Developers have always loved the new and shiny. Heck, getting developers not to rewrite an application in their new favorite framework is a tough sell.
LLM “vibe coding” is another continuation of this “new hotness”, and while the more seasoned developers may have learned to avoid it, that’s not the majority view.
CEOs and C-suites have always been disconnected from the first order effects of their cost-cutting edicts, and vibe coding is no different in that regard. They see the ten dollars an hour they spend on LLMs as a bargain if they can hire a $30 an hour junior programmer instead of a $150 an hour senior programmer.
They will continue to pursue cost-cutting, and the advent of vibe coding matches exactly what they care about: software produced for a fraction of the cost.
Our problem — or the problem of the professionals - is that we have not been successful in translating the inherent problems with the CEOs approach to a change in how the C-suite operates. We have not successfully pursuaded them that higher quality software = more sales, or lower liability, or lower cost maintenance, and that partially because we as an industry have eschewed those for “move fast and break things”. Vibe coding is “Move Fast and Break Things” writ large.
> Heck, getting developers not to rewrite an application in their new favorite framework is a tough sell.
This depends a lot on the "programming culture" from which the respective developers come. For example, in the department where I work (in some conservative industry) it would rather be a tough sell to use a new, shiny framework because the existing ("boring") technologies that we use are a good fit for the work that needs to be done and the knowledge that exists in the team.
I rather have a feeling that in particular the culture around web development (both client- and server-side parts) is very prone to this phenomenon.
In the Venn diagram of the programming culture of the companies that embrace vibe coding and the companies whose developers like to rewrite applications when a new framework comes out is almost a perfect circle, however.
LLM “vibe coding” is another continuation of this “new hotness”, and while the more seasoned developers may have learned to avoid it, that’s not the majority view.
CEOs and C-suites have always been disconnected from the first order effects of their cost-cutting edicts, and vibe coding is no different in that regard. They see the ten dollars an hour they spend on LLMs as a bargain if they can hire a $30 an hour junior programmer instead of a $150 an hour senior programmer.
They will continue to pursue cost-cutting, and the advent of vibe coding matches exactly what they care about: software produced for a fraction of the cost.
Our problem — or the problem of the professionals - is that we have not been successful in translating the inherent problems with the CEOs approach to a change in how the C-suite operates. We have not successfully pursuaded them that higher quality software = more sales, or lower liability, or lower cost maintenance, and that partially because we as an industry have eschewed those for “move fast and break things”. Vibe coding is “Move Fast and Break Things” writ large.