u/ChatGPX

I’m curious how others learning programming for the first time feel about agentic coding tools.

For people using tools like Cursor, Claude Code, Copilot Workspace, Devin-style agents, or other AI coding assistants on a regular basis: do they actually improve your productivity, or do they sometimes create more work?

I can see both sides.

On one hand, they seem useful for:

generating boilerplate

exploring unfamiliar codebases

writing tests

refactoring repetitive code

debugging faster

speeding up small implementation tasks

But on the other hand, I wonder if relying on them too much can lead to:

weaker understanding of fundamentals

accepting code without fully reviewing it

more subtle bugs

architecture drift

extra rework later

difficulty debugging code you did not really “own” mentally
For those of you using these tools daily or weekly:

Do they make you faster overall?

Do you trust the code they generate?

Have they caused more rework because the initial solution looked good but missed important context?

Do you feel like they help junior developers learn faster, or do they risk letting people skip the fundamentals?

I’m not trying to argue for or against them. I’m genuinely curious what people’s real-world experience has been.

Title sums it up pretty much. I decided to give my notice at my company (a big bank that is tech forward). Today was my last day, and I’m moving to France. I have no idea what to expect, I’ve always wanted to start my own company and I want to see where it takes me.

Given the current job market I am fully aware of how bad the employment market is and do not plan on ever being employed again on a regular basis. I want to stand on my own and build a great company even if it never reaches unicorn scale I’d like ownership of what is made and the outcomes it achieves.

Any other app developers here who decided to pursue this full time? I’ve been making apps since I was young, and I hope to meet the market where it needs products that solves their problems or makes their lives better.

Just wanted to learn about others experience. I feel like I have to network a lot since corporate tends to insulate employees. I’m making sure to cover all the bases from sales and marketing to development. The product I’m building I’d be happy to share. I just won’t share it here due to it probably being against the rules.

Thanks for reading my blog post.