Vibe Coding and the Mortified Hubris of Developers

 

Introduction

In the queasily shifting landscape of software development, a new phenomenon has emerged: Vibe coding. AI. Basically, just as you can generate images or videos from worded prompts, now you can as easily produce functioning code. You can bet developers don’t like this. They like to get together in rooms and online forums and diss the code it produces. It threatens their “creativity”, mocks their sense of exceptionalism. “No-one will ever be able to automate my job,” a developer once told me. Oh, dear. The disrupters disrupted. The march of automation. The doorbell rings, and the worm of panic wriggles in the gut of an impending identity crisis. Call your new AI friend a collaborator if it makes you feel better, but you know it’s a boss in waiting. 

The Hubris of Developers

For decades, developers were the architects of disruption. They served their corporate masters well and unquestioningly – what they were doing, they were sure, was good. They built the systems that displaced and devalued others: typists, cashiers, travel agents, and traders. They celebrated efficiency, automation, profit and progress, indifferent to the human cost. They were doing all right. And the smug assumption: technology might replace others, but never us.

This hubris rested on two mistaken beliefs:

• Coding was an irreplaceable skill: Developers saw programming as way too complex, too creative, too human, indeed, to be automated.
• Progress as virtue: They championed disruption as a moral good, equating technological advancement with societal improvement. That’s if they even thought about it at all. Self‑justification always comes with a layer of slime. 

Mortification in the Face of Automation

Now, with vibe coding, developers confront the same fate they once blithely imposed on others. The mortification lies not only in the threat of job displacement but in the realization that their craft — once revered as a pinnacle of intellectual labour — can be reduced to autocomplete.

•  Loss of exclusivity: Non-technical professionals can now build apps with no-code platforms or AI assistance, bypassing developers entirely.
• Erosion of identity: For many, coding was more than a job; it was a badge of intelligence and creativity. Vibe coding undermines that, which is why the childish attacks. The code, guys, it’s only going to get better. 
• The mirror of disruption: Developers must now reckon with the same anxieties they once dismissed in others.

The Irony of Progress

The irony is sharp: those who once wielded automation as a weapon of progress now find themselves its target. The beast of disruption, once unleashed, does not discriminate. It devours typists, cashiers, traders — and now, developers. The mortified hubris lies in realizing too late that they, too, have been cheapened and devalued, that their particular skill is easy meat for the silicon overlords. As with chess, soon it will be pointless comparing a human developer to the code engine because, as with chess, the latter will always win. 

Conclusion

Vibe coding is more than a technical trend; it is a cultural reckoning. It forces developers to confront their own vulnerability, their historical complicity, and the self‑interest they were happy to pretend was progress and good for society. It was always a Faustian pact and the devil always collects. But I get it. I do. You were just doing what you had to do in the game of getting on. I understand. It’s not easy. But, remember, the only soldiers that really matter are the ones who don’t follow the order to fire on the crowd.