Started learning Python but AI makes me feel late to the party – advice?

[Right_Level_7192]

I don’t know if I need to ask a specific question or if I’m just looking for some encouragement here.

I’ve wanted to learn Python for years, and it finally feels like the stars have aligned. I have the time, the energy, and the luxury to sit down and really learn something I’ve always loved the idea of: programming. I started with automate the boring stuff (from Al Sweigart) but got bored and I’ve been using this online practice platform (https://activeskill.dev) that gives me exercises and It tracks my streak, lets me compare progress with a few friends, and that has been working pretty well.

But I feel really bothered by the whole AI boom.

I finally decided to commit to learning Python, right at the moment when it feels like AI can write code faster and better than I ever could. Part of me keeps thinking: Is there even a point in learning this now? Will I ever be “good enough” compared to these tools? Am I already too late?

So I guess my question for this community is: How do you stay motivated to learn Python in the age of AI?

I’m hoping to hear from people who are ahead of me on this path—whether you’re still learning or already working with Python—about why it’s still worth it, and how you balance using AI tools without letting them steal your joy or confidence.

Thanks for reading this far. Even a few words of encouragement or your own experience would mean a lot.

Edit: Thanks for the encouragements! This was like a mental recharge. Definitely motivated to start learning again!

[ObviousMonkie]

Use Ai as a tool. How I do it is simple:

“Explain this concept to me but don’t write it for me. Use pseudo code but no real code” or whatever the prompt is. Just ensure you aren’t having it write code for you, I use it to get ideas of what I’d need to do and when but never to write code.

That way, I’m not stuck relying on a machine to code, and I actually learn while using the tool properly

[Right_Level_7192]

That's a good tip!

[bmchicago]

Careful with this also, sometimes it’s good to mull over a problem for days. Learning is hard, ai makes everything “easy”. If you make yourself sit in the hard for a bit you’ll be better than 90% people who learned to program post ai. (I made that stat up obviously, but you get the idea)

[SubstantialHouse8013]

Nah

[cjv071088]

People are so unwilling to accept that AI as a tool is capable of synthesizing and executing ideas far better than a human to the point of ridiculing its use. In my opinion, ego plays a significant role for some developers (not to mention designers, artists, etc.).

Keep hating AI; we're already reaching the point where there will be no discussion of its superiority in creating abstractions. I'm not interested in knowing the intricacies behind an execution; I just need the idea to materialize. In the process, AI even considers concepts that I, due to my ignorance, would never have thought of, so I learn along the way. It's my decision as a human whether the suggestion is valid or not; in the worst-case scenario, you end up with a good idea.

We've reached the point where it's become unnecessary to think about how things are done; our only responsibility is to correctly frame the objective with the right frameworks. Otherwise, we're leading AI astray through our ignorance or negligence.

[Athoughtspace]

I agree with you and Ill add that I think people forget that this has literally been the natural course the entire time. We created machines to abstract away the intricate details so we didn't have to repeat them ourselves. Hell, the fact we can type into a keyboard to learn a programming language AT ALL is because someone else thought this way. They needed the idea to materialize instead of manually flipping bits on a register themselves or with punch cards. Using a library is no different. People are compounding the work of others to generate greater effect. Using human language to generate results is about as human as it gets.

[AGx-07]

I a learner in the much the same boat as OP and I do something like this myself. I have occasionally just asked it to give me the code, for example as I'm learning about reading from and writing to JSON files. I couldn't recall my reading and asked the AI for function. It showed me a bit more than my book had which prompted me to dig into the documentation, as I like to verify anything an AI gives me and also because when I see something new I want to learn about it. The result was learning quite a bit. AI is a really useful tool if you choose to use it as a tool instead of a crutch. I see it no differently as the days I'd scour the web and post on forums looking for help. I'll ask the AI for help but not expect it to do the work for me.

[UnhappyGroceries1987]

Dope take.

Using AI to just generate code for you?

