AI-assisted coding is incredible. It's also incredibly boring.
There, I said it.
The Promise vs. The Reality
We're living in the era of "vibe coding" where you describe what you want, hand it off to an AI agent, and watch it build your app while you sip coffee. Tools like Spec Kit, sudocode, and GitHub Copilot are genuinely powerful. They can take specifications and turn side project ideas into actual reality, saving you from the graveyard of purchased domain names that never became anything.
The technology works. Sometimes too well.
But here's what nobody talks about: watching AI code is the modern equivalent of watching paint dry.
The Missing Piece: Joy
I've literally dozed off this week watching agents work. Multiple times. The code appears line by line in the editor, technically correct, functionally sound, and completely devoid of any emotional satisfaction.
There's no "aha!" moment. No problem-solving rush. No "I AM A GENIUS" feeling when you finally crack that tricky algorithm. Just... code appearing. Like magic, except magic is supposed to be exciting.
The AI companies pitch this as freedom: "Let the computer do the boring work so you can focus on interesting work." But here's the uncomfortable realization coding itself isn't the boring work. At least not for those of us who genuinely love it.
When Vibe Coding Actually Makes Sense
Don't get me wrong—there's a place for this approach:
Use AI when you only care about the output. Those utility scripts, personal tools, or simple apps where the tech stack doesn't matter and you just want something functional. The projects sitting in your "someday" pile that are finally getting built because AI removed the activation energy barrier.
For those projects? Fine. Ship it. Get the result. Move on.
But don't use it for what you love. For apps you're proud of, projects using interesting tech stacks, or anything where the journey matters as much as the destination—drive the development yourself. The experience, the learning, the satisfaction of building something with your own hands (and brain) is irreplaceable.
The Real Risk Nobody Mentions
The danger isn't that AI will replace developers. The danger is that developers will outsource so much that they lose their skills—and worse, lose the joy that made them want to code in the first place.
Programming is problem-solving. It's creative. It's challenging in ways that feel rewarding. When you hand all of that to an AI, you're left with the least interesting part: project management for a robotic employee.
It's Just Another Tool
Vibe coding isn't revolutionary. It's not the future of all development. It's simply another tool in the toolbelt—useful for specific situations, boring for everything else.
I'll keep using it for projects where I genuinely don't care how they're built. I'll keep my coding skills sharp by building the things that matter with my own hands. And I'll accept that watching an AI agent work is about as thrilling as watching my code compile.
Which is to say: not at all.
The future where AI does all the "boring work" has arrived. Turns out, the work was never boring to begin with.
The Takeaway: Use AI to eliminate friction on projects you don't care about deeply. But protect the work you love. The satisfaction of solving problems yourself isn't a bug in the development process—it's the entire point.
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