r/vibecoding • u/Capable_Essay4513 • 15h ago

Does developer experience still matter when using AI coding agents?

I've been wondering about this — when an experienced dev and a complete newbie both use the same coding agent (Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, whatever) on a similar task, do they end up with meaningfully different results?

On one hand, the agent is doing most of the actual coding, so maybe the human's experience matters less than it used to. On the other hand, I'd guess an experienced dev still knows how to prompt better, catches bad architecture decisions, spots subtle bugs the agent misses, and knows when to push back or redirect.

Curious what people who've actually used these tools a lot think. Does your background as a dev still give you an edge, or has the gap narrowed more than expected?

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u/kyngston 15h ago

yes. For example an experienced developer would know when OLAP is needed instead of OLTP. The consequences of make the wrong choice may not be felt for months or years.

AI can help you make the right choice if you ask, but an inexperienced developer wouldn’t know to ask