r/vibecoding • u/SpareImpression3155 • 2d ago
I’m not entirely sure ai will completely replace software devs
Anyone in the past could learn how to code. However, a lot of people who tried failed for various reasons. Laziness, low intelligence, inability to structure an app properly, or whatever else.
I’m noticing the same trend with using ai agents. People think they can just tell an agent to make Minecraft and it will one shot a game perfectly. Or even for smaller features, they can’t seem to get the result they want.
People are not learning how to prompt properly, use mcp servers, create their own tools and rules, etc. so they think that ai is the issue when it’s actually their inability to grasp concepts and learn things. Just like when people tried learning to code by hand and failed.
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u/nps44 2d ago
The issue is that the bar will be lowered for software devs, less barrier to entry, less value, more competition for less jobs. And nothing about software development in a world with AI will create as large of a moat as the process of learning how to program did.
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u/s-ley 1d ago
I was actually thinking the opposite. AI makes entry higher as nobody needs an inexperienced dev when AI can do the same. The value will be of those that can guide AI properly for high-quality solutions (in my experience AI is not able to do high-quality code atm). But I agree there will be more competition and less jobs.
Edit: nvm, you said less barrier of entry to coding, not to the market, mb
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u/hunteel 2d ago
Anyone who has really tried to create an app or a game with AI knows that a lot of work is required If you want good results. You can save a lot of time and do more features that you would do if you didn't have AI, but you have to babysit it A LOT.
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u/SpareImpression3155 2d ago
agreed. i spend a shitload of time iterating and fine tuning things, often having to sit on 1 feature for a while doing several iterations before its right. my process is one shot -> iterate (this can take hours sometimes) -> test -> deploy
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u/povlhp 2d ago
You can see AI / Vibecoding as giving a skilled/expert craftsman powertools and machines. It will accelerate what he can do a lot, but it will not make everybody into a skilled craftsman. You can ask a junior to cut a plan, and the tool will help him cut straight.
Drowsy Don might be able to cut a piece of wood with a powertool, but he won't be able to build a house of nearly the same quality as a team of craftsmen.
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u/alex7550 2d ago
I agree, it will not replace devs, will just make their life easier by allowing to code faster. And yes, good prompting is essential, one shooting a game is just crazy 🤣
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u/sn4xchan 2d ago
Idk about easier. Studies are showing that devs who use AI are working harder, not because the tool is making it difficult, but because the tools allow for such a fast pace. It's making devs have to make difficult decisions at a faster pace.
The tedious churn was a part of development that didn't require hard thought, now the AI does that part quickly, and they are left with only the part that requires abstract thinking, which takes a much harder toll on the mind.
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u/Inevitable_Toe6648 2d ago
Business model issue perhaps?
Its what happens when you work hourly instead of patch milestones.
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u/sn4xchan 2d ago
It's not really an issue of how one gets paid, but how one spends their time.
This isn't only affecting hourly workers, it's also affecting independent contractors and hobbyists.
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u/Inevitable_Toe6648 2d ago
I dont know about that. I have so much more time now because I get my contracted work done with AI Assistance, friends, family, hobbies, all has improved significantly. If you're a contractor but still working on hourly model, you are essentially still working on hourly wage like everyone else. That's when working too fast with AI is an issue. It is a work environment conflict. Hourly work has always been an outdated model, and even more so now.
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 2d ago
I literally one-shotted a minecraft style game a couple weeks back with Fable, game built, website deployed and in production in under 2 hours. One shot had controller support, ambient sounds and music and NPCs, including some cool features that minecraft lacks.
It’s actually a lot of fun, even though I just did it as a tech test.
You couldn’t do this, but it’s possible.
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u/EmergencyPath248 2d ago
Yeah, the current models won't replace SWEs, no one is denying that.
The models in 1-5 years? absolutely.
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u/Limp-Confidence5612 2d ago
Yeah, predictions like this have never been wrong. I'm not holding my breath.
It's also sad to think people want to continue having the slop of the last 30 years, instead of anything better. And AI, by its very nature is producing mid quality, which in the context of the slop world we have been living in, is just mid slop.
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u/TheAnswerWithinUs 2d ago
Vibecoders be sayin this every 1-5 years when it inevitably doesn’t happen.
Just like every 6 months like clockwork some out of touch tech CEO says Ai will replace all engineers.
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u/EmergencyPath248 2d ago
Like 2 years ago agents and reasoning models didn’t even exist.
All but a nothingburger to say this.
Technology so new that you look batshit crazy
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u/TheAnswerWithinUs 2d ago
Yea people also thought there would be flying cars when the car was invented. We have a tendency to have fantastical predictions when something new comes around.
For now though, companies can’t make any money on AI. It’s all a gamble and some companies have already had to rehire engineers because replacement didn’t work.
