Feeling Lost Between Low-Level Understanding and High-Level Coding (need advice)

Hi everyone,

I’m relatively new to high-level programming languages like C, C++, JavaScript, etc. Currently, I work as a programmer for PLCs and other controllers. In that space, coding is very low-level—we think in terms of bits, bytes, memory, and execution flow. Because of that, I have a solid understanding of what actually happens inside a controller when code runs (bit shifts, string operations, and so on).

Recently, with the rise of AI, I’ve started doing more high-level “vibe coding.” The challenge I’m facing is that I don’t fully understand what’s happening under the hood anymore.I can read and understand the code at a surface level, but when I try to break it down from an OS or system-level perspective, it feels abstract and heavily packaged.

Even when I try to write code at a surface level, I’m wired to dig into what’s happening underneath—otherwise, I start losing interest.



To address this, I’ve started learning C/C++ more rigorously from the ground up. However, it sometimes feels like the world is rapidly moving forward with new technologies while I’m going back to basics.

I wanted to check if I’m approaching this the right way and what I can do to improve my learning curve.

Would really appreciate any feedback ,advice or your experiences.

thanks

https://redd.it/1s6og1h
@r_cpp