Vibe Coding: Where Devs Hack Till Dawn, Feel Like Geniuses, But Ship Code Only a Demo Would Love

The phenomenon of "vibe coding" has been observed in the software development community, where coders feel productive but ultimately produce nothing of value. This occurs when developers engage in activities such as generating components, refactoring randomly, and trying new libraries, creating an illusion of progress. Vibe coding taps into the same dopamine loop as social media, providing instant gratification without actual value. It is characterized by a lack of direction, architecture decisions, and testing, resulting in projects that appear complete but are unusable. Engineering requires constraints, trade-offs, and reliability, which vibe coding lacks. Students and professionals alike fall into this trap, leading to projects that are hard to explain and maintain. The transition from exploration to intention is crucial, and failing to do so can result in false confidence and technical debt. By recognizing the limitations of vibe coding, developers can use it intentionally for exploration and prototyping, followed by engineering discipline to create lasting products.