Pattern literacy under AI

The challenge is how people in the early days of a programming career will learn to appreciate and create new patterns if they mostly use AI for coding. Deliberately not using AI will not be easy. As older people leave the workforce, we may reach a point where fewer people can appreciate existing patterns and create new ones.

Anything about bits and patterns will be impacted a lot, not only “coding” as a job title. Living in hope that all will be fine is not a plan. Brainstorm, prepare, and keep some deliberate practice that does not outsource pattern recognition entirely.

Tools to learn are better than ever. Will and agency are still needed. Access without initiative is a library no one enters. Developers who have agency and can learn are coming for work that used to look closed. The tools do not supply the decision to start, persist, and finish when the feed offers easier sensations.

In high liquidity, people abandoned performance for speed and ease. When money tightens, optimization and discipline matter again. Habits formed under cheap capital feel normal until the climate changes. Then the bill for abandoned craft arrives as cost, outage, or a competitor who never forgot the fundamentals.

Drawn from writing on X as devendrasm on pattern literacy, agency, and liquidity.