Coding in 2026: What No One Tells You

i still think people are over hyping this AI stuff for no reason

lol... 2021-2022: "ANYONE CAN BECOME A SOFTWARE ENGINEER AND MAKE 6-FIGURES! EVEN YOU WATCHING THIS VIDEO !!!" 2024-2025: "The HARSH REALITY of why Software Engineering is dying, mass layoffs, and we're all gonna be replaced by AI"

There’s no fast way to learn to code just like there is no fast way of learning to play the piano. Anyone who tells you otherwise probably doesn’t know what they’re talking about. If you think you can become a programmer in three months and be ready to work at Microsoft, you’re dreaming. With AI, you do have a 24/7 tutor , you can ask questions, get explanations, and even receive code snippets within minutes, and that sense speeds up the learning. But there’s a big difference between knowing how something works vs truly understanding it and be good enough to replicate without AI assistance. You can learn the mechanics of swimming from AI, but that doesn’t make you a good swimmer. Likewise, many people confuse vibe coding, copying, pasting, and tweaking code without real comprehension with actual programming, just getting AI to write the code for them and then being happy passing the work of as their own. AI prompting is not coding. Also, if writing code was so easier even with AI, then the app store will be plagued with thousands of apps vibe coded apps but is not. AI is hyped pushed by people and CEOs and people who want to sell course, saw a course on Vibe coding lol, like one needs to learn to copy and paste lol. Didn't one CEO state that by 2025 90 percent code will be written by AI, well that is not true.

I still think the old school way is better 😅… if you want to write good prompts anyway at the end

You all stuck in Life long learning! This is Tech industry

i disagree with using an autocomplete assistant like copilot for learning, you need to struggle a bit to learn the syntax and get used to the cognitive overhead. for a beginner i would say use a chat llm app like chatgpt, ask it questions and tell it not to give you the implementations, just starter code or stubs. use it for discussion and answering questions. i think its easy to tell when you've been relying on an llm too much for writing code, it's like the new tutorial hell

AI will not replace your job, if you haven't job.😜

There is something about this that takes the fun out of coding.

I agree, this is good advice. It’s wild how just 5 years ago the path of becoming SWE has changed. Me personally I try to use AI/GPT tools for shallow work and templating only but like you mentioned it is good to have some familiarity with these tools. Yet, good ole fundamentals will never go out of style I can’t imagine how these tools will be integrated in our workflows 5-10 years from now…what a time to be alive

I love the fork mike! 😂

If you spend 10 hours to learn python don't learn assembly

The code that AIs is producing is junior at best (fine if you're just starting, bad if you know the basics already and could build on your own). Of course you can tell it to write senior code, but what it'll do instead is writing senior syntax. If you wanna write actual scalable code with best practices you need to know the full context of what is being built (purpose, requirements, what, why, how will it look in future, engineer smartly but don't over abstract early). This is something an AI can not do. It can write code that does X, but it can not write code that does X in a way that scales to XYZ easily (you end up building "technical debt"). AI is a great tool, but don't make it think for you and always check and question its code cuz its almost guaranteed to be idiotic in some way. Learn syntax, what exists, what are best practices, ... from AI, but dont let it solve the problem for you, let it teach you how to solve the problem.

I like your mic. Using mics isn't same anymore! 😆😆😆

You are teaching the next generation the wrong way, and that's not fair I am not saying AI is bad, but it's best you learn first the old traditional way, so that you will know what you are doing As a programmer, you are supposed to have total control and design patterns, not AI doing it for you

You are Indian right? Btw, that’s a compliment coming from me. I absolutely love Indian women. Very beautiful my friend, just wanted to say that. Loved your video btw

Great advice Pooja! Especially about leaning on System Design and Neetcode as a specific resource ❤

The chemistry analogy for AI being a new element in coding is perfect, It’s refreshing to hear that while tools change, the fundamentals like DSA and system design still matter more than ever. 💻🚀

Up Top😎

Was that our "Telusko"? 😅

And guys if u really want a job then move on from IT , the market is too saturated to even get a unpaid internship.