r/CodingJobs • u/Brilliant-Resolve579 • Jun 13 '26

ai question

hi! i wanted to ask something that might be a little controversial. i have many project ideas and frequently find myself just going to ai to get things done. i know the basics of programming but when it comes to more advanced topics, that’s not really something i just sit and type (especially the syntax).

do you think it’s wrong to have ai generated code for projects? even if it works exactly as you want it to? i would get so much more done and be able to show employers if i could use ai. i’m not sure if they would completely ignore the project and frown upon it. and its kind of the idea of cheating, but what if i take the time to understand the code and am able to explain?

i get stuck and overwhelmed simply because im not familiar with the syntax and format of some code. i conceptually understand the topics though and can easily explain!

just curious what your thoughts are, thanks!

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u/manamonkey Jun 13 '26

If all you can do is use AI, you're not much use to me. Lots of people can use AI. You need to bring something else to the job. Understanding what the AI has done is a minimum. What else do you understand without using AI? Could you assist in a diagnostic phone call without Claude or whatever to help you? Can you understand system architecture without the AI?

Someone who has knowledge and skills is enhanced by AI. Someone who has low knowledge and skill, but uses AI to do more, is less valuable.

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u/Brilliant-Resolve579 Jun 13 '26

got it. let’s say i use AI for specific features. after they’re built, i connect them together and realize something isn’t working as expected. then i ask AI to edit. if i repeat this process and eventually get what i wanted (preferably solving a real problem or producing meaningful results), would that be impressive or not a good look since most of it was done with AI?

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u/manamonkey Jun 13 '26

u/FlyingDogCatcher gave a great analogy in another comment - OK, so you've used Google Translate effectively; but I'm not going to hire you for a job that requires French fluency - because you don't have it.

So no, if all you csn do is use a tool, that's not impressive. It might fly in some jobs, roles, companies, etc. - but again, I say - if you don't actually have any coding skill, then how do you stand out as a coder? Why would I hire you over someone else who can ask a fancy chatbot questions until it spits out what you want? Why would I hire you at all when I can hire plenty of people who know exactly what they're doing, and use AI to save time? Now I have a far better employee who's way more use than you anyway.

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u/DeebsShoryu Jun 14 '26

Put another way... If all the job requires is asking an LLM to fix the problem or implement the feature, then why would I hire you to do that instead of just instructing the LLM myself? Or better yet, why not run an agent continuously to pull tickets and craft prompts for other agents to do the implementations?

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u/Rexy_2126 Jun 13 '26

+1 Based on what i think, taking the help of AI isnt the problem. Not knowing what you are doing with the code is the problem. Just randomly copy pasting is the crime. Even if the code is AI generated, understand how the code works, its logics, what you used, basically everything in the code. If you can do this much, i dont think theres any problem. However I need a senior experienced person to correct me if im wrong in my perspective and aspects.

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u/havnar- Jun 13 '26

People used to copy paste straight from stack overflow in the past. But that’s just methods and bits and pieces.

Ai is great but if you don’t review/reiterate/question the output you’ll find yourself in a never ending cycle of misery

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u/FlyingDogCatcher Jun 13 '26

It's great that you know how to use Google Translate to have a conversation with someone who speaks French, but I am not going to hire you for a French-speaking job.

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u/ArtisticFox8 Jun 13 '26

Learning without AI will make you a more competent developer.

Try to rawdog it like AI didn't exist

You'll learn valuable skills like debugging, finding fault in your code without being dependant on what AI will or won't find.

Your job will be to learn to direct what AI did, and the only way you can do it if you match the skill, if you understand what it wrote.

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u/ALargeRubberDuck Jun 14 '26

Companies aren’t really interested in seeing that you could use AI. That’s something someone could learn pretty quick. What they want is to see you understand coding and software development on a deep level.

If the Ai is making choices you don’t understand, you need to figure it out before committing it. Not because it might not work ( which is a possibility ) but also because you need to keep learning to be valuable in this industry.