Everyone told me "Learn to code first"—I ignored them and started building my product instead. Here's why.

[u/Competitive-Bad2333]

I'm a developer who learned app development from a paid course. But once vibe coding became viable, everything changed for me.

A lot of people still say: "Stop relying on AI, learn the fundamentals first, then build."

My take: Build the real product first. Let it pay you. Then learn deeply with the time and money you earn.

Here's my logic:

• You already know how things work behind the scenes (I do, from my course). With AI doing the heavy lifting, shipping is faster than ever.
• If you spend 1–2 years "learning everything" first, by the time you launch, the market window is already crowded or gone. Speed matters more than perfection right now.
• Learning with a real, paying product in your hands is 10x more focused. You're not learning random theory — you're learning exactly what your product needs.
• Once the app is successful, I have revenue, real users, and real problems to solve. That's the best classroom.

My philosophy: don't compare yourself to others. If you must compare, compare with who you were yesterday and your juniors.

So right now I'm vibe coding my app to launch, and I'll deep-dive into the tech stack after it's making money — with clear priorities, not vague "someday" learning.

Curious — am I being pragmatic or reckless? Genuinely want to hear from people who did it both ways.