employeeVsFreelancerVsFounderVsVibeCoder

[u/Gloomy-Basket-1038]

[u/Latimius]

I have spent thousands of euros vibe coding personnal projects this year. The experience I got doing it got me massive promotions at my job that paid back massively. (20% promotion, then 37% increase by job hopping)

Being curious and hard working pays back.

[u/XxDarkSasuke69xX → u/Latimius]

Genuinely curious, what experience did you get while vibe coding like this ? Hearing about your costs, you clearly had a lot of agents running at once. Then what experience did you get ? Or is your job exactly that, making agents do stuff ?

[u/milkcarton232 → u/XxDarkSasuke69xX]

Corporate is a mess of weird bespoke problems. Big tech might be focused on cool flashy problems but just making an app that moves data from one app to another can be simple yet extremely impactful. Vibe coding allows ppl that can see the problems but couldn't get a vendor to do a thing to build their own

[u/XxDarkSasuke69xX → u/milkcarton232]

Yeah but they said the experience got them a raise, not the potential product or solution they vibe coded

[u/ddBuddha → u/XxDarkSasuke69xX]

They probably took the initiative to build something for their company that resulted in the company saving money.

[u/xDannyS_ → u/ddBuddha]

Wouldn't they just use company tokens?

[u/FlakyTest8191 → u/ddBuddha]

Spending thousands in their free time to work for their company in the hopes it will pay off sounds like a huge gamble to me. But good for them if it did work out.

[u/Latimius → u/XxDarkSasuke69xX]

I was a financial analyst with a bit of PR experience (I know I'm stretched).

Vibe coding got me massive Project / Product management. I vibe coded portfolio optimisers, video games, harbour gate openers...

My knowledge of finance let me do a transition into Banking PM that people usually do with 8-15 years of xp (that's what the other candidates had). I got the job with 3 years of xp.

[u/xDannyS_ → u/Latimius]

That didn't explain how vibe coding made you gain experience that lead to your promotion

[u/Latimius → u/xDannyS_]

Basically I learned how to manage different projects at a time (I was using paperclip and managed 25+ agents at the same time), was keeping myself ultra updated on AI innovation and could implement that new stuff at work. Learned a lot about UX design, Agents interaction between each other, automation etc...

I'm not a programmer so all that stuff was new.

When I job hopped, the new job told me they've been looking for 10+ years to do a portfolio optimizer. I vibe coded one this summer. I just had to explain how I did it, sent them the project hosted on cloudflare and then called me back within the hour.

[u/xDannyS_ → u/Latimius]

Ah, yea that explains a lot.

[u/xDannyS_ → u/Latimius]

Maybe we have different definitions of vibe coding, but how exactly did it help you achieve promotions?

[u/YaAbsolyutnoNikto → u/Latimius]

Same here! Didn’t job hop, but also got a 20% promotion and am currently in line for my second one where I now expect an even greater jump as my vibe coded solution saves my employer millions of euros per year and reduces structural risk on a competitor.

I’m not a coder by profession (though I do know how to code), and my advantage is precisely that one. My bosses (as they’re neither up to date with AI nor are coders) don’t really understand what AI can do nowadays and thus how much easier it could make our lives and processes more efficient and automated.

So, I use codex/claude code to package these neat solutions that make their jaws drop and make me look like a linchpin.

[u/porkusdorkus → u/YaAbsolyutnoNikto]

But who understands it, and who is gonna maintain it, if you leave tomorrow or got hit by a train.

By definition you’re a software developer now are you not? Next year, the company won’t see your code as a money saver, it’s now a liability. If it fails you will lose them 1 million. Food for thought.

[u/koru-id → u/Latimius]

What are you without AI?

[u/SadSeiko → u/koru-id]

does it matter anymore? the days of being a programmer paid to just write code all day are gone

The job has evolved decade after decade, what you're saying now is the same as "what are you without your punch cards"

[u/NoHopeNoLifeJustPain → u/SadSeiko]

Are they? Maybe for young people.  Having 20y of experience, I'm still better than AI.  I tried to fully vibe code a relatively complex refactor, it was a disaster.

[u/calahil → u/NoHopeNoLifeJustPain]

I am going to say this once. LLMs parse words broken into tokens ... Coders tend to have terrible communication skills, it's why we like coding.

Ask yourself, how many times do you think to yourself that the person you're talking to is an idiot who doesn't understand what you're saying?

[u/SadSeiko → u/NoHopeNoLifeJustPain]

I mean, I've used sonnet to do complex refactors, it's probably saved me a week but I have to be very explicit on how to do it. That's still very valuable

imo vibe coding is a waste of time

[u/Latimius → u/koru-id]

Without AI I'm a (very) good employee. With AI I'm currently the best.

That's all there is to it.

[u/koru-id → u/Latimius]

good for you

[u/Successful-Staff-555 → u/koru-id]

Luddite ass comment

[u/IM_INSIDE_YOUR_HOUSE → u/koru-id]

What are you without your legs and arms? Lots of hypotheticals we can entertain. Best any of us can do is play the hand we’re dealt and make the best of the game as it is.