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title: Time To Relarn
date: 2026-08-08
author: Max Litruv Boonzaayer
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> *I let AI write too much of my code. Now I'm trying to become a programmer again.*
## The Junior Programmer Who Never Sleeps
I've been using AI to write a lot of my code lately. Not all of it, but a large majority of the software I've been working on has involved AI in some way, usually through plugins directly in my editor.
Honestly? I think I've gone too far.
The weird part is that the code is mostly fine, and that's what makes this difficult to notice. AI can produce reasonable implementations, refactor things, write boilerplate, find bugs, explain APIs, and generally smash through the boring shit that used to slow me down.
**It's a trap.**
The productivity gains are real. That's the problem. When something saves you hours of tedious work, it's very easy to convince yourself that you're simply working smarter. And sometimes you are.
But eventually you can cross a line where you're no longer removing the tedious parts of programming. You're removing the programming.
I've started noticing something that bothers me more than bad code.
**I'm becoming detached from the act of programming.**
The easiest way I've found to describe it is that I feel less like a programmer and more like a manager with a team of extremely fast junior developers that never learn. **I give them tasks,** *they write the implementation,* **I review it and point out problems,** *they fix them,* \**then I move on.*
Sounds fantastic, except I actually like programming. I like exploring an unfamiliar API, discovering some weird behaviour, breaking things, fixing them, and eventually arriving at something that feels elegant. I've slowly been removing myself from that process.
## I'm Forgetting How to Speak Programming
The most worrying symptom isn't that I don't understand the code. I usually do. It's that I'm starting to forget the terminology. After decades of programming, that's an uncomfortable feeling, and that's where the impostor syndrome starts creeping in.
I'll find myself thinking, *"Fuck, what's that called again?"* Then, instead of reaching for the keyboard, I'll reach for the AI. It gives me the answer in seconds and I move on.
Nothing is technically wrong. The code works. But I was spoon-fed the answer.
**I didn't really solve it myself. I gained no wisdom.**
## Using Less AI, On Purpose
I'm not going back to pretending AI doesn't exist. It's too useful. But I want to change where it sits in my workflow.
If I know how to implement something, I'll implement it. If I'm stuck, I'll try to solve it myself before asking AI. I'll read the documentation when I need to understand an API instead of immediately asking for the answer.
I'll still use AI for boilerplate, tedious work, debugging, and the stuff where it genuinely provides leverage.
The goal isn't to use no AI. It's to stop using it as a replacement for programming.
I got into this because I like building software. I don't want to become a manager of machines that occasionally writes code.
**It's time to relearn.**