The AI leaning curve is not like learning other new technical skills. It’s not like learning a new programming language where once you learn your first programming language, all other programming languages are just variation on the same concepts. This is entirely new. It’s about orchestrating uncertainty while maintaining authority. To most software engineers this is going to sound like bullshit. But whether we like it or not, this is the new reality.
I lay out my AI learning journey like this:
0 – I have heard about AI but not done anything with it.
1 – I have used an AI chatbot.
2 – I have used a CLI chatbot to write code.
3 – I have used a CLI chatbot to analyze code.
4 – I have stood up my own LLM model runner.
5 – I have written an AI chatbot that can use MCP.
6 – I have written a background batch process using AI.
7 – I am writing a background batch process the lets AI write the process, check into git, monitor tickets and validate against a good set of validations. (I do not write the code, AI writes the code and I “manage” it).
I am on step 7 of this path.
Step 7 is more than coding. It’s about “coding” so the LLM can code for you. This is my goal with the video-identifier project.
This project has a significant amount of infrastructure for a personal project.
It has ETL from the IMDB database. It has a model runner that runs a dedicated LLM model. It has hardware triggered script to extract the videos from the DVDs and Blue Rays. It has a docker image to run the scripting generated by the coding agent. It has NAS to hold the videos. It has a validation script to see if the extracted video was identified correctly, and then it has the coding agent to update the code when the validation fails.
I am doing this not because it must be done. I am doing this because there is no other way to learn how to use AI in the real world other than to do it. This is the first non-trivial AI task I am working on and where my understanding of what AI coding will be in the future. By using a personal project, I can spend the time and try the paths that lead to a deeper understanding of the way AI can be used.
Project Repos:
https://github.com/jstormes/video-identifier