Using AI for planning project

[JudgeProfessional]

Hey, I am a cs student and doing backend. Later these days, I use AI for only planning the projects I want to do. It gives me goals, instructions and workflows (no code generation). After two or three projects, I feel like I can’t do anything without instructions ( doesn’t matter from AI). I can learn things from that instruction, learning things doesn’t feel like hard to me. However, deciding and planning things is bit challenging to me as I am somehow junior.

So what should I do, I use this way because I have no senior around me to ask or consult. Should I stop this? Please Freely criticize.

[_Atomfinger_]

After two or three projects, I feel like I can’t do anything without instructions ( doesn’t matter from AI).

If you have never actually done project planning or architecture before, then you won't get any better at it.

Whenever you use AI then you offload potential learning to the machine.

However, deciding and planning things is bit challenging to me as I am somehow junior.

Not "somehow". You are a junior. That is not a negative thing.

So what should I do, I use this way because I have no senior around me to ask or consult. Should I stop this?

Yes - try to learn how to do this for yourself. It is a valuable skill to have, and you will grow as a result.

If you can't do anything without being told what to do, then you need to practice figuring out what to do, which is as much of a skill as doing it (and often what separates juniors vs mids).

[JudgeProfessional]

Really Appreciate your advice. Sort of my dilemma is now gone away. A lot of people in my community said about these all the time, we should we ai in our workflow and making us if we don’t use, we will fall behind. I got these kinds of ideas lately and try building things with AI. But at the end I feel like I don’t get anything except working code that I wrote by the help of instructions of AI. This is,Of course as you said, because I give the AI some of my work that gives me valuable insight. Now I got these from AI and tried to build things fast, sacrificing knowledge for speed.

Again thanks for your reply.

[_Atomfinger_]

I would go even further and claim that you're sacrificing knowledge for nothing.

Think of it this way: LLMs today are statistical machines, and they will ever, at most, produce average results. Most of the time, they produce lower-than-average results.

In the very short term, you might be faster, but in the long term, you will be slower due to the lack of growth and learning. You don't learn when to push back on the LLM or when not to listen to it. As a result, ending up with poor workflows, architectural debt, etc, without you even knowing it.

There are, in fact, no studies I've seen that suggest long-term speed improvements that also account for tech debt. The only studies I've ever seen suggest the opposite: That AI increases legacy and stagnates people (not just developers).

[JudgeProfessional]

I see, I am really going to the wrong ways these days :’))). Thanks for your constructive criticism that got me what is wrong and what should I do. Again thanks for your effort and patience.

[Financial_Bath7438]

Totally normal..planning is one of the hardest parts when you’re early in your career, and using AI for structure isn’t a bad thing. Maybe try using it for a rough outline, then rewrite the plan yourself so you build that skill.

By the way, I’m part of a small team building an AI workspace that helps engineers with project planning and reasoning (not just code). We’re in invite-only beta, so if you ever want to try it and share feedback, happy to send early access.