As soon as I heard that you could chuck some buggy code at an AI and get “seemingly bug-free” code back — I was impressed.
Then, I heard you could have it right there in your IDE, always watching what you wrote and suggesting the “best” option — I was sold.
I set it up in my editor, and it changed everything. No more scouring documentation or hunting down articles that almost matched my problem. No more hair-pulling or begging the compiler to just let it run. It was pure fun. Or as they used to say, “it was just vibes.”
Then came the bug.
Suddenly, the AI was stumped. It kept offering the same wrong solution over and over. Imposter syndrome usually hit hard in moments like this, but this time, you knew. Deep in your heart, whatever the AI was suggesting — that’s not right. So, you take a step back.
And that’s when it hits you:
“What the hell did I just write?”
Now the fun’s over. The vibe is dead. And you’re left staring at the code, wondering how you got here.
Looking back, I realized there were signs I’d been vibe coding for too long. Little things that seemed harmless at first but slowly chipped away at my understanding:
• Instant AI Dependence: Every little road bump, I’d go straight to the AI. It became a reflex — why think when the AI could do it faster?
• Skipping Understanding: Error message? I didn’t even try to understand it. I’d just paste it into the AI and say, “Fix this.”
• Blind Trust: I even let it write entire features without checking if the solutions made sense. How could I? I didn’t even understand the tools. So I didn’t question it.
Hitting that wall woke me up. Suddenly, I understood what everyone (and I mean everyone) says about learning a new skill:
If you’re not struggling, you’re not learning.
And I don’t mean the kind of struggle where you’re aimlessly scouring the internet for the right docs. The real struggle is in digesting the information — sitting with the problem long enough for the pieces to click. That discomfort? That’s where the growth happens.
The only way to truly understand a programming language or a tool is to get your hands dirty with it. Build stuff and figure it out as you go along. It sucks, but that’s the point.
With this insight, I disabled the AI in my IDE and started coding again. This time, I used it differently: as a guide, not a crutch. I’d ask it to point me to the right docs, help me spot patterns or even break down the error message with a simpler example. But the coding part? That was all me. I was back in control.
I won’t lie though — it’s still tempting. Progress feels good, even when you’re on autopilot. And when the AI makes things easy, it’s hard to resist the dopamine rush of seeing things “just work.” But that’s the trap. The more you let it take over, the harder it becomes to step back and understand what’s really happening under the hood.
The shortcuts that feel good now can leave you lost later. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take my sweet time with the next project.