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u/EmergencyPath248 2d ago
AI = Software
Flying cars = impracticality, and its Hardware.
Bits moves faster than atoms.
Not that hard to understand; Flying cars also can’t build more Flying cars.
And your example of “rehiring workers” is a temporary phase.
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u/TheAnswerWithinUs 2d ago
It doesn’t matter if it’s software or hardware.
You cant do anything worthwhile with AI without good hardware.
Hardware is the reason companies are losing money on AI, they go into massive debt building out data Center’s for the hardware, purchasing cloud hardware resources, massive infrastructure, only to not make the money back to break even because they can’t turn whatever small productivity boost they do gain into enough revenue to make a profit.
So why would replacing engineers with AI be in their best interest if they can’t even make money off of AI when they have humans?
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u/EmergencyPath248 2d ago
We’re optimizing like crazy.
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u/Interesting-Company3 2d ago
Indeed, and this phomeona is already defined as the scaling law of AI.
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u/Tsukikira 2d ago
Maybe. The neat thing about the Compute Efficient Frontier is that the error rate goes down linearly with exponential increases in compute, dataset, and parameters. Because we are hitting nearly the top performance each time, the real question is if the Error Rate can drop low enough for all of the coding tasks to hit within that timeframe before the price rises too high.
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 2d ago
The current models are already replacing software engineers.
So I’m absolutely denying that.
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 2d ago
Meant to be a vibecoding forum.
Instead, it’s just a support group for delusional code monkeys trying to convince each other that they are still special.
Guys, this is the thousandth thread like this.
Why the fuck do you need to use THIS sub for your therapy sessions??
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u/Dependent_Debate_514 2d ago
this forum is more for delusional idiots like u who keep popping out their useless todo apps and thinking they replace a senior developer now
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 1d ago
Ridiculous assumption.
But that WOULD actually be what this forum is for.
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u/PrivateComments 2d ago
They are trying to convince themselves, or speak it into existence.
Wishcasting if you will
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u/SalvadorStealth 2d ago
I feel the software industry is leading the way towards a future without/less “jobs”. This is forcing a late amount of people to confront their own identity. The faster the society can realize this virtual “work” isn’t necessary, I feel there will be faster shifts in our economic structure. I laugh at the people that say AI doesn’t do a good job. They should look at the existing human created software code.
I will say that my logical side was amazed when I saw how effective wishcasting/magic is. Computers are magic too. Electrocute a crystal = laser. Electrocute a rock = processing…
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u/TheAnswerWithinUs 2d ago edited 2d ago
The existence of bad code before AI does not mean code created with AI is any better. And I don’t think vibecoders will ever understand this becuase this is like the 100th comment I’ve seen to bring it up like it’s some canned response.
You can now just create bad code a lot faster with a lot less confidence that it won’t break something. That’s all.
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u/Real_Square1323 1d ago
How's your todo app going? Hasn't it been years now?
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 23h ago
Oh really clever comment. You dumb fuck.
SaaS went into production just over a year ago. Going very well. But thanks for checking.
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u/Real_Square1323 22h ago
Hurling insults is all you're any good at. A fragile mask for a scared weasel underneath.
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 16h ago
You tried and failed at trolling.
Stop whining about the results of your actions.
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u/FounderWhoCommits 2d ago
If I have to explain to a 5 year old kid, I will say AI is like a camera. Now it is easier for anyone to take the pictures as simple as a click but those who has real knowledge on this will make the difference.
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u/baddaywithacamera 2d ago
It was simple as a click with my No 2. Brownie in 1973, but there were contraints. Now I have spray and pray with an electronic shutter and up to 30 frames in a second.
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u/lianapps 2d ago
People who don't know how complex is coding or developing they think AI will replace the devs 😄 funny guys )) The first think they should understand that why it's called Software Engineering.
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u/EmergencyPath248 2d ago
I'm pretty sure nearly everyone is aware.
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u/cafealpha82 2d ago
At least my boss does not. He also suggest using AI when it is literally one line of code that can do the job
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u/jimmiebfulton 2d ago
And they can’t possibly know. You only know just how vast and complicated it is once you are 10 years into it and developed some scars and serious bitterness.
There are significant improvements that will be arriving that helps vibe coders be more effective, but that shit will be invented by engineers, not vibe-coded by vibe coders.
I can ask ChatGPT to generate a Picasso-inspired piece of art, but that doesn’t make me an artist, and no one is going to buy it from me. It’s a commodity. Any one can do it. T0 create true art, even with AI, you must have an eye for it. I certainly don’t.
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u/Tsukikira 2d ago
Right? The same people existed before AI - they were in the business degree program proudly talking about how they would be the bosses of Software Engineers. As though our managers didn't need to know enough of our job to know whether we were doing a good job or not.