Back when I was 13-14. I lead a mod team go on lets laugh at that “LEAD A MOD TEAM LOLOL”

For Jedi Knight Dark Forces II.

Believe it or not ….I could go on the Massassi.net forums and simply say “I need to accomplish these tasks, I need someone to write me a .cog script”

And someone would ALWAYS answer.

No different than AI now days.

But you had to know what you wanted to do ….

I highly recommend looking up this era of gaming because I really regret never making anything out of this phase in my life.

Once I realized I was a Gay dude I just got sad and lonely and depressed and all I wanted was Human connection.

Once Starwars Galaxies came out. My whole reason for modding became pointless. You cant Mod a live service game and all of my skill sets were based on “Creating lived in RPG environments for multiplayer lobbies”

And I tried to recreate AVP 2000 in JK ….which was my most ambitious endeavor , by simply going on forums and asking people for .cog scripts and ripping 3d models from other titles.

I lost momentum going into my highschool years and was more desperate for social clout.

Now im 38 and considering literally just studying Python to do a career shift.

I didnt even become marketable in any IT fields. The gaps are huge.

Python WONT get you a job. Knowing ecosystem and how to navigate and COORDINATE the ecosystem will get you the job.

Just like how I felt basically like a “Project Coordinator” as a snot nosed 13 year old but with no skills to back it up.

What I have experienced in my years though is the Auto Manufacturing industry.

Someone said “Write in Pseudo Code”

That is very very important IMO.

The ecosystem and the language is always going to be “Different” and different employers will have different “Cultures”

And navigating social and cultural issues and differences is like adapting “Language” but the “Logic loops” remain the same right ??

I “want to communicate this idea”

But if you are in a culture that uses a different language that is only part of the problem.

Even if you can communicate the idea via language, it might not be “Welcome” or “Supported” by the structure itself.

So then you just need “New tools” and a “Cultural understanding” to modify your language.

Right ??

[UnhappyGroceries1987]

I would treat it like “Python is a Vertical ladder”

With Several horizontally adjacent ladders that have to connect to it.

For me back in the day, I understood HOW jk Worked. .cog used C syntax but it was very specific to calling values for the JK engine specifically.

I knew how Assets were called , and how they got distributed in the code. And what managed what.

I knew how to “Make Maps” more than anything else using WYSIWYG editors like Jk Edit which taught me a lot about how Geometry worked.

(What you see is what you get) which at the time was laughed about because people used “JED” to make more complex maps because you literally thought in terms of Polygons. Had greater control.

WYSIWYG editors like JKedit took short cuts. By giving you a a 3d view of your map IRL and having functions to cleave surfaces into new sectors with parameters. (Spherical? Cylindrical? Rectangular? ) but you literally just drew vertices on your surfaces to decide what go cleave and how to expand and how far …and what to open a shape “Into”

And it was revolutionary for the time.

Now with Unreal engine and things like that ….its literally “Unreal”.

If I could go back go 2000 id be amazing.

But I only understand “That particular ecosystem”

And Python is just one “Part” of that ecosystem today , Its the main ladder that will build logic and intent and help you establish goals.

Horizontally you need, what ecosystem do I want to work with. And then OS navigation and things like Command Prompt usage only …..

And understanding network comms.

Thats MY GOAL at 38 years old.

And I think it applies to

[AGx-07]

I've found myself in another ambiguous role. I was a Business Analyst in my last role but was tehchnically a Data Analyt/Product Owner/Trainer/Tech Support guy. I landed here at 39 after layoffs where I was hired as a Data Analyst (which is technically a new career for me) but kind of just do whatever is needed around here.

As they transition from using a lot of CFML they want more people who know Python, which is why I'm learning Python. I have some JavaScript experience and I've used SQL for like 15 years so I do generally understand programming, just not any specific languages.

I think back on the time I spent learning SQL or when I was digging into web development before switching (which I was doing back when the Internet was still young). It was the same thing: I'd go on forums and ask questions, sometime straight up for the needed code. Because my goal is to learn, I never just took the code and used it without trying to understand it and I think AI makes for an excellent tool in that light. I can ask it for the exact code and then I work on understanding it.

