People can dismiss AI coding but some of us are using it for actual products and making money from it. I have heard for two years now that I will pay the price of vibe coding as I will not understand the code when it breaks. What? I just ask the AI what the code does to understand it and vibe code to fix it. What the heck is everyone on about? Knowing syntax is about as beneficial as knowing the machine code. Who cares in 2026 other than really mission critical apps that AI is not ready for.
What you are doing is the coding equivalent of not reading the manual on a new appliance. It will work, but you will get surprised. Probably not in a good way.
That is the argument many make but it is assuming that any issues that come up AI will not be able to help which is just not true. I have a top rated, multiplayer VR app and I have not written code for it for 2 years now as AI does it all. Sure issues have come up, but AI can fix as long as you guide it correctly.
But you wrote the bulk of the code 2 years ago? If so you know 90% of the manual.
Most of the code was written in the last 2 years as I have expanded the app a lot, added multi player and reworked all the original code. For my simple app, AI has allowed me to grow much faster than before. I am very grateful for the tech even with its may issues.
There is no paradox. vibe coding = not writing code = not being a programmer.
so what is it then? i used llms to write the code for a feature complete desktop screen dimming application. did i produce it, if not develop it? am i just a… logic guide? legitimately asking because the program works better than any available alternative
I see myself as a project manager and executive producer. I know I don’t write that code, and I couldn’t even if I tried.
But I am skilled at directing and verifying, and this has allowed me to create (not code) a fairly complex WordPress plugin for course bookings with online card payment processing etc.
I have made a few manual tweaks here and there but that code is 98% Claude. And you know what? It works. That is good enough for me.
I keep seeing the “it’s good for prototyping” argument they post here, in real life.
For non-coders it holds up if you ignore the security risk of someone running literally random code they have no idea what does.
But seeing it from developers, it smells of bullshit. The thing they show are always a week of vibing gave them some stuff I could hack up in a weekend. And they could too if they invested a few days of learning e.g. html5, basic css and read the http fetch doc. And the learning cost is a one-time cost - later prototypes they can just bang out. And then they also also have the understanding needed to turn it into a proper product if the prototype pans out.
I would agree with that.
Especially, “being 70%” finished does not mean you will get a working product at all. If the fundamentale understanding is not there, you will not getting a working product without fundamental rewrites.
I have seen code from such bullshit developers myself. Vibe-coded device drivers where people do not understand the fundamentals of multi-threading. Why and when you need locks in C++. No clear API descriptions. Messaging architectures that look like a rats nest. Wild mix of synchronous and async code. Insistence that their code is self-documenting and needs neither comments nor doc. And: Agressivity when confronted with all that. Because the bullshit taints any working relationship.
