Introduction

As you may know, I have recently started taking my journey toward becoming a professional developer more seriously, and I’m kicking everything into overdrive. In my last post, I discussed different techniques I use when learning new skills. In this post, I want to talk about how I use AI as a tool to enhance my learning. Honestly, AI has been one of the greatest tools available to any self-taught learner in any subject.

I’ll share some techniques I use to learn different programming concepts, such as getting AI to create a structured learning plan, explain unknown topics, and help you actively practice the skills needed to achieve your goals.

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Choose a Single Focus

First, let’s talk about how you can use something like ChatGPT to create a curriculum for your learning. I recently realized that one of the biggest obstacles in my learning journey has been a lack of focus. Using ChatGPT to help define a primary focus has saved me a lot of time that I would have otherwise spent jumping between disjointed topics.

One way to do this is by simply asking AI to help you choose a specific area of study from your list of interests. I did this last month because, despite learning a lot, I felt like I wasn’t making meaningful progress. At the time, I was exploring low-level programming concepts like assembly language, memory allocation, and bitwise operations for optimization. Simultaneously, I was learning a new programming language (Go), backend engineering concepts, database management, SQL, and even reverse engineering.

Although all of these topics fall within the realm of IT, they were too scattered and unrelated for me to make substantial progress in any single area. I love learning, but without a clear focus, I knew I would never achieve real expertise. I would essentially become a "jack of all trades and master of none."

After several back-and-forth discussions with ChatGPT, I narrowed my focus to learning Go and backend engineering. While still a broad field, this focus was significantly more structured than before.

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Create a Curriculum

Once you have your area of focus, the next step is to have AI generate a learning plan or curriculum for you. The benefit of using AI for this is that it can structure your learning journey with varying levels of detail, depending on your needs.

For example, I asked ChatGPT to give me an overview of the key areas involved in learning Go and backend engineering. The result included topics such as:

• The Go programming language itself

• Databases

• APIs

• Application security

• Deployment

• Version control

Having these high-level topics helped me form a mental map of everything I needed to learn. From there, I could break each area down into smaller subtopics.

I then used ChatGPT to apply the Pareto Principle (the 80/20 rule) to my learning. This helped me focus on the most impactful knowledge for each topic. For example, within databases, my curriculum was broken down into:

• Database normalization

• Relational vs. non-relational databases

• Connecting a Go application to a database

• Database migrations

• SQL fundamentals and common queries

With this approach, you can get as granular as you like—breaking each topic down into smaller components until you’re satisfied.

The final part of curriculum building is gathering learning resources, just like a college course would provide a textbook list. However, unlike a college course, you can tailor these resources to your learning preferences. Do you prefer YouTube videos or Udemy courses? Then ask AI for those specifically. Are you more like me and prefer free, text-based resources such as online e-books, articles, and blog posts, while using videos as a supplement for visually intensive topics? You can ask AI for that as well. This flexibility ensures you get resources that align with your learning style.

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The Most Crucial Step

With your learning plan in place and resources in hand, you should be ready to master your new skill, right? Well, not necessarily. If you’re like me—or like millions of other self-taught learners who enroll in MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) such as Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, or Coursera—you might find that just having a plan isn’t enough.

The biggest breakthrough in my learning came when I started setting actionable daily tasks with clear definitions of what “done” means. This approach ensures that I don’t just consume information passively but actively apply it.

Think of it like homework: If you're assigned 10 math problems, you must complete them by tomorrow and score at least 70% to pass. Similarly, setting SMART goals for your learning—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—can make a huge difference.

A well-structured daily task should:

• Have a specific objective

• Be manageable (not too big or too small)

• Require a concrete action

• Be realistic to complete within a session

• Have a time constraint

One game-changing strategy I’ve adopted is submitting my work to ChatGPT for review at the end of each session. This keeps me accountable and ensures I get feedback. Since implementing this habit, I’ve learned more in a week than I did in months of scattered, unstructured learning.

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Conclusion

Following this structured approach to learning new skills will help you stay focused and make consistent progress. By setting a clear focus, creating a curriculum, and establishing actionable tasks, you can dramatically shorten the time it takes to achieve your learning goals.

Until next time—stay curious!