--- title: Should You Still Learn Coding in the Age of AI? The... description: The post reflects on whether learning to code is still worthwhile in an era of AI coding assistants and widespread tech layoffs. It argues that many layoffs... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/exvudzbvk twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Should You Still Learn Coding in the Age of AI? The Question Every Developer Is Quietly Asking | daily.dev og:description: The post reflects on whether learning to code is still worthwhile in an era of AI coding assistants and widespread tech layoffs. It argues that many layoffs... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/exvudzbvk og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/exVUdZBvk.png og:image:alt: Post cover image 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. # Should You Still Learn Coding in the Age of AI? The Question Every Developer Is Quietly Asking **[Dev World](https://daily.dev/sources/dev_world)** · [@hadilbenabdallah](https://daily.dev/hadilbenabdallah) · 125 upvotes · 30 comments ## Summary The post reflects on whether learning to code is still worthwhile in an era of AI coding assistants and widespread tech layoffs. It argues that many layoffs are rooted in pandemic-era overhiring rather than AI alone, and warns against 'vibe coding' — using AI-generated code without understanding it — because real systems break in ways that require deep knowledge to debug. It also raises concern about companies cutting junior hiring, which could create a future experience gap. The conclusion is that shallow syntax knowledge is losing value, but deep systems thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to guide AI tools intelligently remain essential and increasingly important. ## 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. **@elmarchavez** · 21 upvotes > You can also look at it this way. AI filters out weak engineers from the get go. They think AI will take their jobs. They will be scared off and that means more for us. The engineers that keep on upskilling, adapting, and learning deep will be rewarded. Patience and discipline is what's needed for this generation. Sadly, those two values are scarce nowadays (thanks to social media). **@confidentcoding** · 10 upvotes > OF COURSE. > > IMO, I think the collective industry hangover is starting to set in. AI coding has exacerbated the worst parts of coding and development, by accelerating the parts that didn’t need accelerating in the first place. > > We didn’t **need** to write code faster, nor did we **need** to generate code we didn’t fully understand. > > If you like to code manually: keep it up! Real understanding comes from friction, and friction comes from problem solving. If you cut out the problem solving, whatever you think you know is superficial. > > Also keep in mind: **everything** fails at some point,... **@0bhishek** · 2 upvotes > It will be all about understanding fundamentals and reviewing the ai generated code. **@anonymous\_25** · 2 upvotes > AI won’t replace developers who understand systems...it will amplify them. Learning to code is still valuable, but the real advantage now is knowing why the code works, not just how to generate it. **@jameshamlett** · 1 upvotes > I think the junior hiring problem is the real long-term risk here. If companies stop training beginners because AI can generate code, where do future senior engineers come from? You cannot prompt your way into production judgment without years of debugging real systems. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Yes, Learning to Code Is Still Valuable](https://daily.dev/posts/yes-learning-to-code-is-still-valuable-6wspsvg6s) · Adventures in Nodeland · 301 upvotes · 29 comments --- Tags: [#ai](https://daily.dev/tags/ai), [#career](https://daily.dev/tags/career), [#productivity](https://daily.dev/tags/productivity), [#vibe-coding](https://daily.dev/tags/vibe-coding) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/exvudzbvk) ```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":"DiscussionForumPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https://daily.dev/posts/exvudzbvk","headline":"Should You Still Learn Coding in the Age of AI? The Question Every Developer Is Quietly Asking","text":"Shared: Should You Still Learn Coding in the Age of AI? The Question Every Developer Is Quietly Asking","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exvudzbvk","datePublished":"2026-05-20T09:30:27.274Z","dateModified":"2026-05-20T09:31:42.871Z","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Hadil Ben Abdallah","url":"https://daily.dev/hadilbenabdallah","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--npVXQBAk--/f_auto/v1726134205/avatars/avatar_9pqnrpoJdg1CfgqIBuMCl","description":"An Amazing Software Engineer \u0026 Technical Writer","interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"EndorseAction"},"userInteractionCount":39630}},"image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--foaA6JGU--/f_auto/v1722860399/public/Placeholder%2004","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":125},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":30}],"sharedContent":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/NReYBu8i5"},"comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"You can also look at it this way. AI filters out weak engineers from the get go. They think AI will take their jobs. They will be scared off and that means more for us. The engineers that keep on upskilling, adapting, and learning deep will be rewarded. Patience and discipline is what’s needed for this generation. Sadly, those two values are scarce nowadays (thanks to social media).","datePublished":"2026-05-20T15:10:25.277Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exVUdZBvk#c-W3EqLQtez","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Elmar Chavez","url":"https://daily.dev/elmarchavez","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--7PjH979T--/f_auto/v1780994221/avatars/avatar_bK85rJb2OXXID2LX2wi5y?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":21}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"OF COURSE.\nIMO, I think the collective industry hangover is starting to set in. AI coding has exacerbated the worst parts of coding and development, by accelerating the parts that didn’t need accelerating in the first place.\nWe didn’t need to write code faster, nor did we need to generate code we didn’t fully understand.\nIf you like to code manually: keep it up! Real understanding comes from friction, and friction comes from problem solving. If you cut out the problem solving, whatever you think you know is superficial.\nAlso keep in mind: everything fails at some point, nothing is infallible, especially non-deterministic pattern interpolators like LLMs. Everything works, until it doesn’t. When it doesn’t, who debugs the debugger? I’ve started confident-coding.com to address this, because I think we’re going to need to constantly remind, educate and guide people on what it means to think carefully, think critically, and know how to find the rope that can pull you back above the surface when you’re drowning in the error codes.","datePublished":"2026-05-20T18:30:16.991Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exVUdZBvk#c-YWDDsJLN9","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Lars Faye | Confident Coding","url":"https://daily.dev/confidentcoding","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--OGZu5DEc--/f_auto/v1772569630/avatars/avatar_umWZ9aQAng34qk5aaJl2q?_a=BAMAMiiu0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":10}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"It will be all about understanding fundamentals and reviewing the ai generated code.","datePublished":"2026-05-21T05:59:53.373Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exVUdZBvk#c-7YCXIDhFR","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Abhishek","url":"https://daily.dev/0bhishek","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocImlmk5GVrSNbjNxQiM8O6xPoD_R220wpJd24-xNb8GvEINHw=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"AI won’t replace developers who understand systems…it will amplify them. Learning to code is still valuable, but the real advantage now is knowing why the code works, not just how to generate it.","datePublished":"2026-05-21T00:13:00.593Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exVUdZBvk#c-402czVyng","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"anonymous","url":"https://daily.dev/anonymous_25","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--O0TOmw4y--/f_auto/v1715772965/public/noProfile"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"I think the junior hiring problem is the real long-term risk here. If companies stop training beginners because AI can generate code, where do future senior engineers come from? You cannot prompt your way into production judgment without years of debugging real systems.","datePublished":"2026-05-21T23:30:10.214Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/exVUdZBvk#c-kO9bkY6l5","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"James Hamlett","url":"https://daily.dev/jameshamlett","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocINtxgIF0UmiePvNy689yU9Ib2CJw7zvfXHtnysbBCFzC5N9g=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}],"isPartOf":{"@type":"WebPage","url":"https://daily.dev/squads/dev_world","name":"Dev World"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Dev World","item":"https://daily.dev/squads/dev_world"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Should You Still Learn Coding in the Age of AI? The Question Every Developer Is Quietly Asking"}]} ```