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Ask HN: Is it worth it to build projects from scratch or should I just use AI?

5 points numcap | 1 comments | 17 Oct 25 15:35 UTC | HN request time: 0.345s | source

I am a third year Software Engineering Student, is it still worth it to build projects from scratch or should I just use AI (claude, chatGPT, lovable, etc.) to build them for me? I have built plenty of Projects from scratch, trying to learn the ins and outs of languages and frameworks, but it seems like everyone and their mother uses AI to just build stuff for them. So is it still worth it to learn or should I just become a prompt engineer?
1. apothegm ◴[17 Oct 25 15:47 UTC] No.45618084[source]▶
Both. You need to know when your AI is bullshitting or hallucinating or just plain producing unmaintainable code.

Build hands-on when the goal is to learn. Let AI build for you —- using tooling you’ve already learned —- when the goal is to use the thing.