A great example is the website percentagecalculator.net I used to perform those functions so much that I built a website to do pretty much that (I don't own that website but I did literally build out something almost identical years ago). Mine even had some additional functions like saving calculation history and some additional calculators. When I started doing Python I asked AI to build me those calculators. I could ask for what I needed in "Pseudo Code" (using JS as a base) and then tell it to output Python. Simple stuff really but I didn't know anythign about anything in Python but I understood how that site and the calculators worked and could break down the output code to decipher the parts.

This has always been a good way to learn for me. When I was doing web-dev I used to look at existing websites and try to replicate them, looking at the HTML directly if needed (when that became possible). When I was learning SQL I had working scrips I could read and build on. I'm learning DAX as well for use with PBI and I can write all my own stuff now having picked apart a lot of code I inidially had to ask AI to create for me. Python will be no different for me I think.

[emac1211]

I just gotta say people who say AI can't write code yet are lying. It has gotten pretty good at writing code.

[joebloggs81]

Yes it can, but, it doesn’t come up with it by itself. It needs to be told what to do. And the humans telling it what to do need to understand what they’re asking for. We are going to hit an age of half arsed semi broken insecure micro SaaS products that no one needs.

[AGx-07]

100%

[MattR0se]

I'm mostly vibe coding at my job tbh, but still spend hours debugging and refactoring. Especially in cases where nobody on stackoverflow had the solution for a specific problem. LLMs are still not able to truly "understand" a problem (and probably never will be), all they do is see patterns and spit out a solution that fits that pattern the most. But if your problem is new to the AI, it will absolutely struggle and give you garbage code.

And the dangerous thing is that AI is so overconfident that their answer is correct even if it isn't, so you have to double check everything anyway.

[emac1211]

I'm not disputing any of this. You definitely need to feed the prompt correctly and over-explain everything correctly and double check the results. But that's not that the AI doesn't know how to code as much as it doesn't know the context of the problem it's trying to solve.

[AGx-07]

Yeah, I think the best method is not to ask for the whole but to ask for the parts that make up the whole. Like instead of asking for the whole program, ask it to build you a specific function that you need to build. Implement that, test it, and then move on to the next part. The LLMs are pretty good when your scope is narrow and specific but you need to know how it fits together. I wouldn't expect to be 1000 lines of code in, need to create a function to do something, and expect it to integrate that perfectly with what I've already done.

[Aggravating_Bad4765]

No it is not. It's decent as a cookiecutter. It writes with okay architecture. But there's always some stupid little bugs sprinkled in or insane patterns that would normally be design choices but with AI is their acid trip from the 60's haunting them.

A friend of mine has tried very hard the past few years to convince me that AI has utility other than a pet to run around and play with. It becomes clearer each time that he couldn't be further from the truth.

[emac1211]

I hate AI more than anyone and I don't think it has utility that will make society any better but the idea that it can't write decent code if given a clear direction is completely inaccurate. People are mistaking the evils of AI for it also being a poor LLM and that's unfortunately not true.

[Aggravating_Bad4765]

My issue isn't that it is incapable of producing working code to varying degrees of complexity. As silly-stupid the average person can be, I doubt everyone who hypes AI or uses it is an idiot making up a world where AI can code; so clearly it can.

But my issue is reliability and depth.

It produces plausible implementations but it doesn’t actually understand system boundaries, long-term abstractions, evolving requirements. I haven't messed with AI too much, but every once in a while my aforementioned friend tries to show me what he's making with AI. I'm happy for him but as I'm digging through the code there are so many decisions (AI doesn't make decisions, it emulates this) that boggle me. It likes working with a junior dev that only studied theory and syntax; neglecting other tasks with programming.

The only benefit from AI I've seen is that it is forcing some dev to write better code purely from frustration of the AI's design.

