Wasif Shahzad
What is "Vibe Coding"?
October 31, 2025 • 8 min read • 21 views
Imagine it's 2015. You're deep in the zone, writing hundreds of lines of code, only to be stopped by a frustrating bug that takes hours to fix. You’re frustrated, but that's just the job.
Now, imagine someone tells you that a developer in 2025 will complete that same task in an hour, not by writing more code, but simply by... vibing. And the cherry on top? They'll write almost no code at all.
Welcome to the strange new world of vibe coding.
**What is "**Vibe Coding"?
Vibe Coding is a modern software development practice and an AI-human relationship where you no longer code in C++, Python or Java but you code in your “natural language” where the developer gives clear and concise prompts to an AI agent about what they want to do (they just vibe) and the AI agent handles the coding part for them i.e. the boring part.
Even though vibe-coding is like a dream come true to developers, it has its profound risks too. There are uncertainties about what will happen to the definition of “expertise in a field” in the future. It raises critical questions about the code quality, security and long-term maintainability.
*"Vibe Coding" *vs "Traditional Development"
Building a login form in the 2015 way (traditional way) and the 2025 way (vibe coding)
The 2015 way
The 2015 developer is more so of a hard worker. They’ll need to build three different files from scratch: index.html, style.css and script.js. They will begin by writing a raw structure in an HTML file which will be quite easy for them. It’ll barely take 10 minutes for them to do this. Then, they’ll start working on the styling and think, “How do I center the div?”. They give this 10 minutes and then get the div centered and then they start working on the actual style. They add color themes, paddings, margins and hover effects and this takes 30 minutes from the developer. After all this, they think it works but all of a sudden they realize that the website is not even responsive yet so they spend 20-30 minutes more to just make the website responsive. And finally, they decide to work on the logic and it takes them more than 20-30 minutes and after doing one and half an hour of hard work, they finally get it done!
The 2025 way
The 2025 developer is more of an art director. They don’t even bother with three different files. They just open up their AI tool and start telling it what to do. They’ll just type in a prompt, something like, "Make me a clean, modern login form. It should be in a card and centered on the page."
And in maybe 10 seconds, the AI just spits out the code. It’s already styled, it’s already responsive, and the div is already centered.
Now they start their "real" work. They look at it and think, "Hmm, this is a good start, but it's kind of basic." So they just type back at the AI, not a single line of code. "Add a 'Forgot Password?' link under the password field. And I need a 'Sign in with Google' button too, to make it look official."
The AI just refreshes the component. It's all there.
They look again. "Almost... let's make that main 'Sign In' button a deep purple and round the corners on the card and buttons a bit more." Poof. It's done.
They copy the final code and move on. The whole thing took them maybe 10-15 minutes, max. They didn't really do any "hard work" at all... they just vibed.
So, is it all good and is the 2025 developer living in heavens?
Well, it turns out that there are as many cons to vibe coding as the benefits if not more.
The Good Stuff (The Pros)
- Insane Speed: This is the most obvious one. That login form example says it all. Tasks that used to take hours of hard work can now be finished in minutes. Prototyping a whole new idea can happen in an afternoon, not a week.
- Focus on What Matters: The 2015 developer spent most of their time fighting with the code. The 2025 developer spends their time thinking about the product. They can focus on the user experience, the design, and the "vibe" of the app, not on boilerplate and centering divs.
- **Its just more accessible: **You don't have to be a super-genius who has memorized every programming rule. Vibe coding opens the door for designers, product managers, and new developers to build real, working stuff just by explaining their vision.
The Bad Stuff (The Cons)
As said above, vibe coding is not just about living in a dream, it brings a whole new set of problems as well. Below are some of them:
- Defining "Expertise”: This is a huge one. If anyone can just "vibe" and build an app, what happens to the value of a senior developer who spent 10 years mastering their craft? It raises real uncertainties about what "expertise in a field" will even mean.
- Code Quality & Security: The AI is fast, but is the code it writes good? Is it secure? Or is it just creating a mess that will be impossible to fix later? This raises critical questions about the code's quality and long-term maintainability.
- The New "Debugging" Nightmare: What happens when the AI gives you something that's almost right, but just a little bit broken? Debugging code you didn't even write can be a special kind of frustration.
Conclusion
So, in the end, "vibe coding" isn't just some far-off dream for our 2015 developer. It's the new reality, and it's reshaping the entire industry. The old way of the "hard worker," the one who spent an hour and a half fighting with CSS and logic, is quickly being replaced.
Now, it's all about the "art director". The developer who can 'vibe' with an AI, give clear directions, and build a better product in just 15 minutes. This is that evolution. It's faster and more accessible. But as we saw, it's not a perfect world. It still leaves us with those big, critical questions about security, maintainability, and what "expertise" even means anymore.
One thing is for sure, though. The job isn't just about writing hundreds of lines of code. It's about having the vision and the right "vibe" to bring an idea to life.