Vibe coding is overrated. Vibe learning, on the other hand, is so underrated.
I’ve always wanted to learn the basics of bookkeeping so I could manage the finances for my company, or at least, stay on top of what's going on financially.
I had tried a couple of times in the past, opened up QuickBooks, clicked around, got confused, and gave up. Always felt like too much for what I was trying to do. I also took a few courses and read books, but they quickly got too complex and overwhelming, and I ended up not finishing any of them. The jargon always threw me off.
Finally, I ended up working with a professional CPA and decided bookkeeping was not for me.
Last weekend, after listening to a Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting recording and hear Warren Buffett talk again and again about the importance of learning the language of accounting, I decided to give it another try.
However, this time I tried a different approach. I signed up for the QuickBooks premium, opened my bank accounts on one screen, and kept ChatGPT open on the other.
I asked ChatGPT to walk me through the QuickBooks interface: what is important, what doesn’t, what to focus on first. I linked my accounts and imported all transactions. Then started categorizing transactions. I didn't even know what categorizing a transaction in QB meant. Again, ChatGPT to the rescue.
From there, it was all just-in-time learning. As Kathy Sierra puts it, learn only what you need to keep going, right when you need it.
Every time I hit a roadblock, or came across an unfamiliar term e.g. What’s a chart of accounts? What’s the difference between an expense and a bill? How should I categorize shareholder loans? What is a shareholder loan? I asked. And every time, I got real help that actually helped me keep going.
The great thing was how well it handled context. I described the specifics of my situation, like how some payments were split, how my accounts were structured, international payments, paying to sub-contractors, which expenses are deductible and which weren't, or how I was treating certain international family transfers and it tailored its answers accordingly. The guidance wasn’t generic. It responded as if it understood exactly what I needed, and showed me how to proceed.
It felt like having a calm, senior bookkeeper sitting beside me, answering everything without judgment and with infinite patience.
In about six hours, I had categorized hundreds of transactions (and created rules for future transactions). A task I’d been procrastinating on for months and months was done in a single day.
More importantly, I now feel comfortable handling the basics of bookkeeping. QuickBooks doesn't scare me no more. I know what a journal entry is. I understand how the chart of accounts works. I know how to generate a balance sheet, profit and loss report, and how to spot if something’s off.
I’m under no illusion that I’ve become a bookkeeper overnight. But compared to just a day before, a lot of the known unknowns are now known. I feel like I have a clear path to keep moving forward. I know what I don’t know, and I know how to keep learning.
Unexpected bonus: I came away with a deeper appreciation for QuickBooks. I used to think it was a complex, clunky, and bloated piece of software and didn’t really understand why any sane accountant would prefer it over something simple with beautiful UI like Wave accounting software. But I learned the true power of QuickBooks after I had finished categorizing all the transactions.
QuickBooks gives you a proper, structured view of your business. Once everything is categorized correctly, it becomes a dashboard for financial clarity. You want to know how much you spent on software last quarter? Or what your profit margin is this year? Just run a report and everything is there.
The next day, I shared my work with my real accountant / CPA, who after examining it said that everything looked good. That felt really great.
This whole experience has made me realize how powerful just-in-time learning can be when you combine curiosity with a knowledgeable and patient mentor. I would have never gotten through QuickBooks without ChatGPT. But with it, I didn’t just finish a chore, I gained a new skill. And this is just the beginning. I plan to go beyond the basics and keep learning more advanced stuff.
I'm not talking about mastery here. That takes real time, years of practice and dedicated study. But these are practical skills, learning even the basics will make you sharper, faster, and more independent in your work. And you can always pursue the path of mastery if you choose to. Learning with AI makes it much easier to get started.
In the early '80s, Steve Jobs described the personal computer as a bicycle for the mind. With AI (ChatGPT, Cursor, etc.), I finally understand what that feels like.
