Why Learn to Code in 2025
Why learn coding fundamentals at all?
With AI coding tools rapidly advancing, you might wonder if learning to code is still necessary. The answer is yes—it is just what you learn about coding, and how you learn it might just be a bit different than before!
AI can assist with writing code, but understanding the fundamentals of coding is what will allow you to create anything in your imagination. Without a solid coding foundation, you will feel a bit handicapped. You won’t be able to verify correctness, troubleshoot issues, or adapt your solutions to your specific needs.
Here’s why coding fundamentals still matter:
- Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving – Knowing how to code trains you to break down complex problems, think logically, and design efficient solutions. AI still can’t do this super well with respect to high-level, strategic coding decisions.
- Understanding AI’s Limitations – AI-generated code isn’t always correct or optimized. Developers with strong fundamentals can judge the quality of AI code, identify and prevent security risks, catch inefficiencies, and improve performance.
- Customization & Innovation – AI can generate boilerplate code (or copy code that already exists), but developers who know how to do new things with code will have the upperhand. Those who know how to leverage AI to make this process faster will have the greatest advantage.
- Job & Career Growth – While AI assists developers, it doesn’t replace them. The most valuable professionals will be those who can collaborate with AI most effectively.
AI is an amplifier, not a replacement. The best skill you can learn is how to code with AI, not simply just have AI code for you. You might wonder what are the coding skills you might want to learn in this new era of coding with AI. The following section gives you a brief idea.
What coding should you know (in the Age of AI)?
Imagine coding as writing a recipe for a very literal chef—a computer. Just like a recipe breaks down cooking into clear, step-by-step instructions, coding tells a computer exactly what to do, one precise command at a time. Each line of code is like an ingredient or a step in a process, and when combined, they create something complex like a website, an app, or even an AI-powered tool. Before AI, we would have to write code line-by-line using our software development knowledge.
Now however, in the age of AI, the skillset of learning to code with AI is different than learning to code without AI. The following is a table of how a coding fundamentals course might be different from a coding class of the past (when AI coding tools didn’t exist):
| Aspect | Before AI | After AI |
|---|---|---|
| Course Emphasis | Syntax mastery, manual coding, and debugging | Conceptual understanding, evaluating AI-generated code, and debugging |
| Problem-solving | Step-by-step manual logic, incremental solutions | Leveraging AI suggestions, iterative refinement |
| Learning Pace | Slower, depth-focused | Faster, breadth-focused, quicker prototyping |
| Skills Developed | Precision, syntax proficiency, patience | Critical thinking, adaptability, AI collaboration |
| Instructor Role | Direct demonstrations, detailed walkthroughs | Conceptual guidance, coaching AI interaction skills |
You can see the emphasis shifts from writining code to architecting, instructing, and editting code. To excel at coding in this new era, you will need to learn how to design code with the help of AI, instruct AI to write good code, and edit or verify the output of AI-generated code.
In this course, we will cover some coding fundamentals that will give you just enough of a coding foundation to be able to understand how to use AI to code. We start off by introducing the coding environment as the place, where you will write and develop your code!