Reading the code may be the wrong bar. The durable skill is reading the architecture: what the system should do, where it breaks, what counts as done. That spec-level judgment is what separates builders who ship from builders who pile up code nobody can review. Are you seeing non-technical builders actually develop it, or just prompt faster?
Agreed, I think it's ultimately about the shape of things, not being able to read the minutia of every line of code. JavaScript, JSX, and TSX are so cryptic that it does require some familiarity with the language. I wish a more human-readable language like Python had become the language of the web, but here we are!
My path went from coding on a Commodore 64 to studying engineering, and finally landing in product. But no matter where you sit in the tech ecosystem or how long you've been at it, refreshers like this are gold.
At the end of the day, if you don't understand what you are building and how it works under the hood, even the best AI tools won't save you, at least for now. Thanks for writing this!
Vjeko, sorry for the slow reply, just seeing this now!
Love the journey from Commodore 64 to product, that's a great arc. I was always jealous of the folks with Commodores. And you're so right about understanding what's under the hood. The tools will keep changing, but that foundation is what actually compounds over time. Thanks for reading and for taking the time to share this.
Fair point, but I'd push back a little. Treating AI coding as a total black box only gets you so far. Same way I could write a novel in Spanish without knowing the language... technically possible, but knowing even a little grammar makes the output so much better. Understanding what's happening under the hood helps you ask better questions and catch when something's off.
I totally agree. That's why there's so much garbage around. Those who don't know they don't know go build stuff without any awareness of what's under and even over the hood. I have some understanding of coding, 20+ yrs ago, so I ignore most of what happens, but I can tell when that is the case and gets dangerous.
What I hate is Lovable's empty promise: Everybody can one-click publish with full SEO. Right. I've struggled with the SPA thing and the poor coding skills of the assistant. Combine that with the classic behavior of LLMs: "You know you are wrong, but keep going as you need to sound authoritative to the featherless biped) and disaster strikes. SIlently. My online store has been repelling crawlers for months. Zero traffic, while Lovable audits were perfectly reassuring. I wrote about it; it's a fun one: https://donatomangialardo.substack.com/p/lovable-and-i-a-surreal-story-eng?r=1z9mo
Reading the code may be the wrong bar. The durable skill is reading the architecture: what the system should do, where it breaks, what counts as done. That spec-level judgment is what separates builders who ship from builders who pile up code nobody can review. Are you seeing non-technical builders actually develop it, or just prompt faster?
Agreed, I think it's ultimately about the shape of things, not being able to read the minutia of every line of code. JavaScript, JSX, and TSX are so cryptic that it does require some familiarity with the language. I wish a more human-readable language like Python had become the language of the web, but here we are!
This was a fantastic read from start to finish.
My path went from coding on a Commodore 64 to studying engineering, and finally landing in product. But no matter where you sit in the tech ecosystem or how long you've been at it, refreshers like this are gold.
At the end of the day, if you don't understand what you are building and how it works under the hood, even the best AI tools won't save you, at least for now. Thanks for writing this!
Vjeko, sorry for the slow reply, just seeing this now!
Love the journey from Commodore 64 to product, that's a great arc. I was always jealous of the folks with Commodores. And you're so right about understanding what's under the hood. The tools will keep changing, but that foundation is what actually compounds over time. Thanks for reading and for taking the time to share this.
I was playing in the ZX Spectrum Sinclair Team :)
of course not. that’s the whole point :)
Fair point, but I'd push back a little. Treating AI coding as a total black box only gets you so far. Same way I could write a novel in Spanish without knowing the language... technically possible, but knowing even a little grammar makes the output so much better. Understanding what's happening under the hood helps you ask better questions and catch when something's off.
I totally agree. That's why there's so much garbage around. Those who don't know they don't know go build stuff without any awareness of what's under and even over the hood. I have some understanding of coding, 20+ yrs ago, so I ignore most of what happens, but I can tell when that is the case and gets dangerous.
What I hate is Lovable's empty promise: Everybody can one-click publish with full SEO. Right. I've struggled with the SPA thing and the poor coding skills of the assistant. Combine that with the classic behavior of LLMs: "You know you are wrong, but keep going as you need to sound authoritative to the featherless biped) and disaster strikes. SIlently. My online store has been repelling crawlers for months. Zero traffic, while Lovable audits were perfectly reassuring. I wrote about it; it's a fun one: https://donatomangialardo.substack.com/p/lovable-and-i-a-surreal-story-eng?r=1z9mo
That’s true but we’re not there yet.