Why LLMs Make Learning to Code More Important, Not Less

Posted by phoe6@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 11 comments

I presented this topic at a conference today. This is a subject that I have been thinking about for a while, a got an opportunity to write it down both as a post and present it as talk.

https://senthil.learntosolveit.com/posts/2026/05/10/why-llms-make-learning-to-code-more-important-not-less.html

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AdventurousLime309@reddit

The strongest PMF signal I’ve seen is when users start building their workflow around your product instead of just “using” it occasionally. That’s when churn conversations change from “do we still need this?” to “we can’t really remove this now.” Revenue matters, but habit + dependency is the real unlock. Silent churn is usually the dangerous part because it means the product never became important enough emotionally or operationally. Angry users at least care. Also seen this a lot with tools like Runable AI where teams stop treating it as an experiment and start wiring actual workflows around it — that behavioral shift says way more than launch hype ever does.

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rjcarr@reddit

Yeah, I treat it as the fastest and most eager coding assistant, but I don't let it create anything new, and I never approve anything without knowing exactly what is going on. Still, given those restrictions, it's still at least 40-50% faster than what I could do in most situations on average.

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Wonderful-Habit-139@reddit

There's no way that's the case. If you know exactly what you want the agent to give you, how is it that much faster compared to writing the thing yourself? Remember that you're spending time writing multiple prompts and fixing the outputs and reviewing it so that it doesn't do something that is "new" and outside of your understanding.

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rjcarr@reddit

I don't mean I tell it exactly what to do. Sometimes I'm not even sure how to do the things I ask it. But yeah, I do review what it does, and that takes time. It's still faster than me learning everything and then implementing it.

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Wonderful-Habit-139@reddit

That's a more honest take. You'd have to be sacrificing learning and understanding in order to get a speed up from generating code with AI.

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rjcarr@reddit

Agreed, but I best learn by example, and seeing its implementation puts me on the path to learning, with exceptions of course.

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righN@reddit

I rarely read blog posts, but I enjoyed reading this one and somehow it motivated me to keep on improving my programming skills.

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HyenaReasonable5537@reddit

Title: I built a free multilingual typing speed test (Arabic, French, Spanish + Survival Mode) — would love feedback

Hey r/typing 👋

I've been working on a typing speed test that supports Arabic, French, Spanish, and English — all in the same place, no account needed.

What makes it different: • Survival Mode (mistakes cost you time)
• Arabic RTL support (rare to find) • Global Leaderboard • 1/3/5 minute tests • Works on mobile

It's completely free: typingtest.one

Would love honest feedback — especially from Arabic and French speakers who struggle to find good tools in their language.

What's your current WPM? 🎯

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