I keep seeing this same tension play out everywhere. TikTok, Instagram, X, all over the tech corners of the internet. It's the fight between software engineers and vibe coders, and tbh, I get both sides of it.
Let me take the engineers' side first, because they're not wrong. If you spent four plus years learning to actually code, grinding the fundamentals, learning why the thing works and not just that it works, then yeah, I understand the frustration. Someone opens up Claude or ChatGPT, writes a prompt, ships their first app, and calls themselves a software engineer. And half the time, the second they hit a real problem, the whole thing falls over, because they don't actually know what's under the hood. I'd be a little annoyed too.
And real talk, nothing replaces that depth. An engineer who can reach into the code, read it, and understand exactly what every line is doing is on a different level than someone vibe coding their way through. That's just true.
But here's the part that sits weird with me.
The problem isn't people using AI to build. It's when it turns into a wall. When the message becomes "you're not allowed in here, you don't get to build the thing in your head, because you didn't earn it the right way." That's the part I don't buy.
I've watched this play out with my own friends. Engineers on one side, the ones just getting into vibe coding on the other, and there's this real contention between them. Almost a running joke about who counts and who doesn't.
I think big ideas come first. The imagination comes first. Then you go find the resources, or the people, or the tools to actually build it. If someone has a huge idea and AI is the thing that finally lets them build it without waiting for permission, I don't see a problem. I see someone building.
Gatekeeping who gets to make things never made much sense to me. You can respect the craft and still leave the door open. Those two aren't in conflict. Just my take.
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