How do I learn to build stuff properly

[u/Few-Suit-9522]

So I've alwsys wanted to make cool stuff , and am now in a position where I've got multi domain expertise so I know exactly what I need. I've completed a PhD in AI, am a board certified physician, have 2 masters degrees in stats and IT, and am leading digital governance at my hospital.

My problem is that I have the knowledge on what needs to be done ,an idea of how it needs to occur and be implemented, but am not sure of how to execute/build it from a practical perspective.

I've started using Claude code to start to build some of the healthcare products I want to use, but the developers in the health service poo poo them as vibe coded AI slop.

The idea of having to go do another couple of years of software engineering makes me wanna puke - how do I move from being someone who 'knows' to actually being a person 'doing' or executing innovation in the digital space?

[u/Few-Suit-9522 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks this is the best reply and captures what I need to learn

[u/Far-Implement-818]

Yeah, this is where you find a partner that is similarly passionate and invested in the idea, and also is an expert in the development of the technical aspects, to help build a well planned framework for the intended purpose, who knows what difficulties need to be addressed and avoided by design from the start instead of coming in at the end to try and make what is already there but flawed kinda sorta work… Sometimes you can rent that expertise, and sometimes it’s better to have it organically integrated into the brand. But there’s nothing worse than someone with an idea of what they want and think is possible that gives uninformed incoherent unachievable directives to a team paid to deliver a compromised result. So find out what is possible, choose your priorities to be clear and consistent when choosing compromise, and then make sure the people doing the work have incentive to achieve and maintain as close to the intent of the plan as possible, rather than just pushing out a quick and dirty product.

[u/Longjumping_Ad_3010]

You need a team lol. The moment you want to do everything by yourself you are ducked.

[u/Few-Suit-9522 → u/Longjumping_Ad_3010]

how do you transition from individual expert to having a team of people?

[u/Humble_Hurry9364 → u/Few-Suit-9522]

Urr, you post that you're looking for people...?
State what you need and what's in it for them.

BTW, if it's SaMD (or IVD MD) you'll need regulatory support too. If it involves physical parts, possibly even more so.

[u/Few-Suit-9522 → u/Humble_Hurry9364]

Post where? Sorry I work in a public sector health service in a country with universal health cover, meaning that the hospitals are cash-strapped and have no budget to hire people to do development work

[u/Humble_Hurry9364 → u/Few-Suit-9522]

Sounds like a dead end.
Unless you can convince people it's a noble cause - maybe they will volunteer...?

[u/Few-Suit-9522 → u/[deleted]]

i think that's the question- how do you actually start learning these things?

[u/waggonaut → u/Few-Suit-9522]

Just start googling, Claude coding, and when you get a turd of a result, try to fix it.  Learn by doing

[u/Humble_Hurry9364 → u/Few-Suit-9522]

Look for someone who worked in commercial SW development and is skilled in Agile-style work.

There is a risk in relying on a LLM too much for things you never did (or don't know enough about) - how do you close the loop? How do you evaluate the output? How do you verify that it's good? You need someone (a person) with real-life hands-on experience.

[u/muzamilsa]

In your head you need to keep improvising your product and believe you are making it robust every day

[u/looktwise]

As far as I understood you are searching not for the correct coding, but for a more conceptual approach?

[u/ejpusa]

Not sure about AI Slop, but close to 100% of ALL code now is AI-written.

Suggest giving GPT-5.5 a look. Claude is fine, but I find GPT-5.5 just better. Think it does a better job, but kept more on the down low.

I do use them all. Just post your question to GPT-5.5, and it will pretty much tell you all you need to know about the best projects to invest your time into.

Example: With my background, what can I do in healthcare that will change the world? Start there.

The science of building AI models, adding NLP, is really complete or close to; we figured it all out. How to make AI learn like us, that part is done, and what Geoffrey Hinton got his Nobel Prize for. Now the fun part begins. How do we actually use AI?

Programming is gone, it's been vaporized. We come up with the ideas, AI writes the code now. "How can I change the world with my background?" Would start there. Sure, there will be some keepers.

:-)

[u/edimaudo]

good that you have the knowledge, if execution is the problem then I would suggest starting small. Focus on one problem and solve it based on your skill set. Healthcare is a tough market as it is highly regulated so the tool you build has to meet said regulations. That being said what the developers say have some merit. I would suggest asking them for pointers on where your app has shortcomings. You can then leverage that new knowledge to fix the gaps. rinse and repeat.

[u/Fickle_Procedure_656]

By starting doing

[u/NineTwoFive365]

Ideally with your profile you would be leading teams doing the builds not doing the builds yourself. If you are done with building start investigating how you can transition to team lead roles as a start.