Lots of people in the developer world are worried about AI taking away jobs right now and for good reason.
CEOs and talking heads are predicting many wild things, some of which might turn out to be true.
Of course reality is not as all or nothing.
The term “vibe coding” was introduced by a developer known as Andrey Karpathy. It describes an approach where you deeply trust the process, embrace rapid development (thinking “exponentially”), and almost forget about the specific lines of code being written. Instead, you guide AI tools to generate the code based on your high-level ideas and goals.
This concept gained massive attention partly thanks to indie developer Peter Levels. He reportedly created a real-time flight simulator game using JavaScript, seemingly guided by this “vibe” approach. He then successfully used his online presence to sell advertising within the game, demonstrating a potentially lucrative path.
The thing is, AI is good at coding, but it is not yet a programmer.
Coding: This is the act of translating logical steps into computer instructions by writing code (like C++, Python, or JavaScript). Traditionally, skilled coders might type very quickly and accurately. However, AI tools, specifically large language models (LLMs), are becoming incredibly fast and capable at generating code, potentially making the manual typing skill less essential. An AI can often write code faster than a human expert.
Programming: This is a much broader skill. It’s about designing solutions, understanding complex systems, thinking creatively, and using experience to make good decisions. It involves not just writing code but often removing or refining it.
Good programming requires ingenuity and deep understanding.
Relying purely on vibes without understanding the underlying code can be dangerous.
Even if AI writes the code, the human still needs strong programming skills to guide the AI effectively and ensure the final product works well and is secure.
We might see further erosion of career opportunities, rightly or wrongly, but the role of programmer won't go away, it will just evolve.
