The advice you're following is already

outdated. If you're trying to break into

tech in 2026 and you're still following

advice from even last year, you're

already behind. I know that sounds

dramatic, but I run a mentorship program

where over 40 people landed actual

developer jobs last year at companies

like Zillow and American Express with

salaries ranging from 70k all the way to

110k. And even with that track record,

I've had to completely rethink what we

teach this year. Game has changed that

much. That's why I want to make this

video because the advice that got people

hired in 2025 is not the same advice

that's going to get you hired this year.

In 2025, the way we used to help our

mentees was by helping them create a

full stack application with real users

on it. We gave our mentees a very

efficient AI workflow so that they could

repeat the process over and over. And we

provided work experience from my network

to create resume so they could land

interviews very frequently. This formula

worked for over 40 mentees last year.

They landed not just interviews, but

actual jobs at companies like Zillow and

American Express and dozens of startups

with salaries ranging from 70k all the

way to 110k annually. While this formula

will most likely still work for our

mentees in 2026, we realized there are a

few key things we need to add to make

sure our guys not only land jobs, but

actually become developers that are AI

proof. Developers that go on to have

long careers as senior developers, tech

leads, or even millionaire tech CEO of a

company. And the two key things I want

to emphasize are this. Number one,

understanding exactly how much coding

knowledge you need before introducing

AI. And number two, shifting your mind

from just a developer to thinking in

workflows. If you understand these two

key points, then you will know exactly

how to win with AI in 2026 and hopefully

land a six-figure full stack developer

role this year. For context, my name is

Phil. I turned my life around from an

English teacher to a developer at the

age of 30. Shortly after, I became a

senior developer, then a tech lead at

both startups and Big Tech. Today, I run

a mentorship program that helps aspiring

developers both with CS degree or

without one land developer jobs in this

confusing crazy market. And because tech

is such a volatile industry, you have to

keep up with the newest technology or

you will get left behind. The one

question I always run into is, "Is tech

dying? Is AI going to replace

developers?" And I'm going to be

completely real with you. The

entry-level jobs that used to exist are

shrinking, but it's not because tech is

dying. It's because those entry-level

positions had too low of a barrier to

entry. Nobody's hiring you if your skill

is being able to code basic CRUD apps or

make simple APIs. I literally saw a job

posting last week that listed AI

assisted development workflow as a

required skill for a junior role. That's

the bar now. That was the entry point a

few years ago, but now AI can do a lot

of that instantly. The path isn't for

everyone. So, if the more difficult

barrier to entry discourages you or even

makes you want to quit, this path was

not for you anyways. To those guys, stop

this video because at the end of the

day, to the ones who are going to earn

six-figure salaries in tech in the

future, landing your first job was never

the true goal. It was just a stepping

stone. And those are the people I've

been working with for the last year or

so. The highest six-figure paydays, the

profitable apps you want to make, all of

that is on the other side of becoming a

resourceful, skilled software developer

who can solve real-world problems really

quickly. And that requires a checkpoint

much further than landing your first

developer job. So, I always tell my

mentees, "If your end goal beyond this

mentorship was just to land your first

job, you're never going to make it

anyways." Shift your mindset right now.

Make up your mind and accept the

following fact. AI is here to stay. It's

not going to get any worse. It's only

going to get better. And make up your

mind. Okay, from today, my journey to

becoming a six-figure salary developer

begins. And I'm going to do everything

in my power to get there. And so, once

you've made up your mind to become that

guy, comment below, "I'm going to start

today." And let's become that AI proof

developer that every company desires

this year. So, here's the game plan.

There are two things you need to

understand if you want to become an AI

proof developer. First, as I mentioned,

is knowing exactly how much coding

knowledge you need before introducing AI

heavily. And second is shifting your

mindset from a developer who writes code

to someone who thinks in terms of

workflows. Gone are the days where you

need to be a 10-year veteran to be

considered a cracked developer. With AI,

you can now reach a level in months that

used to take people years. But here's

the catch. If you skip the foundation,

AI won't save you. It will expose you.

