In the beginning of August 2026, I started a hobby project: building a MongoDB-like database. I have 20 years of industry experience and a master's degree in computer science, so I followed a disciplined, spec-driven development model using Claude, Kiro, Qwen Coder, and Cursor.
The first version was built in about two weeks of part time work. Then I started exploring. I learned relational algebra, researched almost every kind of database, reworked the internals, built a small relational algebra layer, a query planner, and an executor, covering everything from the backend storage to the query language. I learned more in those two months than in the previous 20 years.
Did I care what code the agents wrote? No. I read zero lines of generated code. What I cared about was correctness, verified through tests, and the high-level product features. For the first time in my career, I acted as a senior product manager, steering the project along the right roadmap. Without AI, I wouldn't have been able to do that.
When you have superpowers in your hands, you don't need to worry about the laundry. For the first time in my career, I can produce code in C, C++, Java, .NET, or any other language. Sometimes it takes me longer than a senior developer in that language, but does that really matter? Absolutely not.
Writing documentation and code by hand in 2026 is like driving a horse and buggy. It doesn't matter how skilled you are with the reins; you'll never compete with a car.
My hobby db project isnt opened source yet.
Okay, you're going to need to go into a lot more detail about exactly how you learned more in 2 months than you did in 20 years having read zero generated code.
Code examples are literally bread and butter when it comes to learning.
How can you learn without looking at code? That's like saying that you can learn to be an architect without looking at drawings...
I didnt know what is relational algebra is? why query plannering execution done in certain ways. What are backend storage system available in open source or commercial products. What are the traitts of each backend storage and how does that effects the replication and failover scenarios. I know all of this, I implemented a small subset of sql's relational algebra in my project and its correct and concise. I expored different backend storage systems, first tried one, then move to next and then 3rd in line, all that in span of less than a month without ever looking what code the coding agents generates.
To make this concrete, it takes someone about 4 months to go through a university course.
They might take six courses at a time.
So you are saying that you learned more than 400 times as much content as a university course?
I'm sorry but this just sounds hilarious And unlikely to most people, and it comes off a bit crazy sounding... For example, do you actually think you could even pass a single university course exam on introductory relational algebra without AI I assistance at all?
I think what is more likely is that you feel confident trying to solve problems with AI's help.
That is not learning.
To learn something, it has to be in your brain, not the AI.
Learning is not the same as becoming capable.
There's an ocean of difference between those two
You need to learn the concepts not implementation detail. If you know what is relational algebra and AI teaches you this in hours then you dont need to know the implementation details any longer. If you can borrow intelligence to solve a problem, you should do that. We, the most IT industry is already working in high level languages which is not how the computer works but abstractions over abstractions that very very few people know the entire cycle of a program how it runs. So AI is not a future abstracton, it is already here and its "intelligent" as opposed to other abstractions. Writing code or documentation by hand is gone, its past. All programming languages, framworks are implementation details and AI has already mastered them, we need to now move on to high goals than learning how to write a loop.
I don't even disagree with you here. It's something I've said in the past about things like algorithms. Sometimes knowing a surface level thing allows you to utilise it without necessarily needing to know the implementation level details.
But you did not LEARN Relational Algebra. You learned OF relational algebra. And there's a pretty stark difference there.
tegeek · · focus · HN ↗
The first version was built in about two weeks of part time work. Then I started exploring. I learned relational algebra, researched almost every kind of database, reworked the internals, built a small relational algebra layer, a query planner, and an executor, covering everything from the backend storage to the query language. I learned more in those two months than in the previous 20 years.
Did I care what code the agents wrote? No. I read zero lines of generated code. What I cared about was correctness, verified through tests, and the high-level product features. For the first time in my career, I acted as a senior product manager, steering the project along the right roadmap. Without AI, I wouldn't have been able to do that.
When you have superpowers in your hands, you don't need to worry about the laundry. For the first time in my career, I can produce code in C, C++, Java, .NET, or any other language. Sometimes it takes me longer than a senior developer in that language, but does that really matter? Absolutely not. Writing documentation and code by hand in 2026 is like driving a horse and buggy. It doesn't matter how skilled you are with the reins; you'll never compete with a car. My hobby db project isnt opened source yet.
adverbly · · focus · HN ↗
Code examples are literally bread and butter when it comes to learning.
How can you learn without looking at code? That's like saying that you can learn to be an architect without looking at drawings...
tegeek · · focus · HN ↗
adverbly · · focus · HN ↗
They might take six courses at a time.
So you are saying that you learned more than 400 times as much content as a university course?
I'm sorry but this just sounds hilarious And unlikely to most people, and it comes off a bit crazy sounding... For example, do you actually think you could even pass a single university course exam on introductory relational algebra without AI I assistance at all?
I think what is more likely is that you feel confident trying to solve problems with AI's help.
That is not learning.
To learn something, it has to be in your brain, not the AI.
Learning is not the same as becoming capable.
There's an ocean of difference between those two
tegeek · · focus · HN ↗
podgietaru · · focus · HN ↗
But you did not LEARN Relational Algebra. You learned OF relational algebra. And there's a pretty stark difference there.