Should Beginners Use AI Tools in Programming?

You don't want to rely on AI as a crutch while learning. If you start depending on it too much right off the bat, employers might question why they should hire you if you're leaning on AI for everything. Plus, if you don't understand how the AI is solving problems, you may end up getting incomplete or nonsensical solutions. Take your time to learn the basics first—AI can be a fantastic tool later on, but without a solid foundation, you'll struggle to make sense of its output.

I've recently started working with the Java Swing framework, and I initially tried using AI to help me out. Let's just say the generated code didn't work at all! After spending time tweaking it for 45 minutes, I ended up figuring it out with the help of YouTube tutorials instead. AI can help clarify concepts, but I wouldn't recommend using it to write your code, especially in frameworks where nuances matter a lot. If you don’t know what to look out for, AI might miss crucial details and provide you with faulty code.

Taking a few months to thoroughly understand coding on your own won’t hurt your future prospects at all. In fact, the more equipped you are with your own knowledge before bringing in AI tools, the better you'll be at understanding how to utilize them effectively as a supplemental resource later.