'Vibe Coders' Are a Threat to Tech

Unpopular Opinion The idea that everyone can now build apps and games without understanding how things actually work behind the scenes does more harm than good—it's worse in reality. Let me ask you a question: Would you put a fully loaded gun (with the trigger safety off) into a child's hand, or even into the hands of someone without proper knowledge? Here's another question: Would you trust a "vibe civil engineer" or a "vibe architect" to construct a building for you if they were not fully knowledgeable or skilled? I hope your answers to both of these questions would be a firm "NO." Building software is also a highly responsible task. It's not just about having an idea and executing it without being aware of the consequences and trade-offs involved. To give you a reality check, let's imagine you discover that the banking app on your phone—used to manage your finances—was built by someone just "vibe coding" instead of an experienced software engineer. Would you continue to use it? Personally, I'd delete the app immediately and even close my account with that bank, because my entire life could depend on it. You might think this example is exaggerated, but consider another scenario: Imagine you sign up for a SaaS platform built by a vibe coder. On the sign-in page, there's a "Sign in with Google" button. You click on it and use your Google identity to log in. Guess what? You might have already compromised your security. If your identity exchange isn't handled securely, your access token could be leaked. This would allow unauthorized access to your Google account without needing your password or even your email address. Essentially, your entire online identity could be at risk without you realizing it. "A task suits best the one meant to do it; when done by another, it's bound to fail." Building software of any kind should be done by software engineers, not "vibe" coders. To be clear, I'm not criticizing the use of AI or leveraging AI in workflows. Rather, I'm emphasizing that tasks should be performed by those trained and meant to do them. Let me conclude with one last, critical example: Imagine having access to the greatest AI surgeon in existence, with the AI claiming anyone can now become a "vibe surgeon." Would you trust yourself to perform surgery on your loved ones using that technology, knowing that you're neither a surgeon nor even medically trained? I agree this technology could greatly benefit trained surgeons, but certainly not the general public. I hope you understand the point I'm making. That's it.

Apr 4, 2025 - 12:52

Unpopular Opinion

The idea that everyone can now build apps and games without understanding how things actually work behind the scenes does more harm than good—it's worse in reality.

Let me ask you a question:

Would you put a fully loaded gun (with the trigger safety off) into a child's hand, or even into the hands of someone without proper knowledge?

Here's another question:

Would you trust a "vibe civil engineer" or a "vibe architect" to construct a building for you if they were not fully knowledgeable or skilled?

I hope your answers to both of these questions would be a firm "NO."

Building software is also a highly responsible task. It's not just about having an idea and executing it without being aware of the consequences and trade-offs involved.

To give you a reality check, let's imagine you discover that the banking app on your phone—used to manage your finances—was built by someone just "vibe coding" instead of an experienced software engineer.

Would you continue to use it?

Personally, I'd delete the app immediately and even close my account with that bank, because my entire life could depend on it.

You might think this example is exaggerated, but consider another scenario:

Imagine you sign up for a SaaS platform built by a vibe coder. On the sign-in page, there's a "Sign in with Google" button. You click on it and use your Google identity to log in.

Guess what?

You might have already compromised your security. If your identity exchange isn't handled securely, your access token could be leaked. This would allow unauthorized access to your Google account without needing your password or even your email address.

Essentially, your entire online identity could be at risk without you realizing it.

"A task suits best the one meant to do it; when done by another, it's bound to fail."

Building software of any kind should be done by software engineers, not "vibe" coders.

To be clear, I'm not criticizing the use of AI or leveraging AI in workflows.

Rather, I'm emphasizing that tasks should be performed by those trained and meant to do them.

Let me conclude with one last, critical example:

Imagine having access to the greatest AI surgeon in existence, with the AI claiming anyone can now become a "vibe surgeon."

Would you trust yourself to perform surgery on your loved ones using that technology, knowing that you're neither a surgeon nor even medically trained?

I agree this technology could greatly benefit trained surgeons, but certainly not the general public.

I hope you understand the point I'm making.

That's it.