The latest articles on DEV Community by Hunter (@hunterwbuilds). https://dev.to/hunterwbuilds https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4008698%2F34183cd7-d495-4128-8122-feaeb63a1646.jpg https://dev.to/hunterwbuilds en Hunter Mon, 29 Jun 2026 21:49:23 +0000 https://dev.to/hunterwbuilds/i-was-lost-and-now-im-learning-again-453d https://dev.to/hunterwbuilds/i-was-lost-and-now-im-learning-again-453d <h2> Starting in IT </h2> <p>I started in IT at a local school in my small town in December 2024. It was my first job out of college after earning my B.S. in Cybersecurity.</p> <p>None of the infrastructure was updated. Everything was failing, and luckily, I had one other IT person there: my director. I honestly think he knew less than I did, and he would get frustrated at almost every ticket.</p> <p>Even then, I knew I wanted a role where I could code.</p> <p>Fast forward to more recently, he had a freak out and quit. Now we have a two-person team, and everything is finally up to date and functioning. Even with things improving, I still knew I wanted to move toward a SWE-type role.</p> <h2> Learning to Code </h2> <p>I first decided to learn C# for Unity. I was really into game dev while I was in college, so it felt like a natural place to start.</p> <p>I began with the Microsoft/freeCodeCamp C# certification, and I surprisingly really enjoyed it. I made a few small games on itch.io that no one cared about, but I had fun building them.</p> <p>After that, I went on a bit of a language-hopping spree. I jumped from C# to C++, then into full-stack web development. I actually stuck with web dev for a while and really enjoyed it. But this cycle went on for awhile of just constant swapping.</p> <h2> Wannabe Founder </h2> <p>Then something switched overnight.</p> <p>I went from writing maybe 0-5% AI-generated code to using AI for nearly everything. I started spam-building startup ideas that did not really go anywhere. I may have made around $2-3k from them, but most of the time I was just chasing money and building whatever I thought had the quickest path to making some.</p> <p>I got seriously addicted to vibe coding. I tried Codex, Cursor, Claude, and basically anything with AI in it. I did like Codex the most, though.</p> <p>Eventually, I realized I had almost completely stopped coding by hand. I was not passionate about the startup ideas I was building. I loved coding, and I knew I had to step back.</p> <h2> Back to Coding </h2> <p>Now I am back to coding without AI assistance.</p> <p>I will eventually mix what I know with AI, but while I am learning, I would rather stay away from it and build the fundamentals myself.</p> <p>I chose Go as the language I want to stick with. I am currently reading <a href="https://quii.gitbook.io/learn-go-with-tests" rel="noopener noreferrer">Learn Go with Tests</a>, and so far I am really enjoying it.</p> <p>If you are an experienced Go developer, currently learning Go, or even just thinking about learning it, please connect with me. I would love to chat more about Go or development in general!</p> go ai beginners learning