Vibe Coding: The Automation Moment for Software
Vibe coding is the automation movement for software. It shifts the focus from typing to thinking, collapsing ceremony and exposing what really matters—design, validation, and impact. Coding isn’t dying, it’s evolving.
For decades, writing code was the bottleneck.
Typing was thinking.
Craft was king.
We taught principles like SOLID and Clean Code not just for quality, but because they were necessary survival tools in a world where humans were the engine behind every line of logic.
But that world is changing.
The New Reality
AI-assisted coding — what some call vibe coding — is just the next step in the long arc of automation.
It's not magic.
It's not heresy.
It's automation for a labor-intensive task: turning ideas into working code.
And just like every wave of automation before it — from manufacturing to agriculture to graphic design — it feels disorienting for those whose skills were tightly coupled to the manual process.
So What's Actually Changing?
The bottleneck has moved.
Old bottleneck:
“How do we write this?”
New bottleneck:
“What are we trying to build?”
“Does it solve the problem?”
“Is it safe, maintainable, and aligned with our goals?”
AI doesn't replace engineering.
But it replaces the idea that engineering = typing.
The Role of Craft, Revisited
The craft of software used to be about how we wrote the code.
Now, the craft is shifting toward:
- Framing and refining problems
- Validating ideas quickly
- Navigating ambiguity
- Designing architectures that flex, scale, and adapt
SOLID still matters — but only if the system benefits from it.
Clean Code still matters — but AI can enforce formatting now.
Unit tests still matter — but maybe you generate them from examples.
In other words:
Craft isn’t gone — it’s just moved up the stack.
What This Means for Engineers
This is our automation moment.
- Some folks will double down on old habits and feel disillusioned.
- Others will evolve and thrive by shifting from control to orchestration.
You don’t have to be an expert in everything.
But you do need to:
- Understand what you’re building
- Guide the AI, not just prompt it
- Review and reason, not just ship
Vibe coding works best when you can think clearly — not just code fluently.
Final Thought
Software engineering is not dying.
It’s evolving.
Faster than many expected.
And like every profession that’s been touched by automation, those who adapt will shape the future.
Those who don’t… may cling to an idea that stopped being true.
We’re not replacing engineers.
We’re replacing the need to handwrite everything just to deliver value.
The ceremony is collapsing.
The creativity is just beginning.