🧠 Why developer expertise matters more than ever in the age of AI

There’s a reason toddlers incessantly ask “why?” 

Their brains are developing at a rapid pace, and they’re trying to make sense of the world around them. 

But as we get older, we often lose that sense of curiosity and outsource our critical thinking in order to simply get through the day in one piece. 🙈

AI tools seem to be everywhere. With the tap of a key, they provide ready answers to queries, autocomplete faster than our brains can, and even suggest entire blocks of code. Research has shown that GitHub Copilot enables developers to code up to 55% faster. Junior developers, specifically, may see a 27% to 39% increase in output with AI assistance, showing even greater productivity gains from their adoption of AI than more experienced developers. 📈

But here’s the question (insert record scratch here): you may be coding faster, but when was the last time you asked yourself why before adopting a suggestion from an AI coding assistant? ⁉️

Being a developer is not just about producing code. It’s about understanding why the code works, how it fits into the bigger picture, and what happens when things break. The best developers know how to think critically about new problems and take a systems view of solving them. 

Industry professionals have observed that junior developers who are heavily dependent on AI tools often produce code that works superficially but lacks depth, leading to potential issues in the long term. Additionally, over-reliance on AI can hinder the development of essential problem-solving skills, as junior developers might miss out on the learning experiences that come from independently tackling coding challenges. ⚠️

Source

But we’re not saying you have to reject AI to be a great developer. 🙅 As with any technology, it all comes down to how you use it.

Your role as a developer in the age of AI is to be the human-in-the-loop: the person who can debug 🐛, guide 🗺️, and improve 🔄 what AI creates. Use AI as a tool, not a crutch. Keep asking why and never, ever leave your brain behind. 🧠

And luckily enough, GitHub has a host of amazing resources to help you sharpen your skills and get smarter about using AI tools:

1. Awesome-chatgpt-prompts: A curated list of creative and useful prompts to get the most out of ChatGPT. Use it for: prompt engineering, coding help, debugging, and learning prompt-based workflows.

2. Openai-cookbook: Created by OpenAI, this repository is packed with examples, guides, and best practices for using OpenAI’s APIs (GPT, Codex, Whisper, etc.). Use it for: learning how to build with GPT models, from chatbots to code assistants.

3. Awesome-ai-education: A comprehensive list of books, courses, tutorials, and papers curated for all levels. Use it for: diving deeper into machine learning, LLMs, and model building.

4. Papers-we-love: Not AI-specific, but includes foundational papers in AI, ML, and computer science, with code implementations. Use it for: understanding the theory behind the tools you're using.

✅ Bonus! GitHub Skills course: While not AI-only, GitHub Skills now includes workflows and tutorials on using AI responsibly in repositories and projects.

And of course, if you're looking to accelerate your coding without skipping the fundamentals, GitHub Copilot is your ideal companion—designed to keep you asking ”why” and firmly in the driver’s seat. Get started with GitHub Copilot today > 

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✨ This newsletter was written by Laura Lindeman and produced by Gwen Davis. ✨