Allow me to tell you a bit about my background. I learned HTML/CSS about 30 years ago. The web was still in its infancy.

I used my skills for a couple of years creating simple (from today's perspective) websites. Back then I worked for an internet agency and the projects got increasingly complex, too large to do solo. I switched more into a design role, as that is my learned background, and a developer started to create the code.

Eventually, I left the agency and started to work independently. Now, I had to create both design and code. I hadn't coded a full site in years. Also, I didn't keep up with new developments and workflows. As a result, I felt incapable to code the sites myself. I switched to visual solutions, apps which created the code for me. That created usable websites, my customers were happy.

The software was rather clunky and slow. The created code wasn't optimal. I switched again, this time to a SaaS (Software as a service) solution. This allowed me to work on a website in real time, meaning that I could see every change directly without exporting, reloading, and trial-and-error.

The one major downside was that the provider of the software also hosted the website. It "lived" on their servers. The vendor kept increasing the prices, adding extra costs for things which used to be free. My subscription fees rose, and it felt like my websites were held hostage!
I wanted to host the sites myself. To get the sites onto my server, I had to export the code, basically being confronted with it the first time in full.

My workflow now consisted of: exporting the code, putting it on my own server, going back to the SaaS to edit and tweak it, to add to the site, etc. Then I had to re-export again. It was not easier than before!

At that time, AI seemed increasingly impossible to avoid. So I tried using it to create websites. This meant a return to a graphical/visual approach. I designed the sites similarly as I would design printed pages, and the AI created the code based on that. It worked well and took me back to my designer+coder days.

My background in HTML/CSS coding was very helpful here, as I was able to read the code and judge how clean and well-written it was. Eventually I used AI mostly as a scaffolding tool, to create the general structure. I increasingly did the tweaks and edits by hand.

Something very interesting happened here: more and more of my knowledge returned.

With the return of knowledge came a return of confidence. I needed AI less and less.

The last website I made, I coded by hand. I only asked AI twice about very specific commands. AI had switched from co-worker coder to co-worker I can ask specific questions. The most interesting thing for me was that I was even faster coding by hand than using AI as a coder! Before, using AI conversationally, we often got stuck at one point. The AI started circling, implementing mistakes, not understanding what I wanted. The longer the thread got, the less precise the AI got.

We all read articles about AI degrading our skills. Use it or lose it comes to mind. That little quip is true, or is it? For me, it now seems more like: use it, or it will lay dormant. The big surprise for me was the reactivation of a sleeping skill via AI.

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