AI actually made my tutorial addiction worse

Source: Dev.to

My Experience with AI and Tutorials

AI didn’t just fail to cure my tutorial addiction; it became its most enthusiastic enabler. What I thought would be a shortcut to understanding quickly morphed into an endless rabbit hole of half‑baked knowledge and a constant craving for just one more explanation.

Like many developers, I often find myself falling into the tutorial trap: watching, reading, and copying code without fully internalizing the underlying concepts. When AI assistants like ChatGPT exploded onto the scene, my immediate thought was, “Finally, an instant answer machine!” I envisioned swift solutions, bypassing the need to sift through countless articles. Boy, was I wrong.

My initial approach was to ask AI how to build specific features or integrate complex libraries. It would dutifully spit out boilerplate code, often quite impressive for a first pass. I’d copy it, get it “working” (sometimes), and feel a fleeting sense of accomplishment.

Here’s the catch: the moment something went slightly off, or I needed to customize beyond the generated snippet, I was utterly lost. The AI had given me the what, but never the why. It was like being given a perfectly assembled IKEA cabinet without the instructions or the tools to fix it if a screw came loose. My “understanding” was superficial at best.

Example: JWT Auth with Node.js and Passport.js

// Prompt: "How to set up JWT auth with Node.js and Passport.js, storing tokens in localStorage?"

app.post('/login', passport.authenticate('local', { session: false }), (req, res) => {
  const token = jwt.sign(req.user.toJSON(), 'your_jwt_secret');
  res.json({ user: req.user, token });
});

But then you’d be left wondering:

• How does passport.authenticate actually work under the hood?
• What are “local” strategies? How do I write one?
• How do I secure the 'your_jwt_secret' in a real app?
• What about refresh tokens, token expiration, blacklisting?
• Is storing in localStorage even secure? (Spoiler: usually not for JWTs!)

The Cycle

I’d take the AI’s code, hit a roadblock, and then have to find another tutorial to explain the specific part I didn’t grasp. It wasn’t replacing tutorials; it was multiplying the need for them, albeit for more granular issues. My “instant answer machine” became a tutorial‑request generator.

The core issue is that AI excels at synthesis and retrieval, not genuine understanding. It stitches together patterns from its training data. For a developer, truly learning means building a mental model of how systems interact, understanding trade‑offs, and debugging complex errors – skills that copying AI‑generated code snippets simply doesn’t develop. It creates an illusion of productivity while stifling deeper learning.

Takeaways

• Foundational understanding is irreplaceable.
• AI is a fantastic tool for brainstorming, boilerplate generation, or debugging hints, but it’s not a substitute for rolling up your sleeves and genuinely learning the concepts.
• Delivering real value as a developer means mastering the foundations, not just patching things together with AI‑generated snippets.

If you’re looking for a dev who digs deep, check out my work at .