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Richard Djarbeng
Richard Djarbeng

Posted on • Originally published at rdjarbeng.com

To the Developer Who Feels Left Behind Right Now In The Age of AI

If you’re a developer, especially if you're just starting out, and you’ve been feeling completely overwhelmed lately, you are not alone it's mostly an illusion as Brad Traversy explains.

Every single day, it feels like there's a new "must-learn" framework, a new package, or a revolutionary AI pair programming assistant dropping. You open Tech Twitter, and suddenly a dozen influencers are broadcasting that if you aren't using the absolute latest tools, you're already obsolete.

However here are two things you need to remember (without giving too much spoilers from the video):

1. The Core Advice: Fundamentals > Hype

In the video, Brad emphasizes that the secret to surviving this industry isn't trying to learn every single new tool that hits the timeline. Instead, his advice is to focus on the basics. Gaining a deep, unbreakable understanding of the fundamentals of your tech stack will always pay off more than chasing the latest hype train. Frameworks and AI wrappers come and go, but core programming concepts don't.

2. Everyone is a "Tech expert" is an Illusion

Adding to Brad's point on the illusion, here is a perspective I try to keep in mind (and something I discuss over on my blog): Not many people are programmers in the first place. When you're deep in the tech space, it feels like everyone is building AGI in their basement and writing perfectly optimized code at light speed. Out in the real world? Most people still think "AI" is just ChatGPT and don't even know what Claude Code is.

Give yourself some grace. You are doing much better than you think.

To sum it up...

I recently saw a comment from a YouTube user (@MulugetaGonfa) that perfectly captured the current state of developer fatigue:

"At this point, you basically need to be unemployed to keep up with AI." 😂

So close Twitter for a bit. Stop worrying about the 50 new tools released today. Here's the video from Brad Traversy:

Wait, who is Brad Traversy?

If you are newer to the dev space and haven't come across him yet, Brad Traversy is the creator behind Traversy Media. He has been a staple in the web development community for well over a decade, teaching millions of developers through his straightforward crash courses and tutorials. Because he has been in the industry for so long, he has seen countless "tech hype cycles" come and go. This makes his advice on sticking to the fundamentals carry a lot of weight coming for a veteran.

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