Do not skip to the end

In this new age of AI assisted development, it’s incredibly easy and simple to go from an idea to the end result. Long gone are those days spent thinking and navigating our way to a solution.

It’s a marvelous power at the end of our fingertips, that makes our work so much easier than before. But what’s the cost? And is it worth paying for?

The missing steps

During our early education, when we start our introduction to Mathematics, we’re introduced to a lot of foundational concepts that, as we build up our understanding, allow us to tackle more and more advanced problems. This is a very important part of our education, and critical to our comprehension of these concepts.

But if we fail to learn some of these fundamental concepts, it becomes almost impossible to reach a solution. Even if it’s presented to us, we fail to grasp its workings.

By using these AI tools, we’re essentially jumping from the starting point right to the end, without ever learning anything in between. We reach a result but without truly understanding it.

Paying for it

When we see a completed work from someone else — not just code but other kinds of work, like a painting, a wood sculpture, or a piece of music — we only see its final form, not the path that someone took to reach that result. Walking the path is a crucial part of learning.

As we walk the path by ourselves, we might reach countless dead ends until we find the right route. And though we can think of these failed attempts as wasted time, the reality is that they’re as valuable as our final attempt, because the next time we encounter a similar situation we know what does and does not work.

When instead we defer this process to external tools, we skip this exercise and don’t ever learn. How can we evolve our knowledge by working this way? It’s as if we’re paying someone else to do the work for us, not just literally but, with our lack of learning as well.

What happens then, when a new problem arises? Do we keep deferring to external tools forever? What if they become inaccessible? Is it really a good idea to let our knowledge become hostage?

Keeping up

In the work context, it’s becoming increasingly mandatory that we use these tools to keep up with growing productivity expectations from our companies and clients. If we don’t, we risk being left behind everyone else. It’s an unfortunate reality.

But as their usage increases, the reverse happens to our knowledge. It’s already happening — how often do you notice your colleagues or even yourself stumbling when these tools are out of reach? The same tools that make us more productive are slowly making us less capable without them.

To avoid becoming trapped in this situation, it’s now more important than ever that we actively practice learning. Set aside some time each week to study something new or revisit the fundamentals. Progress won’t come overnight, but it will come.

Just do not skip to the end.