Question
A mid-level engineer tells you they now reflexively ask an AI agent before attempting anything themselves — debugging, design, even reading an unfamiliar stack trace — and they ship fine, but they admit they feel like they're getting slower at thinking without it. As their lead, advise them on where reaching for AI first is helping their growth versus quietly hollowing out skills they'll need — and how to decide in the moment.
Treat the AI’s output as a draft to verify, not an answer to trust. Name the specific flaw and the input that triggers it, say how you’d catch it — tests, edge cases, reading critically — and how you’d re-prompt or decompose to get it right.
Vibe coding: describe the solution in plain language (or narrate it) and the coach grades your approach. Generating runnable code from your description is coming next.