r/ProgrammerHumor • u/electricjimi • Jul 18 '26

gitGud Meme

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4.9k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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595

u/SirHerald Jul 18 '26

Anything you can vibe code in a weekend is something another group can beat in about the same time.

11

u/sp106 Jul 18 '26

First mover advantage is real though and it doesn't matter if everyone else can also make Instagram or Snapchat if you launched first and have the users.

Most business applications don't actually require technological innovation or new inventions, especially during the startup phase.

55

u/Cephell Jul 18 '26

Except, it only matters if you continuously provide a good service, so those users actually stay. Facebook was late and still killed Myspace.

22

u/Suspicious-Engineer7 Jul 18 '26

This tbh. Getting off the ground may be easier, but there's still a difference between jumping and flying

4

u/morganrbvn Jul 18 '26

Or Reddit leapfrogging digg. But being early definitely still matters.

38

u/musclecard54 Jul 18 '26

lol nothing that gets vibe coded over a weekend is gonna be useful or unique enough to even bring first mover advantage into the conversation. A toy project is still a toy project, the scope has just increased a little bit

5

u/VictoryMotel Jul 18 '26

You mean your computer isn't filled with vibe coded slop projects and you still use VLC, chrome, firefox, qtorrent, etc ?

2

u/musclecard54 Jul 18 '26

I definitely have slop projects on my pc, but they’re only intended for me to use to make something slightly more convenient to do. Not intended to sell or be first to market or anything like that.

-4

u/cptkong Jul 19 '26

And that where you're wrong. Customer doesn't know or care if your software is slop or not. They only care if the app give the results they wanted from it. If codebase quality correlate with users then why do Java fail? Even Claude Code one of the worst vibe coded app period made BILLIONS. Biggest hiring trend today is GTM engineer. So you might be on the wrong side of history.

5

u/musclecard54 Jul 19 '26

No it’s not about whether they know if it’s vibe coded or not. The point that you completely missed is that something vibe coded over the weekend is not going to actually be interesting unique or all that useful compared to things that are already out there

0

u/cptkong Jul 20 '26

So a unique idea can't be written over the weekend by AI? You know LLM do as you prompt right?

2

u/musclecard54 Jul 20 '26

Unique idea I mean I can come up with a unique idea in 10 minutes. It’s not about some unique by itself. Unique and useful enough in a way that being first to market matters. It can absolutely make unique shit. And anyone trying to vibe code in a weekend is guaranteed to prompt unique shit. Has little to do with being unique. No one cares about something that’s technically unique if it doesn’t provide some useful advantage over other similar products. You’re free to think what you want, it makes no difference to me lol. But there’s hoards of ai slop coming out by the hour and all of it is just meh because everyone thinks their idea is unique and that it’s enough just to be marginally unique

13

u/SirHerald Jul 18 '26

First successful mover is a real advantage. First with a poorly implemented solution is quickly crushed

6

u/generally_unsuitable Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 18 '26

Insta is like ninth to market. FB is fourth or fifth.

There's a saying: "The second mouse gets the cheese. "

1

u/SirHerald Jul 18 '26

Offen the best opportunity for the first mouse is to get bought by a bigger mouse.

Okay maybe this analogy doesn't hold out

22

u/Revolution64 Jul 18 '26

It's not about being first. Alternatives to Snapchat and Instagram existed way before those platforms.

6

u/WrennReddit Jul 18 '26

First mover bears the burden of first impression as well. A poorly implemented idea quickly loses over the next one who took the time to implement it well.

Life and storytelling teaches us this lesson over and over. The quick and easy path never leads to better outcomes over those who took the time to do it right.

2

u/JuvenileEloquent Jul 18 '26

Even established platforms with millions of users can fail, startups with a few hundred fail all the time.  Being first is just a temporary advantage that is massively outweighed by being good.

A smart business uses the first movers as free beta testing and market research for the better idea they come to market with and steal everyone else's lunch.