> A vibe coder is someone who wants to test an idea by generating software as a prototype. A software engineer is someone who thinks about the entire software development lifecycle.
I don't think it's such a simple dichotomy; And dismissing the possibilites of agentic coding as inherently non-SWE is rather short-sighted: You CAN use agents as a software engineering tool.
It's just that it's often misaligned with the processes we're used to. But that does not mean that LLM-agents a bad tool.
> dismissing the possibilites of agentic coding as inherently non-SWE is rather short-sighted
The author does not. I recommend reading the whole article, IMO it shows rare (but growing) maturity about software development during this current age of AI tools (I mean in terms of practical day to day use, eg. ignoring (like everybody in tech) the environmental costs). But you might have been misled by how many people have adopted “vibe coding” to mean any use of ai in software dev.
From the article:
> A vibe coder gives the model a goal, but a software engineer gives the model a bounded task. The bounded task is where the engineering happens. Use this interface. Do not touch this layer. And so on. A good prompt is not magic here. It is usually evidence that the engineer already understands the boundary.
> The difference is where the responsibility starts and where it ends.
I think you're missing the point. The post is agreeing with you about using the right tool for the job.
When there's a responsibility to fully understand, demonstrate, and discuss the code at length with various stakeholders, using an LLM can get in the way. There's nobody stopping you from hammering a screw. It's just... cringe.
I don't think it's such a simple dichotomy; And dismissing the possibilites of agentic coding as inherently non-SWE is rather short-sighted: You CAN use agents as a software engineering tool.
It's just that it's often misaligned with the processes we're used to. But that does not mean that LLM-agents a bad tool.