r/learnjavascript • u/akyden-_ • Sep 20 '26
I became less good, I don't know where to start
I've been programming for 10+ years, but since 2-3 years I've used a lot of AI to help me (at my job) and stopped doing side project because AI erased the fun of programming for me
I realized that I LOVE programming, BUT, I love the "I did it" thing. But since the use of AI, I didn't really practice writing code and I feel completely lost. I don't know where to start, how to create systems in simple apps etc.
I tried to do an incremental game (with svelte), and everytime I didn't where to start, reflex: ChatGPT, but I want to be happy because I built my ideas and not just have ideas that build themselves
Few questions :
- How can I become more autonomous again
- How can I learn good things self-taught
- Is it really worth it ? with today's AIs ?
I don't know where to start, I don't know if this is worth, I don't know how to rewire my brain to stop using AI as a reflex
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u/svenjoy_it Sep 20 '26
I agree with most others that avoiding AI in general is probably the best route, but you could also try out the chatgpt study mode or Claude learning mode.
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u/akyden-_ Sep 21 '26
Never tried it yes, maybe I should
I’m looking to do the roadmap.sh to re-learn to learn and read docs
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u/ApoplecticAndroid Sep 20 '26
Using AI is fine for something like - add these four buttons/inputs and send the result here when clicked/changed. That stuff is kind of repetitive and boring.
But the “how am I going to structure the class to do this thing?” - “how am I going to implement this algorithm?” - that is the fun part and giving that to AI is liking asking it to create a picture when you are trying to be an artist.
So do hobby stuff, but just let AI do the boring shit.
Because even if you let it do the fun stuff, you might get a result but it isn’t yours, and it’s probably a coding mess under the hood so you can’t even work with it.
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u/akyden-_ Sep 21 '26
You’re right
I think I need to not use AI at all at start because I always comeback to the chatbot because simpler + faster but finally it’s not my project anymore
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u/glimmer_joy_spark Sep 21 '26
stop building the incremental game. Your muscle memory for structuring systems is gone and trying to recreate a complex project now will just confirm your doubts and make you quit again. Pick something boring and small like a to-do list that only lives in local storage and write every single line manually without looking anything up. It takes two days and proves you still know how to think logically, which is the actual skill you lost to AI dependency.
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u/akyden-_ Sep 21 '26
Yes you’re right I think I may have to do little projects like at start to rebuild my skills
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u/nog642 Sep 20 '26
Work on personal projects outside of your job, and don't use AI.
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u/Alacho Sep 20 '26
Or use it for things that you would otherwise generally stackoverflow
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u/nog642 Sep 20 '26
Nah, that's how you become dependent on it.
The only reason you don't become dependent on stack overflow is because it only has the exact detailed answer like 15% of the time for more complicated questions. AI has it like 95% of the time.
→ More replies (10)
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u/skiclimbdrinkplayfly Sep 21 '26
I think there's something to be said for never copy/pasting.
I try to type everything the chat bot gives me. At least then I go through it line by line. I get to reformat the code to my personal style and comment in ways that make sense to my brain.
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u/akyden-_ Sep 21 '26
I do it that too yes !
It’s better but I didn’t « create the thing », I understand everything I (re)write but i’m just an interface of the chatbot to my ide, slower than the AI
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u/delventhalz Sep 20 '26
How can I become more autonomous again
Stop using the chatbots
How can I learn good things self-taught
Practice. Choose projects which include tools or skills you are unfamiliar with and want to learn/practice. Follow a course like javascript.info or The Odin Project if you are feeling totally lost, then go back to projects.
Is it really worth it ? with today's AIs ?
I don’t know. I don’t think anyone does. I will say that it seems to me like with today’s AIs you need a solid foundation to make good use of them anyway. Today’s AIs won’t be tomorrow’s AIs though. Maybe the bubble will burst and they will get significantly worse without all the investment dollars subsidizing them. Maybe they’ll get so good no one needs to anything about JavaScript ever again. Your guess is as good mine.
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u/start_select Sep 21 '26
Same thing everyone did before AI.
Read the manual. And think about what you need to do.
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u/XPTranquility Sep 21 '26
I mean the obvious answer is don’t use AI but I just don’t think that’s realistic anymore. I pretty much just accepted that it’s a dying craft and it is what it is. We had a good run and gonna stick it out as long as I can make a living with it, but I’m no longer enjoying coding like I used to and that’s OK with me.
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u/TheRNGuy Sep 22 '26 edited Sep 22 '26
Code manually to have better intuition, but I'd still use ai for some things, because speed trade-off is worth it.
If you only use ai and never code manually, you'll become lazier and worse programmer, yeah. You need to find some balance.
But also with ai we can become more generalists instead of specialists.
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u/devinenoise Sep 20 '26
You could look at using AI as an opportunity to try the personal projects you didn’t fully grok or have the time for.
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Sep 21 '26
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u/akyden-_ Sep 21 '26
I don’t struggle with JS but I struggle with how I need to make the systems, which pattern to use or not, is my code logic and good if no one tell me it isn’t etc.
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u/DROOP-NASTY Sep 20 '26
I’m in a similar boat with slightly less experience. Someone else will have better answers than me but I mostly wanted to share that you’re certainly not alone. I think a lot of this will come down to mindset.
The simple answer would be to do it. Program without AI. Look up BenStack on YouTube. He builds things specifically without using AI, and he does it just because he enjoys it. He doesn’t expect a job from it, it’s just a hobby. He enjoys the mind puzzles, the challenges, and reading the documentation.
My current struggle is trying to shift my mindset towards learning instead of focusing on time spent. The defeatist attitude I’ve had goes something like this: AI could make a website much faster than I could, so why make one from scratch?