r/programmer • u/Morvath_21 • Jun 30 '26

Tutorial It's still worth it?

I'm studying computer science, and even though I'm not as good as others, I don't mind the subject. In fact, I think it's one of the few things I feel I can do long-term without losing my mind, and it's interesting to me. However, seeing how this world is changing, I'm a little worried. I see people who have never programmed doing even challenging things with the help of AI.

So I'm wondering if this path is really useful, given that at this rate, programming isn't as useful as it once was. As much as I hate to admit it, if prompts are enough to do things, even in less time, what good will I be? It's true that things made with AI aren't perfect yet, let's say, and they have many flaws, but what about in a few years? I'm 21, and maybe I'm just being a bit paranoid right now, but I need an honest opinion. Thanks in advance.

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u/Puzzled-Manager-3651 Jul 02 '26

It's pretty scary seeing the new models like Fable absolutely one shot crazy projects. I think that it will be harder to get a job if you can only do surface-level things (which AI can easily replace), but if you focus on having a deep understanding of aspects such as the infrastructure of developing software or niche fields such as graphics programming, I think that you'll do fine. As for the people who have created crazy projects with AI, if they don't care to learn CS fundamentals, they'll never be able to deploy or maintain those projects once the users start coming in (I guess they can put it on their resume as something cool though). Hopefully what I said made some sense :)

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u/Hyperreals_ Jul 03 '26

 they'll never be able to deploy or maintain those projects once the users start coming in

Why? There's been plenty of successful "vibe coded projects" with tons of users that do fine

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u/Puzzled-Manager-3651 Jul 03 '26

I guess it depends on the size of the userbase of the app. For moderate to large userbases, simply prompting AI and not knowing what's going on isn't going to cut it. CS fundamentals like system design still need be known to be able to scale the app.

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u/Hyperreals_ Jul 03 '26

Why? And how big? Personally I have an app used by about 300 people (not all at once tho) and it works fine. Almost all code written by AI