coding is right here to remain. Instruments like Cursor, V0, and Lovable have dramatically lowered the barrier to entry — constructing dashboards, pipelines, or total apps can now be performed in a fraction of the time.
I exploit these instruments every day, and so they’ve positively made me sooner. However because the codebase will get extra complicated, the tradeoffs grow to be clear: cryptic bugs, tangled logic, and hours misplaced debugging code I didn’t actually perceive.
AI instruments are nice — particularly for learners — however they arrive with a quiet price. The extra you let AI carry the load, the less possibilities it’s a must to sharpen your instincts that come from wrestling with complexity.
Sure, AI will velocity up your workflow, however you’ll additionally skip the formative steps the place technical knowledge is earned.
“Vibe coding” — shortly cobbling collectively code with minimal planning — is nice for demos or experiments. However for deeper technical progress or constructing techniques with significant complexity, vibe coding isn’t sufficient. This trending Reddit put up sums it up completely: left unchecked, vibe coding creates extra issues than it solves.
On this piece, I’ll present you use AI-assisted instruments extra correctly — and why contributing to Open Supply is perhaps probably the most underrated technique to actually stage up your technical expertise.
My expertise vibe coding with Cursor
Like many builders, I switched from VS Code (with GitHub Copilot) to Cursor and am presently subscribed to Cursor’s Professional plan ($20/month).
The characteristic I depend on most is Cursor’s built-in AI chat, which lets me instantly work together with my total codebase. Its agent can shortly grep by way of a number of information and even deal with photos - extraordinarily helpful when navigating giant, unfamiliar repos. It additionally spots linter errors and auto-corrects them whereas instantly modifying information.
Initially, Cursor dramatically boosted my productiveness, particularly for less complicated duties. It felt highly effective, virtually magical. However as issues acquired complicated, I seen some cracks. Cursor would generally generate spaghetti code, combine up equally named information throughout directories, and sometimes battle to comply with intricate logic flows.
Vibe coding can get you 1000’s of strains of code in minutes — however with no sturdy psychological mannequin of what you’re constructing, you threat ending up with bloated, over-engineered techniques.
Cursor does a good job narrowing down the search house when debugging. However letting it make unchecked edits does introduce much more bugs than it solves.
Past the standard recommendation to “write higher prompts,” one technique I’ve discovered particularly useful is telling Cursor NOT to make direct edits. (It’s surprisingly obedient about this!)
As an alternative, I explicitly ask it to counsel modifications first within the chat interface. Then, I might overview every suggestion, determine which edits made sense, and apply them selectively — both manually or by way of Cursor. Not like ChatGPT, Cursor’s largest power is its contextual consciousness of the complete codebase and its skill to parse by way of prolonged information (over 5k strains of code) by processing them in manageable chunks.
Contributing to open supply
So, how do you get technically stronger? Two methods stand out: facet initiatives and open supply contributions.
Aspect initiatives are nice for exploring new tech or diving deep into one thing you’re passionate or interested in. Surprise how AI brokers work or interested in MCP? Simply constructing a easy weekend venture teaches you way over hours of tutorials or documentation. Because of open-source, instruments and assets are freely accessible, leveling the enjoying discipline for everybody.
However solo initiatives have downsides. It’s simple to lose motivation — lots of my very own facet initiatives by no means noticed the sunshine of day.
Plus, you will discover your self in an echo chamber: your code works, however you’re unsure if it’s following finest practices or business requirements. For those who’re early in your profession and lack mentorship, how have you learnt should you’re even heading in the right direction?
That is precisely the place open supply fills the hole. Open supply initiatives aren’t only for coding wizards; they’re for everybody. Your favorite libraries like Pandas, Matplotlib, TensorFlow, and Keras rely closely on group involvement.
Why hassle contributing?
Open supply allows you to make an actual influence utilized by 1000’s of builders — not simply toy initiatives no person sees. You’ll grow to be proficient with model management (howdy, GitHub!), sharpen your expertise navigating complicated codebases, choose up finest practices, and construct a community of people that can vouch for you when it issues.
There are profession advantages too. It’ll add to your portfolio and private model, and also you’ll ramp up sooner when becoming a member of new groups.
However, contribute for the appropriate causes. In case your solely motivation is touchdown a job, DON’T contribute! Open supply is just not a ticket to get a job — it requires real curiosity and dedication. It reveals you’ve a ardour to construct, and for a lot of startups that start from open supply initiatives, that’s how they discover their first hires.
Selecting an open supply venture that you just care about
Beginning out can appear daunting. Many widespread repos have huge codebases, doubtlessly outdated documentation, or a whole lot of unclear points. So how do you choose?
First up, choose a venture you genuinely care about. This may sound apparent, however it’s essential — and underrated.
Select one thing you really use, whether or not at work or in a facet venture. Leaping into an unfamiliar venture with unfamiliar tech is solely overwhelming, and also you’ll lose motivation quick.
Personally, I’m each a person and a giant fan of PostHog — the product analytics platform constructed particularly for builders — so I began contributing there. Their docs have been complete and well-structured, which made it an superior place to begin. (And no, they didn’t pay me to say this!)
What to contribute?
There are a ton of issues you are able to do. Right here’s an strategy that I discovered useful.
- Discover a characteristic you want or enhance one thing you employ.
Narrowing down contributions to options you genuinely care about provides readability and motivation. The perfect code comes from fixing issues you personally face. - Arrange your native atmosphere.
Fork the venture, clone it regionally, and get it operating. Perceive the place logs are and take a look at modifications. Get a grasp on the venture’s primary construction and coding fashion. - Begin small and be taught by doing
Many repos tag beginner-friendly points (like “good-first-issue”). Decide these to begin. Perceive and replicate the bug; don’t hesitate to remark should you’re caught. If you open a PR, guarantee your modifications cross all linting and exams.
Studying to navigate the codebase is important. You don’t have to learn each line — that’s virtually unattainable. After greedy the high-level construction, dive in. Begin small to get comfy with the construct, deployment, and PR overview course of. Write clear commit messages and PR descriptions. Verify just lately merged PRs to see profitable examples or insightful discussions.
Wrapping up
Contributing to open supply takes persistence — widespread repos are big, and studying takes time. Turning into a constant, helpful contributor takes no less than just a few months, so don’t get discouraged by preliminary setbacks. In case your PR is rejected otherwise you get caught on a tough bug, that’s completely regular — it’s all a part of the training course of.
For those who’re new to open supply and need to chat, be at liberty to attach. Whereas I didn’t dive deeply into technical particulars right here (a fast Google or ChatGPT search can information you there), I hope this provides you the big-picture perspective to get began. Open supply has been rewarding for me — and I hope it will likely be for you too.
See you within the subsequent article 🙂
