The world of programming is a massive maze. It has its own rules that can help you find your way to the goal. At the beginning, you feel lost. So many paths, and you don’t know where to start.
Those who started decades ago had only a book in their backpack. They learned through trial and error, slowly and painfully.
Later, the internet came. The book stayed, but a walkie-talkie was added. You could finally ask someone on the other side of the world for help.
Today? You have the book, the walkie-talkie, and a jetpack. You can fly over the walls and reach your destination faster than ever before.
Is this the full picture? Not quite... There's still one key variable missing.
The size of the maze. The first generation learned to navigate a much smaller space. Today’s programming world is enormous and growing faster every day. Frontend, backend, AI, mobile apps, DevOps...
Need proof? Ask 10 different web development companies what tech stack they use. You’ll get 10 different answers.
The jetpack may seem like a miracle, but in today’s infinite maze, even that won’t make your journey effortless.
If you started with only a book and you’re still coding today, you’ve earned the title of wizard.
But be honest. Can you still keep up with today’s pace? Probably not. And it’s not about age, motivation, or family obligations.
It’s because while you’re learning one thing, ten new updates and two new frameworks are released.
Now imagine someone who’s just started coding a week ago.
How are they supposed to feel?
It's not about perfect code. It’s about the result.
If your goal is to build a calculator, then do whatever it takes to make sure your mom can use it to calculate her grocery budget. That’s your mission.
And guess what?
It doesn’t matter if AI generated most of the code and you just copy-pasted it.
(If you're a wizard, you're probably bleeding from the nose right now. It's okay, wipe it off and keep reading. This is the good part.)
Maybe you'll build 10 more projects like that. Maybe 15. But eventually, you’ll hit the limits of what AI can do.
And that’s when you’ll turn your brain on, start asking questions, learning from mistakes, and gaining experience.
That’s when you’ll start becoming a developer.
And AI will become your assistant.
Back in the day, it could take a week to find a single bug. Now, AI can fix it in a minute, giving you the time to learn Docker, Git, GitHub...
Because without those, no company will want to talk to you. That’s the reality today.
And what about perfect code?
There’s only one kind: completed and working.
I’ve drowned more than once chasing “perfect” code. I followed every best practice. Security, performance, readability, reusability.
And the result?
A project that could’ve taken a month ended up taking four.
And in the end? It did the exact same thing as other projects.
Maybe a bit faster. Maybe a bit safer.
But the only one who noticed the difference? Me.
And six months later, I opened the code and thought:
“Who the hell wrote this mess?”
Top comments (3)
Perfect code seems to be an... oxymoron. From which point of view? From the readability to another coder or a machine that has to run it. I sometimes struggle to read my own code from years ago.
Or mixing human written code with AI generated code. More often than not I hit the revert button. Although, getting an AI answer gives me insight of what I have overlooked. So I end up with human written code assisted by and AI.
We will eventually end up somewhere in the middle, a hybrid of sorts. Software companies may try to hire back senior developers they fired just a year ago.
Maybe the 'A' of AI stands for Assistant. Like a child who managed to memorize an encyclopedia but doesn't know how to start a conversation or connect the dots.
Thank you for your thoughtful response Dimitri. :) I completely agree.
My perspective aims to bring a bit of positivity and motivation, especially for those who are just starting out in programming.
I've read many articles where experienced developers criticize beginners for lacking critical thinking when using AI, but they often overlook how much the expectations have increased in other areas as well.
If the rules of the game are changing, it only makes sense that we adapt to the new reality.
Have a great day!
Love it! This really hits the core of today’s programming world. To get anywhere, you’ve got to do something — even if starting from scratch is tough and messy.
Please keep sharing more articles like this!