Episode 8: Build It to Understand It: How to Learn, Teach, and Vibe Code with AI

How do you truly understand complex tech topics in the era of AI? In this episode of Making Software, Jess (Senior Developer Advocate) shares her core philosophy: "Build it to understand it." We dive deep into the creative process behind teaching technical concepts, the reality of "vibe coding," and how to manage a multi-tool AI stack (Claude, Gemini, Cursor, Grok) without getting overwhelmed. Learning Philosophy: Why building hands-on projects is the ultimate way to master and teach new tech. Vibe Coding vs. Security: How to leverage AI code generation while keeping your app sound with tests, logs, and security prompts. Multi-Model AI Workflows: How to orchestrate Gemini, Claude, Cursor, and Grok across daily dev tasks. System Postmortems: Using AI to generate postmortems and write rule guidelines after a system outage. Overcoming AI Overwhelm: How setting real-world project constraints drives focused learning.