Build, struggle, learn: Why hands-on learning beats theory in the age of AI

How generative AI, teamwork, and curiosity can boost your developer journey.

Ben Ilegbodu, senior software engineer at Netflix, sat down with the All Things Open team to share how generative AI is shaping the future of developer productivity and why teamwork and curiosity are still at the core of great engineering.

Ben has always been curious about how things work, and that mindset led him to explore generative AI long before it became a daily topic in tech. He started by integrating AI into small, everyday experiences and found ways to make work easier and more interesting without needing a big team or a chatbot project. For him, the key is simple: Try it, build with it, and see what it can do for you. The low barrier to entry means any developer can start experimenting today.

When asked whether AI will replace developers, Ben was clear: Not anytime soon. He views AI as an assistant, not an answer. It’s a tool that helps developers fast-track ideas, write tests, and boost efficiency, but creativity still belongs to humans. That’s why he believes developers should engage with AI now, to be part of shaping what comes next, not just reacting to it later.

Read more: Want to get into AI? Start with this.

Outside of AI, Ben draws lessons from his love of basketball. He compares software development to a team sport: You can move fast alone, but you go farther together. Working in teams, planning releases, and even debating with product managers all play a role in building something that lasts. It’s this same mindset that drives his enthusiasm for tools like Graphite, a Git utility that helps developers manage stacked branches more easily, making collaboration and code review smoother and less stressful.

Key takeaways

• Start small with AI: You don’t need a massive project to learn. Build something practical and see how AI fits into your workflow.
• Creativity still wins: AI is a powerful assistant, but human insight drives innovation.
• Teamwork matters: Great code is rarely written alone. Collaboration and trust move projects forward.

Conclusion

In closing, Ben encourages developers to be doers, not just thinkers. Dive into what excites you, struggle through the process, and learn by building. That curiosity, he says, is what turns experience into expertise.

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