April 28, 2026
Ctrl-Alt-Deleted His Skills
I Forgot to Code
He let the chatbot do everything—then froze when asked to write basic code
TLDR: A programmer says using AI to build software nonstop made him fast at work—but left him unable to handle a basic coding test after losing his job. Commenters split between calling it a terrifying warning about skill decay and mocking old-school interviews as caveman nonsense.
A programmer’s confession about leaning so hard on artificial intelligence tools that he says he forgot how to code has set off a full-blown comment-section circus. In the post, Reggie Escobar says AI helped him build apps at lightning speed and made him feel unstoppable—right up until his shaky startup job looked ready to collapse and a surprise interview exposed a humiliating truth: he says he blanked on even writing a basic loop. The story already had drama baked in, with an unstable boss, eerie holiday shutdown vibes, and a late-night interview disaster, but readers were far more interested in one question: did AI really melt this man’s brain in just six months?
The reactions were savage, skeptical, and very funny. One reader said the headline alone was so brutal they couldn’t even continue reading. Another turned it into a civilization-decline bit, comparing forgotten coding skills to how people stopped memorizing phone numbers after mobile phones took over. But there was also a genuine fight in the comments: some saw this as a cautionary tale about letting machines do too much thinking, while others mocked the idea that writing code by hand in interviews is some sacred skill, with one joker asking if companies should also bring back punched cards and stone and chisel. And of course, no internet pile-on is complete without a drive-by insult: one commenter claimed you could tell something was off because the author’s own website lags when you scroll. Ouch.
Key Points
- •Reggie Escobar says he began using AI coding tools in August 2025 and rapidly increased his software output.
- •He states that he built multiple apps, including DanbingAI and DecodeThisText, while relying heavily on tools such as ChatGPT, Cursor, and Claude Code.
- •The article says he worked at a startup he considered unstable, led by a co-founder who had previously shut down an earlier company suddenly.
- •Escobar describes warning signs in late 2025 and early 2026, including unusual behavior from the co-founder and a Slack message extending time off for employees.
- •After contacting a recruiter and taking a live coding interview, he says he discovered his unaided coding skills had deteriorated significantly.