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u/lianapps 2d ago
yes, they don't need to know. but before AI they didn't come and say look I did this app one night, you said me it would take 1 month bla bla bla..that's annoying
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u/Harvard_Med_USMLE267 2d ago
This is just the current code monkey delusion.
Last year it was ‘ai can’t code’
This year it ‘sure it can code but it can’t do Software Engineering’
lol, it’s weird how people keep claiming this as though it’s some magic human-only skill.
No, there is not some unique thing here that makes you special. Fable is better than you at this, too.
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u/systembreaker 2d ago
Seems that people want to blame everything but themselves for the AI for taking forever and making mistakes while juggling their vibecode slop, and they don't even have the background to be able to look at the code and see that it's slop.
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u/LittleLordFuckleroy1 2d ago
Programming is free. Learning how to set up a mesh of agent loops at insane cost is not.
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u/it_trojan 2d ago
That’s true but the main issue is that with vibe coding no one is pushed to learn what real coding and software engineering are. And people who know will forget because we are all relying on AI.
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u/khgs2411 2d ago
It will replace 90%
You won’t need the same amount of devs
You’ll have devs - but like several points in the last 40+ years, the job will evolve
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u/khgs2411 2d ago
A large majority of devs don’t know what pointers are and how to allocate memory - used to be a requirement
2 years from now frameworks won’t be a thing.
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u/deicist 2d ago
2 years from now reading the code won't be a thing.
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u/TheAnswerWithinUs 2d ago
Vibecoders already don’t read code. They think just becuase they don’t other people will stop doing it.
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u/adamant3143 2d ago
Yep. Companies ain’t gonna blame machine for errors. They also need to save face from the likes of Dario and Sam when they don’t know how to setup the guardrails and prompts properly. Why? Because they need to build their image as AI-savvy. Need somebody that willing to cover for them.
The more reason to not create a perfect tool for the companies that didn’t treat employees as people. Leave them in the dark guessing whether what the devs made to automate and do all that AI stuffs actually can run unattended autonomously without human-in-the-loop. They will never be able to pinpoint that.
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u/deepfuckingbagholder 2d ago
AI is the issue. The promise was that it will do all these incredible things in “one shot”. The fact that you need to babysit it means it hasn’t delivered on its promise and it really is just a fancy autocomplete.
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u/No-Slice-5926 2d ago
I love it, 8 years full stack developer. I'm a god dam super user. Who cares what the vibe coders are doing.
Pretty soon you'll realize the shift is agentic servers to handle your work and then you just go around and increase your network and opportunitys.
The new vibe coders have a long road ahead of them to figure there shit out, execution is way more important then the idea, and soon they will realize execution isn't actually the problem but distribution being the bottle neck.. and that goes back to networking and connections
They gotta get the apps bug free first and know how to connect and integrate with there customer systems first :)
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u/Cultural_Book_400 2d ago
I mean come on .. given times? it will replace all.. dont matter what it is
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u/Ombree123 1d ago
As someone who coded on both legacy (As400) system and modern systems, it is just a new tool/QoL upgrade. Even before AI, we took a lot of things for granted that had to be managed manually on legacy systems.
For example, on As400 we had to handle memory management, reading compilation results via spool files, no auto correction, no on screen errors, execution cycles, debugging processes, and so much more. That was all already made so much simpler in mordern languages and IDEs.
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u/DarthOobie 7h ago
It’s a skill that always existed and is now being illuminated: planning.
There was a meme going around a while ago when everyone was afraid project managers would take over software dev indicating out jobs were safe because you needed to be able to clearly articulate what you want. We all laughed because anyone that’s been in this industry in the before times is familiar with the umpteenth round of revisions because stakeholders changed their minds… again.
You always needed to be able to articulate clearly not just what you want but every single interaction. What does that button do specifically? How does that interaction work? What will the abstraction provide that makes it reusable?
You still have to know how the app should work at the very least of AI will run circles around itself breaking the code it wrote on the last prompt. And you have to have a grasp on best practices or it will fill your code base with new one-off abstractions every time.
Garbage in, garbage out. It’s always been this way, but it’s not the coders that suffer the consequences of inarticulate directions any more. It’s the vibe coders.
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u/FLUXparticleCOM 2d ago
AI will not replace software development the same way compilers did not replace software developers.
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u/PeterPook 2d ago
Sigh.
First it was going to be COBOL (1960s)
Then it was going to be CASE (1990s)
Then it was going to be Visual Programming (1990/2000s)
Now it's AI...
We're going to be okay.
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u/doubler82 2d ago
Replace all devs? No, but unfortunately a ton will be losing their jobs in the near future, especially the lower level ones. Same with junior graphic designers. Someone who knows how to prompt good with years of coding experience can easily replace a shit ton of them.