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 completed in a fraction of the time.
I exploit these instruments each day, they usually’ve positively made me sooner. However because the codebase will get extra complicated, the tradeoffs change into clear: cryptic bugs, tangled logic, and hours misplaced debugging code I didn’t really perceive.
AI instruments are nice — particularly for newbies — however they arrive with a quiet price. The extra you let AI carry the load, the less possibilities it’s important to sharpen your instincts that come from wrestling with complexity.
Sure, AI will pace 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 development or constructing programs 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 the way to use AI-assisted instruments extra correctly — and why contributing to Open Source is perhaps probably the most underrated method to really 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 at the moment 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 easier duties. It felt highly effective, nearly magical. However as issues received complicated, I observed some cracks. Cursor would typically generate spaghetti code, combine up equally named information throughout directories, and infrequently battle to comply with intricate logic flows.
Vibe coding can get you 1000’s of traces of code in minutes — however and not using a sturdy psychological mannequin of what you’re constructing, you danger ending up with bloated, over-engineered programs.
Cursor does a good job narrowing down the search area 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 a substitute, I explicitly ask it to recommend adjustments first within the chat interface. Then, I’d evaluate every suggestion, resolve which edits made sense, and apply them selectively — both manually or by way of Cursor. In contrast to ChatGPT, Cursor’s largest power is its contextual consciousness of the complete codebase and its capability to parse by way of prolonged information (over 5k traces 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 by. Surprise how AI brokers work or interested by MCP? Simply constructing a easy weekend challenge teaches you way over hours of tutorials or documentation. Due to open-source, instruments and sources are freely accessible, leveling the enjoying discipline for everybody.
However solo initiatives have downsides. It’s straightforward to lose motivation — a lot of my very own facet initiatives by no means noticed the sunshine of day.
Plus, you’ll find your self in an echo chamber: your code works, however you’re undecided if it’s following greatest practices or business requirements. For those who’re early in your profession and lack mentorship, how have you learnt when 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 enables you to make an actual influence utilized by 1000’s of builders — not simply toy initiatives no one sees. You’ll change into proficient with model management (hey, GitHub!), sharpen your expertise navigating complicated codebases, choose up greatest 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 suitable causes. In case your solely motivation is touchdown a job, DON’T contribute! Open supply isn’t 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.
Choosing an open supply challenge that you simply care about
Beginning out can appear daunting. Many fashionable repos have huge codebases, doubtlessly outdated documentation, or a whole bunch of unclear points. So how do you choose?
First up, choose a challenge you genuinely care about. This would possibly sound apparent, but it surely’s essential — and underrated.
Select one thing you truly use, whether or not at work or in a facet challenge. Leaping into an unfamiliar challenge with unfamiliar tech is just overwhelming, and also you’ll lose motivation quick.
Personally, I’m each a consumer and an enormous 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 start out. (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 method that I discovered useful.
- Discover a characteristic you want or enhance one thing you employ.
Narrowing down contributions to options you genuinely care about offers readability and motivation. One of the best code comes from fixing issues you personally face. - Arrange your native setting.
Fork the challenge, clone it regionally, and get it working. Perceive the place logs are and the way to take a look at adjustments. Get a grasp on the challenge’s primary construction and coding model. - Begin small and be taught by doing
Many repos tag beginner-friendly points (like “good-first-issue”). Choose these to start out. Perceive and replicate the bug; don’t hesitate to remark when you’re caught. If you open a PR, guarantee your adjustments cross all linting and exams.
Studying to navigate the codebase is important. You don’t must learn each line — that’s virtually inconceivable. After greedy the high-level construction, dive in. Begin small to get comfy with the construct, deployment, and PR evaluate course of. Write clear commit messages and PR descriptions. Verify not too long ago merged PRs to see profitable examples or insightful discussions.
Wrapping up
Contributing to open supply takes persistence — fashionable repos are enormous, and studying takes time. Changing into a constant, beneficial contributor takes not less than a couple of months, so don’t get discouraged by preliminary setbacks. In case your PR is rejected otherwise you get caught on a difficult 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 🙂
