| There's no way to know for sure. If there was, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But I'm trying to make an educated guess. I read the news: AI is taking over and we'll soon all be out of jobs. So I have to decide. Do I double down on software engineering, pivot to vibe coding, or try something completely different? I need a sense of certainty to make this call, so I researched it. This post is the result. I might be wrong, but at least I'm choosing a clear direction instead of constantly switching and never getting good at either. Vibe coding today doesn't deliver anywhere near the value of a competent software engineer. Rather than extrapolate from past progress, I looked at what it would take today.
You asked about how we will turn a vibe-coded codebase into production-ready systems. I have no idea how we'll do that and I didn't find someone with a solid plan for it. The logical conclusion here is that there's still plenty of runway for skilled software engineers. So I'm betting on becoming a better one with or without AI. About "vibe coded codebases are garbage".
If someone doesn't know how to build software (or quality doesn't matter) vibe coding is perfect. The code might be garbage but it beats having nothing. These projects would otherwise be Excel spreadsheets or duct-taped tools. Now they have another option. The problem is when people suggest vibe coding replaces developer skills, as if producing code was the bottleneck. |