--- title: Are coding courses dead? The people who built them... description: Coding course creators are questioning whether their format survives now that developers can just ask AI instead of watching tutorials. Cory House, who built a... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/are-coding-courses-dead-the-people-who-built-them-aren-t-sure-anymore-hxmvpoi9g twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Are coding courses dead? The people who built them aren't sure anymore | daily.dev og:description: Coding course creators are questioning whether their format survives now that developers can just ask AI instead of watching tutorials. Cory House, who built a... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/are-coding-courses-dead-the-people-who-built-them-aren-t-sure-anymore-hxmvpoi9g og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/hXmVpOi9g.png og:image:alt: Are coding courses dead? The people who built them aren't sure anymore og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Are coding courses dead? The people who built them aren't sure anymore **[Trends](https://daily.dev/sources/trends)** · 2 min read · 12 upvotes · 5 comments ## Summary Coding course creators are questioning whether their format survives now that developers can just ask AI instead of watching tutorials. Cory House, who built a decade-long course business, says making another course ## Content LiveOverflow asks the question out loud that a lot of course creators are quietly sitting with: "Are online courses dead now because you can just ask AI?" Cory House has more skin in this game than most. He published his first course in 2013, it did well, so he kept going. Eighteen courses over a decade, over a million developers. Now he says authoring another coding course "sounds archaic." That's not a hot take from someone who never tried — that's someone who built a career on this format wondering if the format is done. The honest answer is: it depends what the course is *for*. If you're learning to use a specific API or framework, yeah, asking an AI is faster than sitting through a four-hour Udemy course recorded in 2022. The AI knows the docs, it answers your actual question, and it doesn't make you watch someone set up their dev environment for twenty minutes. But LiveOverflow's angle is more interesting. He's not making "how to use React" content — he's building security training at Hextree, where the point is developing intuition, not just getting answers. You can ask an AI how a buffer overflow works. You can't really ask it to give you the feeling of finding one yourself. That gap — between knowing and *doing* — is where structured courses still have a case to make. The B2B angle LiveOverflow is probing matters too. Individual developers might be fine winging it with ChatGPT. Companies buying security training for teams have compliance requirements, progress tracking, and liability concerns that "just ask the AI" doesn't solve. So the format probably isn't dead. But the low-effort explainer course — the one that's basically a narrated tutorial you could Google — is in real trouble. What survives is content that gives you reps, builds judgment, or puts you in situations an AI can describe but can't simulate. The creators who built their identity around being the person who explains things clearly are the ones feeling this most. That specific value prop just got a lot cheaper to replicate. ## Questions this post answers ### Are online coding courses becoming obsolete because of AI assistants like ChatGPT? Not entirely, but the low-effort explainer format is. Courses that just narrate how to use an API or framework are losing value since AI answers those questions faster and more directly. However, training built around developing intuition, hands-on practice, or reps that AI can describe but not simulate, along with B2B training tied to compliance and progress tracking, still has a strong case for surviving. _Developers weighing whether to trust a course or an AI answer can track this shift on daily.dev._ ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@khauma** · 1 upvotes > Honestly, low-effort courses made from random Google searches are totally cooked. Sites like [boot.dev](http://boot.dev) are winning because they actually build real infrastructure. Take their new Web Security course—sure, AI can explain XSS to you, but it can't spin up a fake target page for you to hack, grade your work, and pair it with a video lesson and a seamless CSRF follow-up. If you're selling a 5-hour Udemy course made of PowerPoint slides and basic quizzes, people are keeping their cash. But if you're building actual hands-on learning platforms, AI is just going to make them better. **@ahmetozel** · 0 upvotes > The distinction that survives is whether the course teaches answers or teaches taste. Asking a model beats a 2022 recording every time when the question is how this API works, because you get the current version and only the part you asked about. What a model cannot give you is the thing a good instructor smuggles in - why they rejected the other three designs, which shortcut is fine at this scale and fatal at the next. That is also the hardest material to produce, which may be why the format feels archaic: the cheap half got automated and the expensive half was always the minority of courses. **@jenueldev** · 0 upvotes > A useful B2B test is whether the course produces evidence of capability, not just content completion. Scenario-based labs with feedback, replayable incident paths, and assessments tied to real job tasks give teams something an ad hoc AI conversation does not: a shared, auditable standard for skill growth. **@sreyasumesh** · 0 upvotes > Is AI actually a good tutor? I wouldn't agree. Nothing can replace someone explaining stuff and showing how it's done. I need to listen to people explaining to understand something, reading long AI generated explanations just doesn't cut it. **@mark\_kazakov** · 0 upvotes > Video courses as we know them are in a major decline. > As with everything in the AI era, this sphere will have to undergo a major change to be in demand again. