The moment I started learning HTML, CSS, and other frontend frameworks, I had one rule for myself: “Minimal to no AI usage — I want to learn things deeply and build a solid foundation.” It sounded like a foolproof plan. And to be fair, it was on paper. But in practice? I was learning properly, just not effectively. Endless tutorial hells, half-finished projects scattered across folders, and the occasional mini breakdown made me wonder if this was just part of the developer's ritual or if I was doing something wrong.
AI isn't a threat that replaces beginners—it's actually a valuable learning tool.
I realized this during my internship at a GenAI startup, where we were building a chatbot-like solution.I was in charge of designing and developing the frontend. Everything was fine until it came time to turn the mockups into a React app. Problem was, I was new to React and struggling to keep up with deadlines. So i took a React course and followed it through. I did learned the core concepts, got familiar with components, hooks and props (basic react essentials), and finally started piecing things together.
After learning the basics, I started building the frontend for the project. So, was I suddenly delivering sleek, production-ready components? SIKE I was even slower than before second-guessing every decision.
“Is this how they do it?”
“Is this production-ready?”
“Am I overcomplicating things?”
Eventually, I dropped my ego and thought, “Welp, let me try GPT.”
And honestly, it helped A LOT. I started learning new concepts and breaking down tough ideas into something I could actually understand. It even showed me real-world examples of how professional devs approached similar problems, which helped kill that constant self-doubt.
In short, I started learning in my own way instead of blindly following tutorials or documentation. Those are great once you know the fundamentals — but early on, you need something that speaks your language, not just the “YouTuber” way of doing things.
AI still struggles with frontend and creative aspects!
When it comes to frontend, AI still has a long way to go. Sure, it can spin up a landing page with fancy animations and filler content in minutes(which is impressive not gonna lie). But after scrolling for a few seconds, you can instantly tell “Nope tis shit AI“.
That’s because AI still can’t replicate creative juices, the thought process behind every margin, motion, or hover effect. A developer-built site feels alive because there’s reasoning behind each and every design choice. When a dev explains why a certain animation triggers or how a layout guides user focus, that’s creativity, not computation.
When I was building a bento layout for one of my projects, I wanted it to be responsive across all viewports. The problem was I barely knew how TailwindCSS handled responsiveness at that point. So, I asked GPT to make the layout responsive and gave it some context about how many rows and columns each viewport should have.
It did give me code, but it also completely wrecked my existing structure. The layout I had carefully built turned into something unrecognizable. Still, it wasn’t a total waste I got a basic idea of how responsiveness worked. After a few tweaks and some trial and error, I finally achieved the desired outcome.
Ironically, it probably would’ve taken me less time if I’d done it all from scratch.
AI might eventually get better at mimicking creativity, but for now, it’s still has alot to catch up. In my opinion, design, the art of making something feel right and overall creativity might be the toughest skill for AI to truly recreate.
Final Thoughts
If you want AI to give you great results, you have to feed it context — what you want, what you expect, and what it should avoid. But to provide context you first need to understand the basics of what you’re asking for.
If you want a different layout for mobile and desktop, you should already know how grids and flex work. If you’re going for parallax scroll animations, you need to understand concepts like delay and stagger.
AI can help you move faster and explore new ideas, but it can’t replace a developer’s understanding or creative intent. At the end of the day, it’s just a tool. Ignoring it isn’t an option either it’s already part of the workflow in most modern organizations.
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