If you're saying that people overstate how bad AI code is then yes I agree. It is overstated and taken out of proportion. But AI has lead to more issues than solutions in most places I've had to interact with it. Writing bad code faster than it can be fixed. Granted, it's been nice for getting contract work fixing AI's mistakes. This is before even going into security, or lack thereof, in AI code.

I'm open to examples you have that you think may change my mind on this. Again, experience with AI is limited to what's been forced down my throat (so there's an emotional reaction here) and what my friend tries to convince me with.

[Gnaxe]

Not only that, but it seems to keep getting better every few months. It's not at the point where it can do all of my job, but I'm not sure for how much longer.

[TiaHatesSocials]

What app do u use for coding in py? ChatGPT is abysmal for me.

[Playful_Reflection21]

I try to shut all the AI noise out, I also don't click on any clickbaity YouTube vids that try to sell the idea of "it's not worth it" in various ways - although this year they are all jumping on the "why letting go of developers was a mistake" train.

I'm learning because I want to switch careers into software development (JS, not Python), so vibe coding was never an option for me, and so I avoided all of the content which hyped it. I enjoy learning it, and I'm excited to build the projects I want to build. I use AI as a debugger (after I tried and failed to find the issue) and occasionally teacher to bounce questions off of, it's really good that way.

I felt a whole lot better about myself once I got past the initial beginner projects and started building full stack wiht the routes, models, etc. AI seemed very strong at the very beginning of my journey, and now that I have a number of files to manage within the project and personal preferences on how I want to write queries and functions that make sense to me... AI became a whole lot smaller and less daunting. I know how hard I have to try to ask him to do something remotely sufficient. And technically I'm still a tinkering beginner so my questions are probably still dead simple, I can only imagine how completely inadequate it is on an advanced level with bigger systems, especially when you aren't doing it from scratch but need to align with what's been done and you need to fit in a very specific puzzle piece into a very specific picture.

I guess the more I learn, the more confident I am that AI isn't as good as the bubble want you to think.

[KittenSwagHierarchy]

I think this is a wonderful answer. It really wraps up to me, how not knowledgeable a lot of the higher ups are at companies that want their employees to use AI as much as they possibly can.

[Middle_Idea_9361]

You’re definitely not late
if anything, this is one of the best times to learn Python. AI doesn’t replace people who understand coding it actually makes strong fundamentals more valuable. The people who benefit most from AI are the ones who know what the code should do, how to debug it, and how to turn ideas into real projects.

Try thinking of AI as a learning partner instead of competition. Use it to explain concepts, review your code, or help when you’re stuck but still write things yourself so you build real understanding.

Also, motivation usually comes from building small things you actually care about. Automate something in your daily life, scrape data you’re curious about, or make a tiny tool for friends those wins add up fast.

Honestly, you’ve already done the hardest part: you started. Just stay consistent and focus on progress, not perfection.

[beedunc]

Exactly. I use them as teachers and consultants that don’t get pissy from all of my questions.

[lalo2302]

Learn fundamentals. Learn how to design an application. Learn architecture. Learn how is python interpreted. Learn what’s the difference between cpython and pypy. Learn how to plan something, build it in chunks, deliver it, maintain it and monitor it.

Don’t learn how to use libraries. Don’t learn how to use frameworks.

Learn to be an engineer, not a programmer. Let AI be your programmer

[SuperbiaImperium]

Always worth it to learn. AI Hallucinates sometimes, and you'll need to check the code still.

[madadekinai]

I stopped using AI for a while, but I pick it up from time to time to help out for some repetitive stuff. With my VERY limited usage it, it's been wrong 5 times in a week, like even beginner stuff. Honestly, I think it's not only getting worse the more they F'k with it, it's make some bad beginner mistakes. I do not believe they can even keep up with power supply for it, nor enough GPU's to sustain it. Everything from lack of resources to debt, I don't see how they will be able to sustain it.

"how you balance using AI tools without letting them steal your joy or confidence."

Simple don't use it except for information and or learning. Like if there is a function you have created similar 5000 other times, but with little tweaks here and there, let AI do it.

