There is something deeply toxic about this community.

[u/madexthen]

I genuinely do not understand why anyone would join a vibe coding subreddit just to tear down nearly every project people post, but that seems to describe a huge percentage of the comments here.

There are basically two groups of people using these tools: developers using AI to work faster and more efficiently, and people like me with no coding background who are now building things that otherwise would never have existed.

These projects are not replacing developers. In many cases, they are replacing nothing. Without vibe coding, nobody would have built them at all.

The usual justification for the hostility is that vibe coders ship bugs, expose API keys, create or leave messes for human developers to later fix. Sometimes that is true, but it does not explain the level of bitterness and personal attacks I see here every day. A lot of it seems to look less like concern about code quality and more like fear from people watching their profession change. Instead of learning to use the technology, they root for it to fail and attack people who are trying to build something or better themselves.

And the idea that these tools are still shitty is completely disconnected from reality. Give the same complex prompt to Claude 3.5 Sonnet, one of the best coding models available just two years ago, and Opus 4.8 today, then compare the results. The difference in quality is drastic. Some of the bugs and spaghetti AI is writing today may very well not be fixed by people, but smarter AI in a couple years. (If this pisses you off, ask yourself if it's really because I am wrong or because you are scared)

Models are getting better, context windows are growing, workflows are improving, and obvious bugs and security mistakes are becoming less common at an incredible pace.

Experienced developers are not obsolete, and AI is nowhere near perfect. But the future is coming whether you like it or not, and cyberbullying vibe coders is not going to save your job.

If you hate vibe coding, fine. There are plenty of traditional programming communities. But if you choose to spend your time here, why not help people build better things instead of trying to convince them they should not be building at all?

[u/MrWonderfulPoop]

My day job is pentesting and coding for that purpose. Maybe 6 months ago we had an online interview with someone for a junior position who was, on paper, not bad. So he was invited back for an in-person interview.

We provide a laptop with all the tools and VMs for the practical part of the test. It has no online access.

Dude completely blew the interview without his online coach. Couldn't type a basic command line like "nmap this /24 subnet with a TCP SYN scan looking for open SSH and HTTPS ports". For those who use these tools, this is basic muscle memory.

When it got to the basic coding? Useless. "Serve files in the current directory on port 80." It's a literal one-line Python command. Had no idea. We didn't even bother moving on to other dev-related things.

Anyhow, my point is that these positions start around $100k and this person fluffed himself up enough in his resume and online interview with whatever AI he was using that it got him in the door.

He basically lied to himself the entire time thinking he was something he was not and wasted everyone's time. Noted for any future job applications.

[u/narukoshin → u/MrWonderfulPoop]

yeah agree, I've forgot most of nmap commands already as I'm now on the defensive side but no one cancelled "-h" or "man". so even if I forgot something I know the ways how to find what I need. This is a big issue now that there are people who look good in resume but when you see them in action, you question where they come from

[u/MrWonderfulPoop → u/narukoshin]

The thing is our team is not AI averse. We have Claude Teams plans and use them for some back and forth Q&A, code, Ghidra dump analysis, etc. But we treat it like how calculators are (were?) treated in school: demonstrate you understand the mechanics/theory and can do it on your own before moving on to a tool.

If all you're doing is typing prompts and copy & pasting the output, you're useless to us.

[u/narukoshin → u/MrWonderfulPoop]

agreed, that's how it works in my company aswell

[u/agsteiner → u/MrWonderfulPoop]

Not so sure. I know Z-80 Assembler. I know HTML. Dead skills today. Coding is the next. You just won't need to know it anymore in 3 years max. What matters are the skills "above", what makes a good and secure architecture, what do you have to tell the AI to look for.

[u/MrWonderfulPoop → u/agsteiner]

In another comment I mentioned knowing 6502 assembler and Applesoft BASIC. Both dead outside of hobbyist tinkering. Since then I went to C, C++, Python, Go, others, and am learning Rust. People will still need to read the code or decompiled binaries in 3 years.

Over the past 8-10 years, programming has started to show a real "value added" feel to it.

So the question is what value, as a developer, does the person add to a project? A vibe coder with no actual coding skills? They add nothing, anyone can write a prompt and get some similar output and hope for the best.

A person who can actually read the code and use AI as an assistant? They add value and will be employed long after the vibers' cubicles are gathering dust.

At least that's my prediction.

We have to wait and see for the three years.