My business partner sent a 5K vibe-coded PR that he didn't even test

"no worries man I know what I'm doing" it’s first sentence in AI-using human mouth that tells me to turn around and run. I’m using models, I’ve built two whole projects without looking at more than 1% of code, but I’ve tested the interface and went through data on disk to verify the assumptions. Sad to see you have a FRIEND who behaved this way.

OP and long time lurker here, I'm desperate and looking for honest-to-god advice on what to do.

I am one of those neurodivergent people who loves programming because it gives me the right stimulation.

I also enjoy drawing, gardening, and exercise.

I don't own a car because I love walking, and such.

So I'm wondering if it's time to call it quits with programming (for a living).

Luckily I have some savings and I have other interests from years of doing random jobs and businesses, and as much as I love programming, especially with others, I think very few of us still want to program.

I'm like the Last Samurai of programming while everyone is using AI-assisted gattling guns.

Is it time to let go?

The problem is not vibe coding. The problem is the people doing this were never good software engineers before vibe coding.

Simply put you still need good practices to produce working good code with AI.

Oddly what I have found best is patterns that many would cringe and demeans unit test and integration test.

Yes I still vibe unit test and integration test, but more than ever I have to put on my PM and QA hat, even more so with web dev.

For me the only part of the process that has changed is I don’t write the code. I still setup environments to run the code, I still manually poke at things I suspect will be fragile. But most importantly I still always run the software before shipping it.

Doesn't sound like AI is necessarily the root the problem. If he's not the person to test, iterate, and deliver quality with AI, he probably wouldn't be without it. You just figured it out sooner.

Or, if you have reason to believe he's got what it takes - treat it like an leaving opportunity, give him room to make mistakes. This is, ime, what a rookie AI user mistake looks like.

It is easy to get carried away by the momentum. Many have fallen into that trap, not all are irredeemably bad software engineers.

Classic Dunning-Kruger, do they show respect for your skills?

This is enforced in my company so buckle up

> After this project, I'm done. I might turn into a yoga teacher.

I gather that you don't have the "juice" to demand better. Even AI testing AI would be better (in some parallel universe?) than not testing at all.

So become a consultant, preaching the simple gospel of "test this goddamn thing before unleashing it, or the tougher gospel of "Well if AI is doing all the work, then why don't you find a job that tolerates garbage?"

I almost always had more responsibility than authority, except for a job where I actually had a field team. They were laid off by the "authorities" in order of greatest competence first and I ended up with one guy who made countless goofs, like creating overlapping disk partitions. I ended up redoing all his work, more than doubling my load. Does that sound familiar?

In your case, it sounds like you will end up similarly, unless you find a way get your management to establish a "No broken shit" rule. I know that's daunting, and in many jobs, I could only finagle minor changes, usually by talking with other people more tenured, who had a piece of management's ear.

If it amounts to "I must double my work or this all falls apart" while your partner pushes buttons (my charge was a "button-pusher"), then leave, and good luck.

But do give it one college try to get some sanity into the system.

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