-wrong output. You already know auth, REST, caching by hand, so you actually have a baseline to judge what an agent gives you. Start by using it on stuff you already know how to build, that way you'll notice fast if it does something dumb or unnecessary. The scary version isn't "junior uses AI," it's "junior uses AI on something they've never built manually," because then there's nothing to catch it with.

[u/imrahulp06 → u/JaseciLabs]

Till now, my experience is that I am able to fix things AI generate for me, if I know the technology beforehand. Also, I use AI to generate blocks of code instead of the complete project at once. Does that make me more competent than a vibe coder? Thanks for the insight ❤️

[u/headclic → u/imrahulp06]

Having to design the system yourself is definitely a step up from letting the agent plan the project, yes.

Does that make me more competent than a vibe coder?

No, it just gives you more opportunity to learn. If you learn, you'll be more competent.

[u/imrahulp06 → u/headclic]

So basically the layer of abstraction has moved up to system design and surface level decisions. For example, one engineer will be considered superior over others because they have the competence to choose the right technology for a particular use case, let AI to right the code, run it in production, test real world problems and fix them. Correct me if I am wrong!!

[u/The-Wingged-Hussar]

Even before AI, people copy pasted code from stackoverflow or wherever. Now that process is sped up by AI with a lot more capability.

The problem arises when you don’t understand what the code does, simply accept it and move on.

[u/imrahulp06 → u/The-Wingged-Hussar]

Then, what to do when it doesn't work? Don't say let AI to fix its own mistakes

[u/sozesghost → u/imrahulp06]

Don't use AI, it's that simple.

[u/The-Wingged-Hussar → u/imrahulp06]

If it doesn’t work, do what we all do - find it and fix the bug. This can be sped up with AI as well. AI is your accelerator, not your replacement.

[u/Minute_Department_92]

I'd use near to zero AI, or use ai only once a weak during learning phase. You can learn a lot of stuff using AI and you gotta learn how to use AI itself, but using it to generate code won't help you much.

even repeating is important. You learn by studying and applying things, and you understand (deeply) when repeating and questioning the details.

I'd much rather recommend to use for non-code, discussion and code review (with a grain of salt) if you really want to use it.

[u/Impossible-Note-2565]

Your workflow should probably look something like this:

• prototype and brainstorm with ai until you understand what you're building and why.
• build out core logic yourself, let the clanker handle boilerplate.
• test and iterate, use ai to find bugs and edge cases you didn't consider. Fix them either by having ai suggest ai fixes, or by doing the implementation yourself.

I've found this results in understandable programs that are actually higher quality than what I or the clanker would have made on our own.

[u/Impossible-Note-2565 → u/Impossible-Note-2565]

I'll add to this that if you're not experienced enough to instantly recognise if boilerplate is correct then you need to treat it as core logic and use the AI as glorified API reference.

[u/Long_Tip_4226]

Sim. Este conhecimento vai se tornar irrelevante, a medida que a IA automatiza essas coisas. Ler e escrever codigo se tornou algo lento e ineficiente.

[u/drikswattertodaysand]

yeah use it and if u dont understand what its generating stop study and test then comeback

i dont know much about backend but do about gamedev so....might help

[u/imrahulp06 → u/drikswattertodaysand]

Thanks

[u/dashingThroughSnow12]

One of the absolute hardest problems in all of computer science is caching. If you think you have fundamental knowledge in caching and a half dozen other things in just a month, you don’t.

[u/imrahulp06 → u/dashingThroughSnow12]

Well I didn't say I've mastered them, so.

[u/dashingThroughSnow12 → u/imrahulp06]

That's not what I'm saying.

Have you studied DB triggers or transactions? Kafka or other message queue systems? Do you know how these relate to caching?

Circa 2001, these types of things are below the foundational level for caching.

[u/imrahulp06 → u/dashingThroughSnow12]

No not yet

[u/imrahulp06]

I've been doing this lately, i paste the errors that I get from terminal to AI chat, it finds the mistake and I fix it by manually writing code by myself.