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Growing up, I always found it both frustrating and amusing to watch my dad “glitch” in real-time as we moved from a 9-channel TV with a manual knob to a 999-channel remote-controlled set. It took him a while to unlearn the constraint of having just nine options. The sudden expansion of choices - nearly a thousandfold - was disorienting, but he got there eventually. For my younger brother and me, using a remote came naturally. We hadn’t internalized the limits of the old world.

I see something similar happening in software development today. With the rise of AI tooling, the “coding universe” has undergone a metaphorical 1000-fold expansion. Developers can now pick up almost any programming language and vibe-code their way into building working applications. Yet, many experienced developers - myself included - occasionally “glitch” as we try to reconcile years of learned discipline with these new, fluid workflows. In contrast, many early-career developers, unburdened by legacy mental models, seem to adapt to AI-assisted coding with remarkable ease.

This shift demands that we ruthlessly question the constraints we’ve inherited from a bygone era of programming (pun intended - both the software kind and the TV kind 😉). Like my dad adjusting to a remote, we too must rewire how we think and work. Because the remote has arrived - and it’s not just changing channels, it’s rewriting the whole experience.

I would love to know how you are adapting to AI-tooling. Share your insights!