Let me explain what I mean.

Think of AI like Tesla's autopilot. It's

incredible technology. It can drive for

you, switch lanes, and park itself, but

you still need a driver's license before

you get behind the wheel. Because the

moment autopilot makes a wrong move, you

need to know how to grab the wheel and

correct it. If you can't drive, you

crash. Coding with AI is the exact same

thing. If AI gives you broken code and

you can't read it, can't debug it, can't

understand why it's broken, then you're

done. You're just sitting there staring

at a red error screen with no idea what

to do next. And I see this all the time.

I call these guys clipboard developers.

They copy from AI, paste it in, pray it

works, and when it doesn't, they go

right back to AI and say, "Fix this."

And they go in circles for hours. That

is not a developer. That's someone using

a tool they don't understand. So, here's

what you actually need to know before

you start relying on AI heavily. You

need to be able to hand write the basics

without any AI assistance. I'm talking

about variables, loops, conditionals,

functions, the absolute fundamentals in

JavaScript or Python. Then, you need to

understand how HTTP works. What actually

happens when your front end sends a

request to your back end, get, post,

put, delete. You need to understand the

full request cycle. How does a front end

talk to back end? And how does that back

end talk to a database? And you need to

be able to read error messages. Not just

copy and paste them into ChatGPT, but

actually look at a stack trace and know

where to look. This is not years of

study. This is roughly 4 to 8 weeks of

focused, intentional learning. No

distractions, no tutorial hell, no

jumping between 10 different courses,

just focused, structured work on the

fundamentals. And the reason this

matters more than ever is because

companies are catching on. I've talked

to hiring managers and the interviews

have changed. They're no longer just

asking you to build something. They're

asking you to explain what you built

line by line. One of our mentees, Alex,

who landed a role earlier this year,

told me that in his interview, they

literally pointed to a function and

said, "Walk me through how this handles

authentication." If he had only

copy-pasted from AI, he would have

fumbled on the spot. But

he walked them through it confidently

and got the offer. And this hasn't just

been a one-time thing. Over the last 4

months, our mentees are consistently

getting interviews where they're asked

to explain their thought process through

the code that they've written. And this

is the direction the entire industry is

going. Companies like IBM are tripling

their entry-level hiring right now, but

the role has completely shifted. It's no

longer about writing routine code. It's

about working with customers,

understanding the problem, and

specifying the features that AI will

help you build. They want people who

understand what they're building, not

people who can just prompt. So, here's

the rule I give all my mentees. You

don't touch AI until you can build a

basic full stack CRUD app by hand and

explain every single piece of it. Once

you can do that, now you turn on AI. And

when you do that, it becomes a

multiplier, not a crutch. Instead of

spending 3 hours writing boilerplate,

you write the core logic yourself and

let AI scaffold the repetitive stuff

around it. You go from building one

project a month to three or four. That's

the power of AI when you actually have

the foundation to use it properly. Stop

thinking like a developer. Think like a

workflow builder. Now, let's talk about

the second key point. And honestly, this

one might be even more important. You

need to stop thinking of yourself as

someone who writes code and start

thinking of yourself as someone who

solves problems using systems. I call

this being a workflow thinker. Let me

break it down. A developer writes a

function. That's it. But a workflow

thinker asks, "What triggers this

function? What happens after it runs?

What breaks if it fails? How does this

affect the user's experience?" You're

not just building features anymore.

You're designing entire systems,

pipelines, automations, connected

workflows. And this is what separates a

70k developer from a six-figure

developer. Because the reality is,

companies in 2026 are not hiring people

who can just write code. AI can write

code. They're hiring people who can

think. People who have judgment. People

who can look at a business problem and

design a system to solve it. The whole

industry is shifting this way. Companies

are no longer hiring for tools or

titles. They're hiring for the ability

to connect technology decisions to

actual business outcomes. They want

someone who can say, "Here's how we

handle authentication, session

management, rate limiting, and password

recovery as one connected flow." That is

a workflow thinker. That is the person

who gets the offer. So, here's how we

actually teach this in our mentorship

program. Step one, identify the problem,

not the feature. Most junior developers

get this wrong. Their boss says, "Build

a dashboard." And they go build a

dashboard. But the real problem might be

that users are churning after sign up.

