u/manoteee

Whenever I try to give a good vibes post or comment some haters immediately jump on and tell me (25 yr SWE who only vibecodes) how ignorant I am.

It's particularly stupid because I'm only posting about work I've done. I've been vibe coding since ChatGPT2.5 when it was horrendous and would sometimes do things like spit out "[[[[[[[[[[[..." without stopping until you ended the chat. I made it work though by giving it details about how to write the code I wanted. Syntax, project architecture (data models, interfaces/APIs, UI schema), classes and object relationships, and even some details on where I want globals, .env rules, overall scheme for things like passwords, UUIDs on all tables/documents.

Now when you do this, even with a shitty model like ChatGPT2.5, you get 90% of what you need. The other 10% I solved with more targeted rules and *generic* instructions. I never once said "fix this like that, or this specific thing is wrong" if I could explain the larger issue behind the problem. That's just good software design, not a hack.

So these haters can go to Hell. The apps I build are for clients in industries like healthcare and education, where security is front and center. It's never been a problem for me and I doubt it ever will be despite these haters incessant promises that it will all come raining down because I didn't read what the agent wrote.

There is certainly code you need to monitor with regards to security, but this is so easy that I'd call it a trivial matter. Most security will be solved with diligent thorough testing, and this is true for agents as well humans.

Anyway if that's what I was doing with a 5yr old model, what I can pull of now is absolutely insane. It isn't just a theory that AI can replace software engineers. It's time to get another job or get to work on your own ideas.

I am not going to mention in this post that I have 25 years as "a senior" developer.

This is not about development, this is about life. If you want to make an app, if you are serious about it, here is what you need to ACTUALLY do:

1. Work hard and stay focused on your singular best idea. Spend some time trying stuff and playing around, but use that time wisely.

2. Build an "MVP" Minimum Viable Product. Start with the absolute bare minimum for what you need that meets your goal. If you can't prototype that in 1 or 2 days, you are trying to do too much. Rule that idea out, and go to the next one.

3. Ideas are a dime a dozen. I have a serious ADHD problem and love software product development. There is a very good chance I've thought about something in the neighborhood of your idea. If I have, then I know a lot of others have. Your idea is not precious.

4. What matters is execution. Committing to goals and timelines. AI makes programming software faster, not product development. Product development is spiritual. It means think hard about features to include and not. It means discipline.

The code will take care of itself. There are infinite ways to write an app, you aren't going to find anywhere near the best one. Focus on your product, that's something you could master.

And God Bless the agent.

Title basically. I am a sr dev and all that. I'm interested in the problems people are running into and would like to help a few people if needed. Also no I don't want to steal your idea I have more than enough of my own in progress...

DM me for help.