Why this matters
AI + foundations
is a superpower.
The developers winning right now aren't the ones who learned AI, and they aren't the ones who skipped it. They're the ones with real foundations who use AI as leverage. Here's what the data says.
Part 01 · The market
Tech is the fastest-growing career path.
Software developer roles are projected to grow nearly 18% over the next decade — more than 4× the average across all occupations. That's not a trend, that's a decade-long tailwind.
Projected job growth, 2023–33
US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2024
US BLS projection, 2023–33
US BLS projection, 2023–33
US BLS projection, 2023–33
Part 02 · The AI reality
Everyone uses AI. Almost nobody trusts it blindly.
This gap is the single most important fact for anyone learning to code today. The developers who thrive are the ones who can read AI output critically — accept the good, catch the wrong, and refactor what's merely OK. That skill is built on fundamentals.
The adoption-vs-trust gap
Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025 · 49,000 responses from 177 countries
Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025
Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2025
An 81-point gap. AI is everywhere; trust in it is nowhere. The students who learn to bridge that gap — using AI confidently without being fooled by it — are the ones who become expensive to hire.
Part 03 · What this means for your kid
Three compounding advantages.
Start early — the 11-week ramp compounds.
GitHub's research found it takes developers roughly 11 weeks of AI pair-programming before they realize full productivity gains. Early starters compound this ramp across years of market growth.
Foundations first — because 97% don't trust AI blindly.
AI accelerates engineers who can read, validate, and refactor its output. Without fundamentals, students become copy-paste operators — the exact role AI itself is replacing.
Modern stack — because that's what gets hired.
The curriculum maps to what Dublin and US tech firms actually post for: React, Next.js, Node, cloud, CI/CD. Not legacy stacks that date a résumé the moment it's sent.
See how Brandon Dermody teaches both.
Foundations first. AI as a partner. Modern stack throughout.