The Near Future of Vibe Coding and AI-Assisted Programming

Sam Hooker -

"Vibe coding" is a nascent skill in the emerging field of AI, and it comes with no single definition (though very smart people have tried) or measure of its value.

Some say it's AI-assisted coding. Professional developers watch models generate code like hawks, sinking their talons into the keys the moment something goes awry.

Others insist there's no "assisted" about it. Vibe coding means coding for all, fire stolen from the gods by a clever Prometheus. Mere mortals write product requirements documents, paste them into GitHub Copilot, and boom! million-dollar apps ready for the cloud. Any human interference means it's just coding. Not magic.

These vibe wizards often express frustration when the generated code isn't magic. "What's the point of vibe coding if I still have to pay a dev to fix it?" grouses one such magician on /r/vibecoding, who felt "in the zone" while banging out prompts on the keyboard. In my opinion, this takeaway misses the very real value of this new skill.

While the forums and subreddits iron out the definitions, many professionals–technical and non-technical alike–are reaping great benefits from AI right now. This is how they're doing it, and how that trend will continue.

Industry Adoption

Big companies are encouraging developers to leverage AI to make workflows more efficient. Their biggest concern is ensuring that sensitive data doesn't leak outside the confines of the business. Enterprise-level AI providers are taking these concerns very seriously and securing their offerings in response.

"Vibe" or "AI-assisted" coding can benefit technical and non-technical professions alike.

Vibe coding offers non-technical professionals a means of rapidly creating prototypes to test and convey ideas. That value should not be overlooked. Any tool that gives a creative professional the ability to quickly get ideas out of their heads and in front of decision-makers is a huge benefit, as long as it's delivered with a disclaimer:

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"This is a vibe-coded prototype. It needs to be rewritten by software developers who can verify its quality, security, accessibility, efficiency, and compliance with all of the standards that will keep us from getting sued into oblivion."

Professional Developer Strategies

AI-assisted coding offers technical professionals a significant productivity boost. I can personally attest to the value of AI-assisted coding, having employed it on several projects, using three main strategies.

Strategy 1: The Model Writes the First Draft

I've done this by passing two files to the AI as context before getting started: a description of the thing I want it to build, and the coding standards I want it to employ. These are fairly long, detailed documents written in plain language. I ask the AI to review them and ask any clarifying questions before it gets started.

Then I let it run, keeping an eye on it, only offering course corrections when I see something flagrantly wrong. I'll offer corrections and get it back to work.

Usually, less than an hour later (depending on the complexity of the project), I've got a somewhat serviceable version of what I'd asked for. I'll point out some of the most glaring bugs (there will definitely be a few) and let the AI try to correct them, but in my experience, it will fix less than half of them. After that one round, I'll take over and start manually editing code.

This generally saves me the first 3-5 days of coding versus doing it all manually. Code-specific AI models are generally great at employing standard patterns, and this gives me a great starting point.

Strategy 2: The Model Offers Completions

This may be my favorite aspect of AI-assisted coding. As I type, the AI tries to predict what I'm going to type next and offers it up. If it guesses correctly, I hit my Tab key to accept it; if not, I can hit Esc to dismiss it, or simply keep typing.

I'd estimate that the rate of accurate predictions I'm seeing is around 30%, and accepting them makes me maybe 15-20% faster at writing code overall.

Strategy 3: Why am I Getting This Error?

Asking the AI to troubleshoot an error–especially one that doesn't make any sense to me at first–has been a big time-saver; however, I've found that many AI models will dive down rabbit holes, chasing possible causes that never pan out. Two suggestions for employing this strategy:

1.  Provide a specific methodology for investigation. Something like, "offer 3-5 possible causes, then investigate the one you believe is most likely."

2.  Stop it early. As soon as you get the feeling the AI is too deep on a solution that isn't going to pan out, tell it to stop.

The worst-case scenario here is that you burn some tokens on a solution that doesn't pan out, but if you did step 1, you should have 3-5 things to check out yourself.

Putting My Hands Together

I've employed all three of these strategies on several of my recent projects. In the hands of a developer who knows what they're doing, this can seriously boost time to completion. Just keep in mind that software is only as good as its design, deployment, and applicability to its target audience.

That's a lot of value that AI alone can't provide.

2-Year Prediction

Where do we go from here? What's going to happen in the job market? I predict an AI bubble that's going to thwart companies that don't take a pragmatic approach to AI adoption.

1.  Companies will turn to vibe coding as a replacement for hiring developers.

2.  The software development market will thin out. Developers will have to go into other industries to pay the rent.

3.  The businesses that over-leveraged vibe coding will find themselves on fire, desperate to hire coders.

4.  Developer salaries will go up for all experience levels (YAY!) AI consultants will be in high demand.

5.  Vibe coding, like anything else, will grow into a formal skill.

6.  Companies will fill non-technical positions with candidates who can vibe-code prototypes.

All white-collar disciplines will require prompt engineering training or experience in 5 years. Anyone who can properly instruct a model will vibe better prototypes and advance in their careers.

Despite what you may have heard in clickbait articles, vibe coding is not on the verge of replacing the software engineering profession. It is having a massive impact on the industry—on most industries, in fact—and in my humble opinion, it's changing things for the better.

It's especially important right now, in this "wild west" phase of emerging technology, to employ it responsibly. Those who don't will vibe at their own peril.