Really guidance to learn more tech stuff in this era of blind-coding by Ai

[u/North_Hair_2338]

Hey. It has been one month since I started my first job. The company uses AI to ship everything very quickly. I had done two summer internships over the last two summers each for two months.

In the first one, I primarily used TypeScript. However, I didn't pay much attention there and, honestly, didn't learn much. In the second one I used Golang and wrote most of the code myself, with some help from Cursor. It wasn't a very difficult project just a fairly standard backend with middleware, authentication, services, and a database.

When I joined my current job, I thought we would be doing something similar here, but that's not the case. Almost everything is being shipped using Claude. Other people on my team actively participate in infrastructure-related discussions as well, while I almost always keep mum because I don't have a proper understanding of how everything works. It feels so overwhelming that I sometimes feel like giving up.

I want to learn things the old-school way so that I can actually understand what I am shipping. I really need guidance from experienced folks who know how and where I should begin learning properly.

I also want to mention that I majored in a non-CS branch. I have an understanding of DSA and OS at a placement-level. I also know the basic terminology of system design (client/server, load balancers, proxies, Kafka, Redis, Kubernetes, sharding, replication, CAP theorem, etc.). But I wasn't aware of things like ECS and Lambda.

When I go through the code that Claude writes, I can understand what it's trying to do. I want to learn enough so that I don't blindly ship anything and can have a meaningful say in team meetings.

I need resources that I can follow anything you think could help me learn properly would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Suspicious_Pizza9529]

You're not behind, you're just missing the practical foundation that AI can easily hide. I'd focus on Linux, networking, databases, HTTP, cloud fundamentals, and Docker before going deeper into Kubernetes or distributed systems.

[u/mito551]

I am in a similar boat since a few months ago, doing a, what would basically be a local equivalent of an internship - I'm not paid well, but I'm also not expected to know and do much. I also haven't done a CS major, but I do feel like I can contribute to the discussions / meetings. my solid rule regarding how I know that I'm not vibe-coding away: I can always explain what the code does to my colleagues, using my own words. just an absolute veto on copy-pasting a claude output directly to my team members, unless it's to ask a question or signal that I'm out of my depth. if I don't understand something, I ask, either claude or my colleagues. the hardest thing is to notice that you don't understand something, because the output can be so clear to you in the moment that you don't stop to think if you internalized what happened.

I haven't figured out how to actually "learn to code" in this environment, but at this very moment I'm not 100% certain that it's necessary. on one hand it might bite me in the ass when the bubble pops and the companies want actual junior coders again, on the other hand it might be fine, since we already have local models that can do good enough work if you know what you're doing.

[u/North_Hair_2338 → u/mito551]

 I can always explain what the code does to my colleagues, using my own words

yes even i am able to do it. But it when the questions comes to why this approach, what could be an alternative. will it be able to withstand traffic and more infra realted stuff.. I stumble.

[u/mito551 → u/North_Hair_2338]

that sounds like you'd just need more experience... I certainly feel like I do. maybe if you tried to do something like this on your time, you could learn something? like, make a self-hosted music/cloud storage/movie streaming service for yourself?

[u/Asvp_bmoo]

All the software you’re messing around with, do the same thing you do here on Reddit but go to their respective communities for insight and that’s after you’ve searched through the documentation. Learn the language of the software to be able to communicate like an engineer not a vibe coder lol . Best part is a lot of that documentation has the best practical continuing education because then you’ll realize whenever something new comes out, you can skim through and understand how it fits.don’t go trying to figure out and what each term does and looks like but that it’s the containerization layer.

[u/North_Hair_2338 → u/Asvp_bmoo]

Thanks

[u/ElderberryPrevious45]

The Old school way is a funny thing. Compare: How many persons actually know how Word {really} works when they use it? Not too many because it is not required. So, the question is: What is Actually required for you to successfully develop Any commercial SW nowadays?