The AI Illusion

Why Coding Shortcuts Are Killing Your Skills

Generated by Midjourney

So, I did a little bit of this vibe coding the other day. Basically, it's when you use AI to help write your code while you kinda sit back and direct things. I have to say it was actually quite interesting. I've been in software development for a minute now, so I've seen a lot of things come and go in the dev world.

Remember when Flash development was the hot thing? JQuery became kind of the cool thing within the front-end world, and now you have all these tools with React and Vue. The rise of Node.js – there's just so much that has happened over the past 20-some-odd years.

And then AI just kind of came out of nowhere. It feels like yesterday we were debating frameworks, and today we're asking AI to write entire apps for us. Wild, right?

AI's Promise and Pitfalls

I think the thing that's important to understand is why there's so much buzz around vibe coding. You see people worried about AI taking their jobs, others talking about building entire products with just AI, and then having issues because server costs go up, and all of a sudden they have a $100,000 bill they didn't expect.

While it's a fascinating technology, we need a healthy dose of caution. We get too caught up in the end game and the promise of things, not understanding that building solid software takes time and discipline.

There's a lot that goes into it.

It's not just about writing code. It's designing systems. It's looking at edge cases. It's forecasting costs. It's planning for support because – let's face it – things break. And when they do, you need to know how those things work.

The Real World Stakes

When there's an issue, you can't afford downtime, especially with systems handling lots of transactions. Imagine running a banking system – you can't afford to have that down for even a minute.

These systems need to be resilient, and for that to happen, you need people who really understand these frameworks, coding principles, and the applications being used. Not just someone who can prompt an AI to spit out code they don't understand.

Finding The Sweet Spot

AI is absolutely helpful as an assist. It's great for getting started, setting up that boilerplate code, and helping you think through problems. But at least right now, I don't see it as something you can count on to do everything.

You still have to understand what it's actually producing. The code might compile and even work, but you have no idea what's happening under the hood. It might be doing all kinds of inefficient things or leaking sensitive API keys. This is especially risky for financial systems or costly operations.

If something takes even a fraction of a second longer to run, it can cost you serious money at scale. So we need to be careful about this – especially young developers just getting started – not looking for that next magical solution.

This isn't going to replace learning. You can't just sit at a prompt and expect AI to do all the work. From a value standpoint, you still have to put effort into learning the fundamentals: understanding how things work, troubleshooting, and being able to debug. Those things are still critical.

Because if you're going to put all your stock into these tools, then what value are you bringing? If companies value these tools more than people, then all that's going to do is open up a market for experienced devs to fix the problems that AI created.

The Bottom Line

I use AI for all kinds of things – coding, writing, brainstorming – but always as an assistant, not a replacement. It's like having a really smart intern who sometimes gives you brilliant ideas and sometimes gives you complete nonsense.

We still have to do the work. We still have to put effort into learning how things work. That's part of being a professional.

So use these tools, enjoy them, let them make you more efficient – just don't let them take over your professional growth. The best developers will be the ones who know when to use AI and when to roll up their sleeves and code the old-fashioned way.

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Quote of the Day:

"No man steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man." - Heraclitus

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