I’m Back in Second Grade. On Purpose.
⏱️ Read time: ~2 min
I am back in second grade. Well, not literally. But that is the mindset I am choosing as I go deeper into building with AI.
I use AI every day. Not just to polish a paragraph, summarize a meeting, or create a quick plan. I code with it. I build applications with it. I connect tools, shape workflows, test ideas, and turn rough concepts into things that actually work.
Super exciting, incredibly satisfying when you see your first app live, on your own virtual private server. I could keep building and building and building.
And that's what also makes the temptation to skip understanding much stronger. AI can generate code in seconds. It can suggest an architecture, fix an error, connect components, and make something look finished before I even remotely understand what sits underneath.
And that is where I want to be careful.
The way I see it is that when I accept every output without understanding the basics, I am no longer building. I am just approving things I cannot properly assess.
My “second grade” rule
When I build something new, I do not only ask AI to solve the next problem.
I also ask: “Walk me through this step by step. Explain what I need to do, what this part does, and why it matters. Assume I am in second grade.”
I do not need a computer science degree to build useful things. But I want enough technical understanding to know what I am looking at.
What is happening when an app calls an API? What is stored where? Why did the code work in the prototype but break when I changed one piece? What is a shortcut that is fine for an experiment, and what is something that will create problems later?
Those questions matter because the speed of AI can hide the gap between “it works” and “I understand what I have built.”
The more powerful AI tools become, the easier it is to become dependent on them. Not because they are bad, but because they can take us past the learning stage before we have had a chance to build our own judgment.
For me, choosing to be a beginner is not about becoming less capable. To the contrary, it is how I become more capable.
AI can help you build far beyond what you could do alone. But it should not turn you into a person who only pushes buttons and hopes for the best.
Learn one layer deeper than the immediate result requires. Ask for the explanation, not only the answer.
That is how AI becomes augmentation, not degradation.
Never stop learning!
- Elena
P.S. If you are building with AI, too, what is one technical concept you want to understand better this year?