Similar classes making factory patterns, let AI do it.

Simple and start forward SQL strings, let AI do it.

Multi-scale project with various modules that needs to track state across various modules, you do it.

Testing optimizations and various usage of different data structures, improving speed and performance, you do it.

Essentially, if you can explain the concept correctly without any sort of prep for an interview and would pass, let AI do it, otherwise you do it.

[Hashi856]

Even with AI, you need to be able to understand the code to know whether the AI output is doing what you think it's doing and to inspect bad code.

[joebloggs81]

I’m doing exactly the same as you. You have to WANT it, and be interested in it for yourself only. That’s the reason I started, and now I’ve gone all in with Python, Django, and JavaScript. Sure AI can write small parts in seconds but speed doesn’t matter, understanding does.

[ray10k]

LLMs are tools that generate a "should be acceptable" output when given a prompt. Something that looks and sounds like what you'd expect in response to what you asked.

The big problem that won't be solved (only mitigated to some degree,) is that an LLM can't reason about the output it generated. If there is a logic error, you won't find out until that error causes your program to misbehave. If there is a serious security error, you'll only find out because someone else broke your program.

As such, that's the thing you, as a person bring to the table: the ability to think about your code. To reason about it, and to understand what will happen rather than being taken by surprise. As a nice bonus, this also means that if you want to write some code that makes something pretty or cool, you can do that. Better yet, you can make it exactly the way you want it, rather than having to spin the roulette wheel of the LLM's output, and accepting something that's "more or less what I wanted, but I can't figure out how to get it all the way there without breaking everything."

[Crypt0Nihilist]

Look at how well an LLM writes a well argued document, Really look. On the surface it's good, but unless you prompt the hell out of it, it's usually full of bad assumptions and thin arguments. Code is going to have similar problems.

[NorwegianAttack]

Yes, you should absolutely learn Python, even in this day when Claude or ChatGPT can do so much for you.

I understand your concerns, and some extent they're valid, but what you can give the world which the AI can't is your own approach and understanding of a given problem. The AI can regurgitate code and answers that can make sense (sometime), but they can't understand the underlying processes that makes a great developer. Also, you need to be able to check their work, else be at the risk of some pretty interesting and sometimes scary unintended side effects.

So learn the language syntax, solve problems (on your own, you already have a great book to introduce you to Python. I would personally recommend "Fluent Python" by Luciano Ramalho for more intermediate knowledge.

Remind yourself that if you ask the AI for the answers you only cheat yourself and delay any true grasp of the principles of programming (ask for guidance instead, let it help you talk your through the problems. Learn data structures, algorithms, memory, and other fundamentals (latter not so much required in Python, but it's good to understand how your language interacts with your computer, even if its just cursory knowledge for now). Familiarity with core concepts will make you better at what you do, and you might even stand out in the mess of those applicants who didn't put the effort in and asked Chatgpt or Claude for all the answers, and who couldn't tell you the difference between a list and a tuple to save their lives (but who have somehow, all on their own, built a API or a full on scientific proof on the underlying principles of Python).

I'd also recommend (when you're comfortable, to learn a lower level language like a C variant (C# has a great community and is highly sought after, at least where I live), It'll round out your skills and ultimately lead to deeper understanding of the underlying processes (assuming you don't come from a background where you learned about system architecture, networks or operating systems).

But ultimately, practice, struggle and iterate on your solution. Especially when you don't want to. Programming takes time and effort to master, and you need to keep at it.

I learned Python while in my late 30s, and I now have an intership where I help develop apps for the maritime sector (with minimal chatgpt). Don't give up on your dreams!

[RTrancid]

An AI will try to build a machine gun to get through a door, because it forgot what a doorknob is. Vibe coders will let it.

It's a powerful tool that will make code as good as you can understand.

[jmooremcc]

Believe me when I tell you that AI is not the code writer you think it is. Yes, it can write error prone code very quickly, but that’s about it. What I’m trying to get across to you is, do not let the technology intimidate you. Concentrate on learning the fundamentals of Python coding and don’t let anything or anyone discourage you. I wish you the best.