So, the actual solution isn't a

dashboard. It's an onboarding workflow

that keeps users engaged in the first 7

days. If you can identify the real

problem, you're already thinking like a

senior developer. Step two, map out the

system before you write a single line of

code. What are all the moving pieces?

Front end, back end, database,

third-party APIs, cron jobs,

notifications. How do they all connect?

Draw it out. Whiteboard it. Get clear on

the architecture before you start

building. This is what separates someone

who builds things that work from someone

who builds things that last. And step

three, decide what you code versus what

AI codes. You handle the architecture

decisions, the business logic, the edge

cases. AI handles the boilerplate, the

repetitive CRUD operations, the tests,

the documentation. When you split the

work this way, you're not replacing

yourself with AI. You're amplifying

yourself. And step four, ship it. Get

real feedback. Iterate. The best

developers in 2026 are not

perfectionists. They're iterators. Build

fast with AI, get it in front of real

users, collect feedback, and improve

with intention. That cycle is how you

become dangerous. And let me give you a

real example of how this works. One of

our mentees built a full-stack inventory

management tool for a small business.

Now, he didn't just build the app and

call it a day. He mapped out the entire

workflow. Supplier gets notified when

stock is low. Auto reorder triggers kick

in at a certain threshold. The business

owner has a dashboard that shows

everything in real time. In his

interview, he didn't just show the code.

He walked through the entire system, how

each piece connected, why he made

certain architecture decisions, where he

used AI and where he didn't. The

interviewer told him, "This is how

senior developers think." He got the

offer at 95k. That's the difference. He

didn't just build an app. He designed a

system. And he could explain every piece

of it. So, let me give you a quick recap

of what an AI-proof developer looks like

in 2026. You have a strong coding

foundation that was built before you

became dependent on AI. You can explain

every single line of code you ship,

whether you wrote it or AI wrote it. You

think in workflows and systems, not just

features. You use AI as a force

multiplier, not a replacement for

understanding. You build full-stack

projects with real users, not just

tutorial projects that sit on your

GitHub collecting dust. And you stack

your resume with actual work experience,

not just side projects. If you can check

all those boxes, you are in the top tier

of candidates in this market, period.

Now, if everything I just said resonated

with you, but you're sitting there

thinking, "Okay, Phil, that all sounds

great, but how do I actually do all of

this?" That's exactly what my mentorship

program is for. We don't just teach you

how to code. We build you into the

developer that companies are desperate

to hire in 2026. You get a structured

coding foundation, so you don't skip the

basics. You get our AI workflow system,

so you can build three to four times

faster than the average bootcamp grad.

And you get real work experience from my

network, so your resume doesn't look

like every other self-taught developer

out there. And you get direct

mentorship, both one-on-one and in group

sessions. Because you shouldn't have to

figure this out alone. Over 40 of our

mentees landed jobs last year at

companies like Zillow and American

Express. We currently have over 160

people enrolled, and we are constantly

updating the program every single week

to stay ahead of everything that's

changing with AI. If you're serious

about making 2026 the year you break

into tech, the link is in the

description. Apply today, and I'll be

real with you. Spots are limited because

I work directly with every single

mentee. This is not some massive online

course where you never talk to anyone.

I'm in the trenches with you. And if

you're still on the fence, just DM me on

Instagram at let'sfill.code. I'll answer

your questions personally. No pressure,

no sales pitch, just a real conversation

about where you're at and whether this

is the right fit for you. At the end of

the day, AI is not your enemy. It's your

weapon, but only if you know how to use

it. So, stop watching, start building,

and I'll see you inside. And remember,

if I can do it, you can do it, too.

Coding saves lives.