Maybe spaghetti code delivers value as quickly as possible in the short term, but there is a risk that it will catch up in the long term - hard to add features, slow iterations - ultimately losing customers, revenue and growth.
If i manage to vibecode something alone that takes off, even without technical expertise, then you validated the AI usecase...
Before Claude i had to make a paper prototype or a figma, now i can make Slop that looks and somehow functions the way i want. i can make preliminary tests, and even get to some proof of concept. in some cases even 1million $ annual revenue...
You don't have to feature pack if you are making a custom app for your custom use case, and LLMs are great with slim narrow purpose apps.
I don't think LLMs will replace developers, but I am almost certain they will radically change how end users use computers, even if the tech plateaus right now.
Everyone can do their own plumbing and electrical work in their homes too. For some people it works out, for others it's still better to pay someone else to do it for them.
I'm pretty comfortable letting my mom vibecode a plant watering tracker. Not so much wiring up a distribution box.
VB? VBA macros in Excel? Delphi? Uhh... Wordpress? Python as a language?
Well you see these are just for prototypes. These are just for making an MVP. They're not the real product.
But they are the real product. I've almost never seen these been successfully used as just for prototyping or MVPs. It always becomes the real codebase and it's a hot fucking mess 99% of the time.
What ends up happening is that humans get "woven" into the architecture/processes, so that people with pagers keep that mess going even though it really should not be running at that scale.
"Throw one away" rarely happens.
This assumes a pool of available devs who haven't already drunk the Koolaid.
To put it another way: the 2nd wave of devs will also vibe code. Or 'focus on the happy path'. Or the 'MVP', whatever it's called these days.
From their point of view, it will be faster and cheaper to get v2 out sooner, and 'polish' it later.
Does anyone in charge actually know what 'building it right' actually means? Is it in their vocabulary to say those words?
you're making an assumption these devs you hire actually know what they're doing and not just a proxy back to an LLM.
They don't care about losing customers 10 years later because they're optimizing for next quarter. But they do that every quarter.
Does this eventually blow up? Uh, yeah, big time. Look at GE, Intel, Xerox, IBM, you name it.
But you can get shockingly far only thinking about tomorrow over and over again. Sometimes, like, 100 years far. Well by then we're all dead anyway so who cares.