How can I get better at coding without relying on AI?

Start smaller than you think you need to. If a whole app leaves you staring at the editor, try printing a message, writing a loop, or making a tiny interactive page. Then add one feature at a time.

Turn off AI for those practice sessions and write the code yourself, even if the first version is messy. Go back through first-year exercises if that's where you need to start. The goal is to get comfortable making decisions and fixing mistakes, not to produce a polished project immediately.

Separate solving the problem from writing the syntax. Before opening the editor, write down what the program needs to do, what information it needs to keep, and the steps it should follow. Pseudocode is fine.

For a simple front end project, that might mean listing what appears on the page, what happens when a button is clicked, and what needs to change afterward. Implement one step, run it, and check whether it behaves as expected. Looking up syntax or boilerplate is fine, but try to make the decisions about how the pieces fit together yourself.

Pick a small project you actually want to finish, like a basic music player interface. Sketch the data and functions on paper first, then build it yourself. Once the basic version works, add another feature or change an existing one. That gives you practice both creating and modifying code.