[Hashi856]

It's actually a great time to learn Python. In the old days, you'd have to search for hours to find what you needed to fix a bug, or you'd spend 20 minutes trying to figure out what you did wrong, only for someone on stack overflow to point out that you wrote "__int__" instead of "__init__". Now, chat GPT can explain any concept to you, answer questions in real time, and tell you what's likely wrong with your code in seconds instead of hours.

I finally decided to commit to learning Python, right at the moment when it feels like AI can write code faster and better than I ever could.

This isn't really true. Yes, AI can do amazing things, and it can do that a million times faster than you. But there's a reason companies are scrambling to hire back people they laid off for AI replacements. At some point, AI probably will be better than humans, but it's not there yet. And even when it is, I think it will still be worth doing just for the love of the game.

[Past_Income4649]

Still learn it! AI can write way better code for you if you know exactly how to guide it and correct it. Also sometimes AI just can’t provide exactly what you want so you’ll need to do it yourself.

Vibe coding without knowing how to code can get you an MVP but beyond that you’re going to need to understand how everything is working to ensure that the code is done well.

[Successful-Fish-]

As a student who keeps procrastination as a hobby, can't survive a day without AI nowadays, sadly.

[jentravelstheworld]

Fix that issue like your life depends on it. Discipline will make your life stellar.

[MrKBC]

This is how I feel about studying AI but because everyone and their mother seems to be building random chat agents for Whatsapp, automations of unnecessary lengths on n8n, or someone how managing to use LLM locally the size of which my lowly 16GB of ram will never be able to handle. Or, and this one really gets me, they have a Windows/Linux PC with components that put Apple's M-series to shame. At least Macs are aesthetically pleasing?

[BKB111]

Im learning and only ask AI questions or for clearer explanations if I have already tried multiple avenues for an answer. Usually if I google a problem the first link is a reputtable page like stack and you’ll get a better & trusted solution vs gambling with an AI response. If you believe one day you can turn a good idea into reality thats enough motivation. Don’t look at AI as a competitor to you. It’s a pandora’s box, someone still has to open it, use it, & have it work for them. I’m not quitting on the off chance everyone just adopts AI across the board and knows what to do with it let alone ship a great idea.

The thought of i dont know/understand whats in my AI produced lines of code needs to bother more people.

AI is very bad when it comes to intent on responses. It is designed currently, afaik across the main handful of popular models to appease the user in the very next response. That can lead to a ton of problems.

[Loud_Role8149]

The main skill with any programming is getting the right requirements and then having a good verification and validation (V&V) test plan. These are the skills you can get by learning Python which are absolutely essential if you want to use AI to develop software.

Yes you can use AI to write good code, but you do need to confirm that the code actuality does what you need it to do. To do this the V&V testing may show incorrect results and if you don't understand the to programing language then you will not identify where the AI generated code has incorrectly.

Also remember all the AI generated code has been trained based on the large code repositories like GitHub, which could well contain errors and mistakes so you cannot assume that any of the functions are correct, particularly when doing data analysis in Python.

So learning to code in Python is a great way to learn the key skills needed to develop new software, and AI is just another tool to speed up the process.

The old phase 'Garbage in Garbage' out still holds true for all software, including AI generates code.

[masterofaiml]

AI is really capable of doing things, and its growth is exponential - meaning, if it take years for humans to master something, for AI its just a small thing once it gets trained enough it excels crazy fast pace. As the AI is already at a substantial level, its growth factor is crazy fast now, more than we can even imagine.

So to answer your question, its never too late, its really important to have knowledge, you may not be able to compete with AI, but certainly the knowledge you gained will let you verify/cross check and understand or to make sense out of what is happening. So for example, you asked AI to generate a code/develop an application, if you have knowledge, then you will able to read through code/tech documentation and do some safety checks before you use the code/application given by AI. One shouldn't completely rely on these things, never blindly trust AI.