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The death of web development education](https://daily.dev/posts/the-death-of-web-development-education-sj2nhprd3) · Lobsters · 9 upvotes · 6 comments --- Tags: [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/are-coding-courses-dead-the-people-who-built-them-aren-t-sure-anymore-hxmvpoi9g) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Are coding courses dead? 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The people who built them aren't sure anymore"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/are-coding-courses-dead-the-people-who-built-them-aren-t-sure-anymore-hxmvpoi9g","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Honestly, low-effort courses made from random Google searches are totally cooked. Sites like boot.dev are winning because they actually build real infrastructure. Take their new Web Security course—sure, AI can explain XSS to you, but it can’t spin up a fake target page for you to hack, grade your work, and pair it with a video lesson and a seamless CSRF follow-up. If you’re selling a 5-hour Udemy course made of PowerPoint slides and basic quizzes, people are keeping their cash. But if you’re building actual hands-on learning platforms, AI is just going to make them better.","datePublished":"2026-09-04T17:12:54.636Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/hXmVpOi9g#c-FS4wz1Ave","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Kahlil Wallace","url":"https://daily.dev/khauma","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--QvppE9Ip--/f_auto/v1767378558/avatars/avatar_7eQFeSQRDx0muV3n92gxT?_a=BAMAK+ZW0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"The distinction that survives is whether the course teaches answers or teaches taste. Asking a model beats a 2022 recording every time when the question is how this API works, because you get the current version and only the part you asked about. What a model cannot give you is the thing a good instructor smuggles in - why they rejected the other three designs, which shortcut is fine at this scale and fatal at the next. That is also the hardest material to produce, which may be why the format feels archaic: the cheap half got automated and the expensive half was always the minority of courses.","datePublished":"2026-09-04T20:54:49.677Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/hXmVpOi9g#c-7TdQzHCEX","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Ahmet Özel","url":"https://daily.dev/ahmetozel","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/70992231?v=4"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"A useful B2B test is whether the course produces evidence of capability, not just content completion. Scenario-based labs with feedback, replayable incident paths, and assessments tied to real job tasks give teams something an ad hoc AI conversation does not: a shared, auditable standard for skill growth.","datePublished":"2026-09-06T03:44:47.654Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/hXmVpOi9g#c-66wff857n","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Jenuel Oras Ganawed","url":"https://daily.dev/jenueldev","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--BadmiNyj--/f_auto/v1787625077/avatars/avatar_JJtZr4Sjm?_a=BAMAMicg0"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Is AI actually a good tutor? I wouldn’t agree. Nothing can replace someone explaining stuff and showing how it’s done. I need to listen to people explaining to understand something, reading long AI generated explanations just doesn’t cut it.","datePublished":"2026-09-07T09:46:52.082Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/hXmVpOi9g#c-ePvzUMgcD","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Sreya Sumesh","url":"https://daily.dev/sreyasumesh","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocKTHHI5s4oPjldWoopYAyji2PbYkuHZnrMjZrVWUG2C5LZTo3fs=s96-c"}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Video courses as we know them are in a major decline.\nAs with everything in the AI era, this sphere will have to undergo a major change to be in demand again.","datePublished":"2026-09-07T18:09:05.206Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/hXmVpOi9g#c-J77oScdXa","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Mark Kazakov","url":"https://daily.dev/mark_kazakov","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--xbUWQzIM--/f_auto/v1743106084/avatars/avatar_DXWhIjQxKsp3WABroh08k"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/are-coding-courses-dead-the-people-who-built-them-aren-t-sure-anymore-hxmvpoi9g#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"Are online coding courses becoming obsolete because of AI assistants like ChatGPT?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Not entirely, but the low-effort explainer format is. Courses that just narrate how to use an API or framework are losing value since AI answers those questions faster and more directly. However, training built around developing intuition, hands-on practice, or reps that AI can describe but not simulate, along with B2B training tied to compliance and progress tracking, still has a strong case for surviving. Developers weighing whether to trust a course or an AI answer can track this shift on daily.dev."}}]} ```