Vibe Coding's Hype for non-developers is over
- 14 min read - Text OnlyThe drivel from wannabe LinkedInfluencers are finally facing reality. $200 Claude Code and Cursor plans have not replaced developers with real-world experience. To the dismay of any aspiring yet-another-software-as-a-service founder, all their work through AI coding assistants collapse when the context no longer fit the abyssal spaghetti they spawned through an expensive subscription to the largest bubble in history.
Real-time inference services are responsible for displacing jobs in services, support, human resources, and artistic roles in the video game industry (archived). While it has displaced paid human roles with underperforming alternatives, has it truly displaced software developers? AI has been the excuse for executives all over to cut headcount again and again because of speculation and greed.
There is no product or service that can responsibly design and release software on its own. There is no builder.ai that companies can augment or replace their workforce with.
2025's AI Tech cannot write software on its own.
Non-technical vibe coders have finally caught on to this reality. The hype bubble they've hoped for is ripping apart. Dreams are being shattered and future visions of riches are floating away like a fart in the wind.
what's the point of vibe coding if at the end of the day i still gotta pay a dev to look at the code anyway. sure it feels kinda cool while i'm typing, like i'm in some flow state or whatever, but when stuff breaks it's just dead weight. i cant vibe my way through debugging, i cant ship anything that actually matters, and then i'm back to square one pulling out my wallet for someone who actually knows what they're doing. makes me think vibe coding is just roleplay for guys who want to feel like hackers without doing the hard part. am i missing something here or is it really just useless once you step outside the fantasy - reddit (archived)
The tools try to fix them but most of the time they fail. The process takes so many trials (and credits!) that it becomes incredibly frustrating.
For example fixing a simple “mark as completed” button that wasn’t working took me hours. And then after a few iterations it stopped working again.
I’m not technical so I have no idea if what the tools are doing is right or not. I’m sure one day they will work even for someone like me but they’re not there yet.
After enthusiasm thanks to rapid progress —> a few months of increasing pain —> giving up
Turns out having a tool that generates code doesn’t remove the need to know how to program to build complex software…
Anyone touching grass in this industry could tell you up front that real skill, experience, and opinions matter in developing software. A shortcut through an AI subscription will shine brightly in its first hours — then violently crumble once it reaches production.
On the bright side, non-technical people getting into software development is a good thing. Gatekeeping is harmful. These tools make it easier for newcomers to selectively choose where to develop skills without having to learn what a CPU register is. However…
Those dependent upon these tools will have to wean themselves off to get real work done. And not just because the internet goes out on the plane.
Software has to be intentionally designed to solve problems that affect real people. Most software development time is spent understanding the problem and shaping a solution for that problem within the existing systems we use today.
Success stories do exist... ones I see all come from people who are/were software engineers
Learning to code / build software not a waste after all?
These tools can make some development processes faster, especially auto-complete. But they will not replace people.
The most success I have had from LLM assistants is all where I can drive it, check its work, and review the proposals in manageable chunks.
Hey, wait a minute, is this just pull request-based software development!?
Any displacement of experienced staff is, at this time, purely out of speculation and not grounded in reality.
However, the consistent years-long contraction in this career field forces experienced people to compete for the positions that normally would go to new graduates in computer science. Salaries are dropping. Supply has exceeded demand, and that's tough for new graduates.
It's not all roses for the developers (or their employees) who delegate half their brain to these tools.
Devs actively using LLMs for work are trending to pay easily $1,000+/month soon…
This abuse became so rampant, whether through automation or an unhealthy obsession with exploiting the free agents while they lasted.
Thankfully, the volume of this drivel is shrinking since Cursor and Claude announced limits and pricing changes to make their plans more financially sustainable.
These new prices affect me too. I'll have to deal with it. It's been really handy to knock out boilerplate with a style guide in hand. For example, I can save ten minutes of finding-and-replacing through a request including a generated style guide (based on an existing implementation) and a typescript interface for yet another entity in Cloudflare KV.
But, now, I have to stop and think every time I want to use the agent. Is this request worth burning my monthly quota over? That actually slows me down. And that sucks too!
The hypnotic feedback loop of perceived progress for vibe coders is coming to an end.
There is no more free lunch – only crumbs left to be had for $20-200 per month.
Hopefully, this slop from LinkedIn and other influencer platforms fades and is left behind before 2026. And, for my peers, I hope your CEOs stop laying you off and focus on real things that genuinely improve humanity's future.