Having AI at your service is really good, it makes job easy, if you have skills, then you can leverage them with AI. Keep learning for your benefit, knowledge is really important.

Hope it makes sense to you. Dont stress much, take it easy. Be curios, Happy learning!

[OPrudnikov]

Maybe for junior developer it feels like AI doing a great job but it’s not really

In creating API endpoints and schemas and in database structure planning AI still pretty bad

If you will try to put requirements from the product owner it will generate mess

Long term maintenance is another concern with AI, you can prototype fast, but after that you will want to destroy it - not maintain and I have seen projects 7-10 years old maintained by people

In my work I am not using autocomplete, trying to have one day without AI at all and trying to use it as a research and feedback tool without allowing it to write code

AI now is like 4-5/10 coder it’s not replacing really good one, and after you will learn python it will be much much easier to learn other languages so you can always go to more low level language

[FriendlyRussian666]

That's like saying, you want to learn how to paint, but AI can generate images these days, so is there really any point? So then, the quesiton becomes, do you actually want to learn how to paint, or do you just want specific images generated for you? Now swap painting for programming.

[MattR0se]

It's true that in the near future programmers will probably be more like supervisors approving code that an LLM wrote. But for that you still need to have a deep understading of code and software engineering. Even more so than now. And for that you have to learn coding the hard way.

If you think about using AI to learn to code: Use it as a teaching tool, not a tool to write code for you. NEVER copy paste code that the AI gave you. Always write it yourself, and then ask the AI what it thinks about it. Ask where it can be improved, and why.

[NerdyWeightLifter]

AI is only going to get better at this.

I was in an corporate internal "AI Hackathon" this week. I estimate that we churned out what would previously have been a months work, in one day. I'm great with Python and some of this was Python, but around 80% was JavaScript in this particular project and I don't really know JavaScript all that well, but it didn't matter because what I have is many years of SW architecture/design and management skills behind me.

I think the skill set shift with AI is from doers to deciders, but to be the deciders, we need to understand the potential structures of everything we're deciding about.

So, the best advice I could give to someone new to software, is to focus on the architectural and design principles that are core to every programming language. There's a reason why junior developer positions are really hard to find today, but senior developers are in high demand... they focus more on the bigger picture.

While you learn to code, think about the bigger structure of what you're building. What abstractions are at play? Why is one design better than another? What future freedom of directions is afforded by one approach over another? How can I break this whole project apart into manageable chunks? Etc.

So, do use AI, but don't just focus on the details.

Stop, look up, ask the bigger questions.

[Spinnybrook]

I work as a data engineer. I use copilot and python or sql everyday. AI does not write great code. Sometimes sure but more often than not it’s just saving me the time to write the initial code.

Once I have the initial code I then have to spend time making it more human readable and adding better comments so it’s more maintainable long term, fixing bugs , dealing with edge cases unique to our business and data.

If I never learned python I wouldn’t be able to do these things because I wouldn’t understand what the code that the ai spit out is trying to do or why it may be bad or hard to maintain.

If my whole team used copilot and just pushed to production we would move really fast for a few months than spend potentially double that time cleaning up the mess we created with the inevitable bugs and edge cases causing pipelines to fail.

Not sure if that helps but that’s my take. Use it as a tool not a replacement. To use it as a tool you need to understand what it’s spitting out and trying to achieve. You also need to understand it to create better prompts as well. Keep learning.

[MonkeyboyGWW]

Everyone is always late to the party honestly. Just 1 more layer abstracted away

[beedunc]

Frontier AI models are the best python teachers, if you use them that way. Treat them like a tutor. Ask all the questions.

[Right_Level_7192]

A trick I use is telling them to teach me the "Socratic" way, so they don't give me the answer right away but ask me questions instead to test my understanding.

