In The Age of AI, Should You Keep Your Coding Skills Fresh With Hand-Coded Side Projects?

Food for thought: If you were the buggy driver for a baron in 1900's London, and he now bought a car, and he transitioned your job to be his chauffeur, would you have been better off spending your free time keeping your skills hitching up horses, etc. fresh, or better off learning more about being a chauffeur, keeping the car working, and learning which routes near you can handle a car, so you can get your employer (or future employers) to their destinations without getting stuck in a rut, or having the car break down?

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