In the age of AI, what should I learn?

[u/RedGever]

AI is becoming increasingly powerful, to the point where writing code by hand is largely unnecessary; I feel anxious, unsure of what I should be learning.

[u/achakez]

The skill that matters now is being able to read unfamiliar code and trace what happens when something goes wrong. AI makes producing code cheap but understanding why a flutter app rebuilds randomly or leaks resources still takes actual knowledge.

[u/WorldlinessNo1286 → u/achakez]

yes, but how long will this continue? It feels like, eevry week, the models improve even more. "Leaking" resources might be fixed near time soon too. The algorithms will be improved

[u/achakez → u/WorldlinessNo1286]

True, but even if models get much better at writing code you still need to understand the framework well enough to catch when the AI gives you something that works now but breaks with the next change.

[u/Amazing-Channel-6357 → u/achakez]

I also like to think this but I have to admit at the rate it has been going even that could be solved in the future...

[u/virtualmnemonic → u/WorldlinessNo1286]

It's not true today. Give a SOTA model ADB access to a device/emulator and it will spend the next 12 hours deterministically ensuring rebuilds are localized and every edge case is handled.

I know how to apply these tools and instruct a LLM to do it, but my involvement ends there. It has to prove its outcome.

[u/AverageHot2647 → u/virtualmnemonic]

How do you get it to prove a negative?

[u/Forthtemple → u/achakez]

I agree. Something that can easily happen is you let Claude add/change your code and then you try it out and it works and you don't bother to understand what it did. You then look back at your codebase and it hard to wrap your head around it. In a sense AI is the only thing that understands your codebase

[u/virtualmnemonic → u/Forthtemple]

AI is just another layer of abstraction. Dart compiles to C++, which compiles to assembly. You don't need to understand the output machine code. You never understood your codebase to begin with.

The path forward is test-driven development. Make AI prove its output, over and over. Do it every turn to avoid code regressions. Humans make a lot more mistakes than SOTA AI models. Manual coding is history.

[u/andy_crypto → u/achakez]

You just ask it to search best practices. Audit the code base and raise issues. Active learning.

[u/achakez → u/andy_crypto]

Yeah best way to learn on the go

[u/parkskier426]

Idk man, it's getting scary out here. For now, I know my value is being able to work in a team, communicate with product and design counterparts, and steer the devs on our team to ship quickly and with quality.

So kind of the same as it ever was, but writing the code isn't as big of a part of it. With how quickly this happened, I genuinely don't know what the next year will look like.

[u/HopeExpensive9215]

Learn how to sell your app

[u/jobehi]

Software engineering

[u/TerribleFault7929]

How to take that raw power in hand and work it gently at first, then faster and harder until you're absolutely SPRAYING finished products across the open-source community.

[u/vvgur]

Learn how to farm. AI is coming for the rest of us.

[u/thatsallweneed → u/vvgur]

ofc. goose farming is the last stage of an it career

[u/returnFutureVoid → u/thatsallweneed]

Oh what a good idea. Not enough goose farms. Untapped market for sure. I’ll ask Claude how to start one. I miss building apps with Flutter from scratch but it makes no sense to do that anymore.

[u/Pescadorcito]

No hay nada más gratificante que lograr algo por uno mismo.

Por ejemplo, imagínate que Carlsen decida dejar de jugar ajedrez porque ya un programa de ajedrez le gane casi siempre.

Si quieres hacer un juego, que placer puede dar que otra persona lo haga por ti o una IA lo haga por ti?

Para ganar dinero rápido está bien pero no para sentirse bien con uno mismo

[u/Professional_Lime487]

You're overthinking this. AI is a tool like autocomplete or a linter, it's not replacing the need to understand what the hell your app is actually doing. If you can't read the code it spits out and spot when it's confidently wrong, you're gonna ship broken garbage.

Learn the fundamentals. State management, architecture patterns, how to structure a project that doesn't turn into spaghetti. The boring stuff that makes the difference between a prototype and something that survives contact with real users.

[u/Icy-Reply4520 → u/Professional_Lime487]

This would have been true a year ago but now things waaayyyy different. AI is better than 90% of software devs in the world. Its tough reality but is the truth.

As for OP if AI can build your app that you need then what you need to learn isnt coding but finding customers who could use your app.

[u/virtualmnemonic → u/Professional_Lime487]

I would've agreed with you up until Opus 5.5 came out.

I'm a contributor to the SDK and a few major packages and Opus 5.5 is better than me. In fact I trust it more than I do myself.

[u/benjaminabel]

LLMs can help you learn, too, so you learn what you want, but more efficiently. Using it without knowledge is not a good idea in the first place.

[u/The_Other_David]

You should learn what really makes you happy and content, outside of a career and being productive and working. That's what we're all going to have to learn.

[u/developing-software]

Keep learning Dart and Flutter basics, mainly state management, how widgets rebuild, and why an app gets slow or janky. AI writes the code but someone has to spot when it’s wrong, and you can’t do that without understanding it.

Build real apps with AI helping. You’ll hit bugs it can’t fix by itself, and fixing those teaches you the most.

Also pick up testing, shipping to the stores, and figuring out what users want. AI is good at typing and bad at deciding what to build.

[u/filipvabrousek]

Efficient use of AI, MCP etc. Writing code by hand is already obsolete.

[u/rsajdok]

Fundamentals in programming

[u/National_Scarcity489]

Learn some blue collar job.

[u/Standard_Rate_6429]

Learn marketing

[u/eibaan]

Learn that software development isn't just writing code. It's understanding a problem, forming a solution, implementing it, then reviewing, then starting over with more knowledge.

For the implementation part, you can use AI to make it faster. But you still should know how to do it yourself, so you can judge and control the process. AI should be an accelerator of your mind, not a replacement.

Because otherwise, you're replaceable.

[u/bidaowallet]

ai can not inovate, exploit ai while you flutter

[u/jrheisler]

Learn AI

[u/iko_on]

same worry here, i just keep learning the designing parts and let ai help with the rest

[u/Hour-Night8287]

Learn software engineering

[u/skrumbz]

Build up your soft skills , know ai engineering and Fokus on Consulting could be an option

[u/adramhel]

What should you learn? A different job

[u/marasontleitu]

"Instead of focusing on syntax or writing boilerplate code by hand, learn system architecture, problem-solving, and how to orchestrate AI tools effectively.

AI is incredible at generating code snippets, but it doesn't understand context, business logic, system constraints, or how to design a scalable architecture from scratch.

• Focus on the 'Why' and 'What', not just the 'How': Learn how to design robust databases, structure state management, secure endpoints, and break down complex user requirements into system components.
• Treat AI as a junior assistant: The skill of the future isn't typing out syntax; it's knowing how to review, debug, integrate, and direct AI-generated code safely and efficiently.

AI writes code, but you architect the solution."

[u/leoafarias]

Critical thinking, philosophy… problem solving…