u/Basic_Travel7979

I did my B.Tech in Computer Science and Engineering with a specialisation in AI/ML.
But after 4 years of engineering, I can literally say that I have almost no engineering fundamentals.
I know the terms. I know what React is, Next.js, APIs, databases, backend, frontend, deployments etc.
But if you ask me to properly explain the fundamentals or code something from scratch without AI, I probably can’t.
What I somehow developed instead was the ability to have a vision.
I can imagine how a product should work, what the flow should be, what the user should see, how different parts should connect and how the whole system should come together.
Then AI came in.
I started vibe coding and building through AI, and suddenly I could actually turn those visions into real things.
The irony is that I am a computer science graduate who doesn’t properly know the fundamentals of React or Next.js, but I have shipped around 10 custom React websites.
And not just websites.
I have built web apps, AI automations, internal dashboards, ERPs, tools, complex databases, queries, workflows, custom designs and basically complete systems from front to back.
But if you ask me what exactly is happening inside the code at a deep level, I honestly don’t know.
I just know how to direct it.
For example, I can have 4 agents working on something.
One creates the PRD.
One audits the PRD.
One develops based on it.
Another audits the development.
With this kind of setup, I genuinely feel like I can build almost anything a business needs.
Sales dashboards, lead management systems, outreach systems, content systems, internal software, automation, ERPs, debugging tools, custom workflows etc.
I started with just trying to build a website and now this thing has become kind of uncontrollable.
I just keep building.
I also started a solo studio where I am trying to document and validate whatever I build, either for clients or for myself.
But now I have no idea where this actually goes.
I know I could probably find another client who needs a website.
I started by charging around 45k for a website and eventually took it to around 1.5L.
But even that has started feeling monotonous.
So how do I actually grow from here?
How much further can I take website projects?
Should I even reach out to another website client or am I just repeating the same thing?
Should I start reaching out to global clients?
Maybe bigger businesses, bigger projects and better pricing.
But then that creates another problem.
I don’t have sales skills.
I don’t really know positioning or outreach.
I am not great at presentation.
And that’s where the self doubt becomes pretty bad sometimes.
I look at myself and think:
I don’t know the technical fundamentals.
I don’t have sales skills.
I don’t have great presentation skills.
So what exactly have I done with my career?
But then there’s another side of me saying that I have actually shipped things.
Real things that businesses can use.
I can take an idea and somehow get the entire thing built end to end.
So I feel stuck between two completely different thoughts.
One side of me thinks I have found an incredibly powerful way of working and I should double down on it.
The other side thinks I have skipped too many important things and eventually all of this is going to catch up with me.
I have somehow proved to myself that even without knowing engineering fundamentals, I can ship real products using AI.
But what do I actually do with that ability?
What should I learn now?
What problems should I solve?
Should I pick a niche?
Should I continue building the studio?
Should I work with businesses and build AI systems for them?
Should I build products?
Should I target global clients?
Or should I stop for a while and actually go back and learn engineering fundamentals properly?
There are just too many things in my head.
I don’t really have a mentor either, so my default response whenever I’m confused is just to build something else.
And now I have projects, experiments, repos and ideas stacking up everywhere, but there is no clear direction or predictable revenue coming out of any of it.
That’s where I feel stuck.
I don’t want to spend the next few years becoming extremely good at building things nobody actually needs.
Normal development also already feels very monotonous to me.
What I genuinely enjoy is understanding a problem, imagining the entire system, figuring out how things should work, directing AI and agents, and somehow getting the complete thing shipped.
So for people here who have experience in engineering, startups, business, product, consulting or freelancing:
If you were in my position today, what would you do?
Would you keep selling websites and scale that?
Would you go after global clients?
Would you move towards higher value systems and automation for businesses?
Would you learn engineering fundamentals first?
Would you focus heavily on sales and communication?
And most importantly, what would you focus on for the next 2 to 3 years to turn this ability to build into an actual career and business?
I would genuinely appreciate advice from people who are further down this road than I am.