This triggers me more than anything (in the sense that I recognize it’s happening). Developers churing out bad code, cutting corners, and focusing on “making it work” are given tools to do more damage faster. Even worse: they are praised for their massive output, while their colleagues can’t keep up with the reviews (“But everything works, right? I even prompted the thing to generate tests!”).
We’re in an era where a lot of itches are being scratched. Many libraries are being published, often carried by solo developers finally able to act upon their “someday-maybe” list. I genuinely think it’s great, and a lot of creativity is unlocked. Heck, my father in law is killing it with Claude, at the age of almost 80, for some hobby projects. Dreams are coming true.
But those are mostly silo’s. Single devs, acting on their ideas. I would be hesitant to draw in a dependency on a vibe coded library, when it was created over a few weekends, without much back and forth with a community that pushes back and gives feedback.
I wildly agree with Bob Nystrom here, that “spending time” is a great way to create value. There is a sweetspot to be had here. But LLMs are not pushing us towards that sweetspot (I want it now!).
I have yet to see how LLMs foster more communication and collaboration. I see the opposite happening: “let me code that for you”. The hero-type programmer, daring to take on even more risks, and larger endeavors. Alone that is, without much consultation. Asking their LLM, rather than their users, about UX, DX or whatnot. Unchecked plausible assumptions all over the place. An LLM as an exoskeleton.
I hope this will change too, when all the itches are scratched. That we will build the right tools, which inevitably requires us to work together again.
