For the last two years, we’ve been living through what I like to call the “AI gold rush.” Every startup pitch deck has AI-powered plastered across it. Every freelancer suddenly became an AI engineer. And countless “vibe coders”, people who can prompt ChatGPT to spit out code without really knowing what that code means, have flooded the industry.
But here’s the hard truth: the bubble is about to pop.
The Rise of the Vibe Coder
A “vibe coder” isn’t really a developer. They don’t know how the machine under the hood works; they just feed it prompts, copy/paste the result, and pray it runs. For quick prototypes or toy apps, that’s fine. But when it comes to scalable, secure, maintainable software, vibe coding falls apart fast.
I’ve already started seeing it firsthand:
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Sites with broken loops or database queries that bring the whole system to its knees.
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E-commerce stores that look fine until you try to check out.
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“Custom” applications that are really a patchwork of half-understood AI snippets duct-taped together.
It’s spaghetti code on steroids.
Why the Bubble Will Burst
AI is powerful, but it has limits. The bubble will pop for three reasons:
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Maintenance Hell – Copy-pasted AI code often works on day one, but breaks as soon as the environment changes. Without understanding, vibe coders can’t fix it.
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Security Risks – AI doesn’t care about your customer data or compliance. It just outputs code. Developers are already finding hard-coded secrets, SQL injections, and other security nightmares lurking in AI-generated apps.
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Technical Debt – Every “quick win” with AI comes at a cost. Businesses that rely on vibe coding are stacking up massive debt they don’t realize they owe, until they need an actual developer to clean up the mess.
The Coming Demand for Real Developers
As the bubble bursts, businesses are going to realize something: they don’t just need code, they need craftsmanship.
They’ll need developers who can:
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Debug the spaghetti.
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Refactor AI-generated junk into clean, scalable code.
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Build architectures that last.
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Translate vague business goals into reliable software, not just copy/paste answers from a chatbot.
In short, developers aren’t going away. If anything, we’re about to become more valuable than ever.
A Reality Check for Businesses
If you’ve been relying on vibe coders and AI-assembled apps, here’s my advice:
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Audit your code now before it breaks at the worst possible time.
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Bring in experienced developers to check the foundation.
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Use AI as a tool, not a crutch. Let it accelerate workflows, but don’t let it replace understanding.
Because when the AI bubble pops, and it will, the businesses that survive won’t be the ones that chased vibes. They’ll be the ones who invested in real development.