Hi everyone,

I watched a video recently about what happens when AI can do everything in a field. It was about mathematics but it made me sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqiDqJMxg6o

I'm trying to learn PHP and it is hard sometimes. But I want to understand it properly, not just let AI write everything for me. What worries me is, if AI keeps getting better, will new people stop trying to learn? And then eventually nobody really knows how to build things themselves?

Do you think this could happen with web development? I would like to know what you think.

Tina

G'day Tina.

I watched that one too, and I think it is a more honest take than most. His point isn't that AI got good at sums. It's that the value was never just the answer. It was what you discovered along the way, and you lose something important when nobody sees a reason to set off in the first place.

Some of that will happen in web development, and I won't pretend the job side of it isn't real. It is, and some of it is already happening. AI will change the industry, and some jobs will inevitably disappear or change beyond recognition.

But there's a difference between maths research and building a website. Research exists to produce new knowledge. A web app exists to do a job for somebody, and judging whether it actually does that job properly still requires understanding, experience and human judgement.

I work with an AI assistant on Trongate every day. It can produce a surprising amount of code, but I still read what it produces, question it and decide what stays. That part hasn't got easier. If anything, it's become more important. There's a big difference between getting AI to write code and understanding whether that code is any good.

So keep going with the PHP. Learn the fundamentals, experiment with AI and use it as a tool, but don't let it do all the thinking for you. The struggle isn't a detour from the learning. It's the learning.

Nobody knows exactly where this is heading, but I'd hate to see people put off learning something they enjoy because they're worried AI might make it pointless.

I went through this mental churn about a year ago when AI just started getting good at coding.

Should I or shouldn't I learn to code etc...

I've never been a 'coder' and I'm not sure I ever will be now, even though I've been in the nexus between web, technology and software for a decade or more.

I do however want to learn to be a better 'programmer', which is the role that I understand will still have value in the future.

Architecture, taste, testing, validation, market alignment etc...

So I'm not learning to code, I'm learning the practice of programming and learning to leverage the new tools that will help me build and deliver things.

It may only be a subtle difference and I suppose it could be argued which is which,

but the split between the two is real for me and I'm running with it.

I've no interest in getting a 'job' in the industry - I've spent too long working to ensure I'm totally unemployable and still valuable to customers - I hope to stay that way ;)

Brendan

Tina, I'd keep learning PHP. Use AI if it helps, there's no reason not to. But take the time to understand the code it produces. If you can't work out why something works, you'll have a hard time fixing it when it breaks.

As for the job market in five or ten years, who knows. I wouldn't pretend to have an answer to that.

I can relate to this, Tina. I came from a marketing background and got into web development because I wanted to actually build things myself.

AI is a funny one. It can save you a ton of time, but it's also tempting to let it do the hard bits for you. And honestly, those hard bits are usually where the learning happens. If you don't understand the code, you're going to have a rough time when something breaks and the AI can't quite figure it out either!

I've been trying to think of it like marathon training. You can have the best running shoes in the world, but at some point you've still got to put the miles in yourself. ;)

I'd keep going with PHP if I were you. You don't need to know everything, and nobody really does. Just keep learning, keep building, and don't let AI convince you that your effort doesn't count. Besides, there's something pretty satisfying about getting something working and knowing you actually understand how you did it!

Thanks everyone for the replies, this really helps me feel better!

DaFa, I think you're right about the struggle being the real learning. Sometimes I get stuck on something small in PHP for hours and it gets frustrating. But when I copy an example and change things one by one until it works, I feel so happy because I finally understand why it worked.

And Brendan, what you said about coder vs programmer makes sense. My main goal right now is just to understand enough so I can build simple apps and hopefully get a junior job.

I was reading the news this morning and saw headlines about AI models self-replicating on smart devices and all these big changes. It feels overwhelming sometimes when everything moves so fast.

I will keep focusing on learning the PHP basics like you and mk1978x and AJDevZoid said, and try not to rely on AI for the thinking part.

Thank you again for all your encouragement!

Tina