How Can I Rebuild My Programming Fundamentals and Use AI Effectively?

I'm a civil engineer who works mainly with physical engineering, including quantity and structural tasks, but I also need to handle some automation. I learned Python a few years ago and can generally understand code, but I never built many complete projects. Now that AI can generate code, I'm worried about accepting low-quality code without being able to debug, improve, or rewrite it myself. When I start a new project, I often go completely blank and don't know what the first step should be. I already use AI for research and code reviews, but I'd like to strengthen my fundamentals and become more confident building useful tools for my work. If the comment about a building falling down is literal rather than figurative, I'd contact a qualified structural engineer or emergency service immediately rather than rely on code or AI.