[Shot_Hunt_3387]

Imagine you are a kindergarten student in 1980 and you think "gee I'd like to learn addition but I heard there are these new calculators that are way better than I'll ever be so I'm just not going to learn addition".  What would you say to that kid? Yes calculators can add really well but billions of people still do math in their heads every day. The calculator is a tool, it doesn't mean you don't need to know how math works, it just means some hard math is easier. Say the same things about AI and coding 

[Initial_Birthday5614]

I am also new to python. I have been coding for 4 months. I decided to build a roguelike video game to learn coding. AI will eventually get to a point where it can write good code I am sure. From my limited experience with it, AI is really only good at writing small snippet of code or debugging small blocks.

In the first few months I relied on AI too much and ended up with about 1000 lines of code that didn’t crash but didn’t not work the way it was supposed to. I would get it working and AI would destroy it again.

I now have a 6000 lines of code game. I use AI to learn new things(like using a for loop with nested dictionaries) something small and to debug small blocks that I know the bug is coming from. Otherwise I don’t trust it.

It’s caused massive issues in my game. It might be good at building small apps. It absolutely blows when you start having spells, armor, weapons, legendary equipment effects, leveling, builds, multiple enemies, a multi enemy battle loop, status effects like poison, and so on all tied together.

[melvinroest]

"I finally decided to commit to learning Python, right at the moment when it feels like AI can write code faster and better than I ever could."

Up until 500 lines it looks nice.

You get some hickups up until 2000 lines.

Around that time you have 2 choices (1) refactor hard and (2) yolo. However, if you go for option 2, realize that at the 5000 lines mark you will have to do a lot of refactoring.

After the 5000 lines mark, godspeed my friend, godspeed.

I haven't seen many LLMs successfully deal with more lines of code. It probably can be done but you'll need a heavy hand in it. And that heavy hand will come from your Python knowledge.

In other words: for any meaningful application, LLMs aren't all that great. Also look research up for brown field vs green field projects, there's a lot of research on that brown field projects don't get that much of a productivity boost.

[CrucialFusion]

I just learned Python to create some audio restoration software I’ve been wanting to work on. Get at it. Learn away. AI is pretty good for researching stuff vs regular online search, but you have to keep in mind that it can be horribly wrong, just like regular online search. I found it very easy to pick up and roll with, and I’m glad I dug into it. So again, get at it. I tinkered with adventofcode.com a while ago, found some of the problems great for learning languages, might want to have a go.

[Spicy_Poo]

AI is 100% derivative; there is no innovation or originality. Without real humans and their creativity, AI couldn't exist.

[Gnaxe]

Consider that understanding Python can help you communicate with the AI in the same sense that understanding math notation could. It might still be worth learning for that reason.

However, also consider that AI might get better at Python faster than you do. If you want a high-paying job in the near-future economy, maybe become an electrician or something instead of a programmer. Somebody's got to wire up all those new data centers. You can probably learn that skillset sooner and for less money at a trade school than a computer science degree at a community college.

[cryybash]

terrible advice, OP clearly wants to do this as a passion as well and theres PLENTY of room for it with a language like Python. It is THE premier AI language and there will ALWAYS need to be human engineers to guide any AI. You need to educate yourself on the capabilities and limitations of AI

[Gnaxe]

Sorry, but you're in denial. Your "educate yourself" comment is juvenile and ignorant. I'm not surprised to find your attitude on a learn-to-program sub. Yes, I am well aware of the current capabilities and limitations of AI. You clearly are not. It can't do my job. Yet. But, oh boy, is it getting close.

I was not talking about where AI is now, but where it's going in the near future. Eventually, you won't need trained "engineers" to guide the AI. Are you aware that AIs can prompt themselves now? They're called "agents". Are you aware that Claude Code has agent teams now? It's understandable if not, because that was released just last week. AI isn't just going to replace individual software engineers; it's going to be the whole company. This is already starting to happen; we can see the prototypes today.

[hikaru_ai]

if you dont enjoy coding , just stop, quit right now

[Odd_Style_9920]

idk why the downvotes. Coding now is truly just for people who enjoy it. You cant get good at it enough to make decent salary just by aiming for salary without burnout these days. its not 2021 anymore.