--- title: ChatGPT as My Coding Mentor: How I Learned React and... description: A junior developer shares their experience using ChatGPT to learn React and Next.js from scratch. The key breakthrough came from learning to prompt effectively... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/chatgpt-as-my-coding-mentor-how-i-learned-react-and-next-js-as-a-junior-developer-46ucv5b8t twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: ChatGPT as My Coding Mentor: How I Learned React and Next.js as a Junior Developer | daily.dev og:description: A junior developer shares their experience using ChatGPT to learn React and Next.js from scratch. The key breakthrough came from learning to prompt effectively... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/chatgpt-as-my-coding-mentor-how-i-learned-react-and-next-js-as-a-junior-developer-46ucv5b8t og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/46ucv5B8T.png og:image:alt: ChatGPT as My Coding Mentor: How I Learned React and Next.js as a Junior Developer 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. # ChatGPT as My Coding Mentor: How I Learned React and Next.js as a Junior Developer **[iO tech\_hub](https://daily.dev/sources/iotechhub)** · 7 min read · 263 upvotes · 16 comments ## Summary A junior developer shares their experience using ChatGPT to learn React and Next.js from scratch. The key breakthrough came from learning to prompt effectively by asking for explanations 'like I'm 5' and providing context about experience level. The developer progressed from not understanding basic hooks like useState to confidently building full-stack Next.js applications in two months by having focused conversations, requesting simple analogies first, and building knowledge progressively rather than asking generic questions. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@danielmills** · 10 upvotes > Another thing that helps me when learning new things is to tell the agent "I'll explain my understanding to you. Please correct any misunderstandings that I have." That way you're triggering the 'learn by teaching'. Sometimes I need to go through an iteration or two until I can explain it in a way that's 100% correct. **@lukewelden** · 2 upvotes > A nice read, good job! Good luck on your new role . **@zeenat** · 1 upvotes > A well needed post ..sometimes i use this techniques but now i fully understand that how to break things in much simpler way to understand more efficiently. **@shreyanshvajroju** · 1 upvotes > I also think AI is very useful when it comes to learning specifically because the people teaching to you have only a certain level of intellect, understanding of subject & the circumstances of the students, patience & tolerance of repetition to see it through when a large group is involved & the amount of administration work that they also might have to deal with depending on where they are working. > > For someone like me, Gemini with the Guided Learning Tool is far more of an effective teacher I have gotten than almost 70% teachers I've had to deal with throughout my childhood, especially in... **@rcarrasquillo19** · 0 upvotes > Excellent post. --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#react](https://daily.dev/tags/react), [#nextjs](https://daily.dev/tags/nextjs), [#chatgpt](https://daily.dev/tags/chatgpt) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/chatgpt-as-my-coding-mentor-how-i-learned-react-and-next-js-as-a-junior-developer-46ucv5b8t) ```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":"ChatGPT as My Coding Mentor: How I Learned React and Next.js as a Junior Developer","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/chatgpt-as-my-coding-mentor-how-i-learned-react-and-next-js-as-a-junior-developer-46ucv5b8t","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/chatgpt-as-my-coding-mentor-how-i-learned-react-and-next-js-as-a-junior-developer-46ucv5b8t"},"datePublished":"2025-11-18T11:11:00.042Z","dateModified":"2025-11-18T11:11:24.372Z","description":"A junior developer shares their experience using ChatGPT to learn React and Next.js from scratch. 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Please correct any misunderstandings that I have.” That way you’re triggering the ‘learn by teaching’. Sometimes I need to go through an iteration or two until I can explain it in a way that’s 100% correct.","datePublished":"2025-11-21T09:33:38.606Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/46ucv5B8T#c-iKlTdbDHA","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel Mills","url":"https://daily.dev/danielmills","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocIi3wrLxljaJPsHlirLYe1axYomB5R7oO5GR1SvH3pNXoHo5Srd=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"A nice read, good job! Good luck on your new role .","datePublished":"2025-11-19T08:19:57.067Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/46ucv5B8T#c-b21yGSnmd","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Luke Welden","url":"https://daily.dev/lukewelden","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/13716505?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"A well needed post …sometimes i use this techniques but now i fully understand that how to break things in much simpler way to understand more efficiently.","datePublished":"2025-12-01T06:32:37.191Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/46ucv5B8T#c-wriJQi27b","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Albatross Alba","url":"https://daily.dev/zeenat","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I also think AI is very useful when it comes to learning specifically because the people teaching to you have only a certain level of intellect, understanding of subject & the circumstances of the students, patience & tolerance of repetition to see it through when a large group is involved & the amount of administration work that they also might have to deal with depending on where they are working.\nFor someone like me, Gemini with the Guided Learning Tool is far more of an effective teacher I have gotten than almost 70% teachers I’ve had to deal with throughout my childhood, especially in regards to the tolerance part when it comes to my cognitive function.","datePublished":"2025-12-04T11:18:10.278Z","dateModified":"2025-12-04T11:18:28.804Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/46ucv5B8T#c-twQe8yGLu","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Shreyansh Vajroju","url":"https://daily.dev/shreyanshvajroju","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Excellent post.","datePublished":"2026-02-06T17:53:26.775Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/46ucv5B8T#c-l5r1dChd8","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Roberto Carrasquillo","url":"https://daily.dev/rcarrasquillo19","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocIWUVCM0636QN_E4XCciooskX7rUPTGeB45pGd8vey2hrSINUtD=s96-c"}}]} ```