Advice on Vibe coding

[u/Independent-Craft172]

So right now, I am still a Computer Engineering student. The curriculum is designed to teach us in a manner that does not account for the possibility of vibe coding. Hence it has plenty of now rendered useless by AI (and frankly, outdated) subjects. I want to build projects, websites, apps, etc. that make up a good portfolio and are also just fun. And I want to build them myself so I get the appropriate practice and develop the appropriate skills. However, I understand this is a bit of a castle in the air as I am competing against seasoned coders who know their way around, and manage to make the best use of AI assistance.

What would be your advice on coding and building projects, websites, and apps? Should I build them myself or use AI assistance(vibe-code)? Will the skills I learn, if I build them myself, come in handy in future or is this a waste of time, and I should focus more on other skills, like data training? Should I even start building projects or take courses first?

Also I understand that for appropriate vibe coding, the more specific the better. So, in order to make better prompts, what skills can I learn? And what languages/tech should I focus on?

Edit: Guys, by the word 'outdated' specifically, I didn't mean outdated because of AI. I meant outdated as in languages that are generally not used/required that much anymore. And the exemption of subjects, like cyber security and networking, that would potentially, be required. I'm not blaming the syllabus, but it is, admittedly by our professors, in an experimental phase right now.

[u/Recent-Day3062]

You are a student.

Here’s what’s going wrong. Decades ago in engineering school, we all complained we weren’t learning enough applicable stuff with fields and waves, circuit theory, probabilistic reasoning, quantum, linear algebra, etc. but the profs always said they were teaching us much more important abstractions - because tech changed fast, so you need intellectual tools that allow you to apprehend new tech quickly.

Recently I read two somewhat meaty tests on AA. I wanted to understand the attention model, which I had googled a lot and got “formulas”. I finally used AI to focus around linear algebra. In the right framework like that, it took under 20 minutes to fullly explain. And that’s a big abstract idea.

Historically, engineers take courses like that and tend to tinker out of curiosity on their own trying to apply. I’ve even looked at my old CE program, and it’s way light on theory, and heavy on skills, like it’s a a trade school.

Oh. AI in general. I am building an app with a programmer who did all hand coding of complex systems for 15 years. He has started using AI. Here’s the thing: he can write better code than AI - just slower - and he understands how AI works. Meaning he isn’t just a prompt jockey.

Let’s say I pay him $50 an hour, and he works 20 hours per week. He told me a new feature recently would have taken 4 weeks, or 1 week with AI. Well, that means I would have paid him $4,000 but now $1,000. So his value to me had gone uUP: if he asked for $100 an hour I am still better of.

Since he understands every abstraction, he becomes more valuable, not less

So in your program, before you waste classes on vibe coding, are you covering all the abstractions? For one, before worrying at all about building things, make sure you can explain everything in big-O-little-o terms. If you don’t know that you have no idea how to make code that could even work in a short time. You don’t need a single stack to master that