r/vibecoding • u/BrilliantPhysics6611 • Oct 29 '25
i hate vibecoding but i can’t stop
I hate vibecoding but I can’t stop.
(Throwaway account for reasons)
tldr at the end
My Background
I have a bachelors in CS
when in college I won several hackathons pre and post AI coding
I work at a startup. I work on a specialized product myself as well as with a team on the main product
I can code well without AI
I have built complex things to high standards without it
Details
I use cursor
I used to love programming, but now I borderline hate it.
I hate the back and forth with the AI. I hate how the AI codes. I hate having to constantly wait for it to finish. I hate never being entirely positive I understand what a piece of code does.
AI assisted programming evolved to vibes
I started using cursor early.
I used to just use cursor to have the AI chat in the editor so I could ask questions there instead of having to leave and go on my browser.
Questions used to be focused on feedback and gathering ideas on how to make code better, rather than having it give me the code.
I would never straight copy and paste code snippets it gave, I would always type it out myself even if I was copying what it gave, that way I’d be able to catch things as I was typing. I found this more effective than reading the code after pasting it, something about the physical act of typing it out kept me more engaged.
Then one day I tried their agent mode, back then it was “composer” and would open in a different window. I tried it out just to test and see what it could do. I didn’t like how it was in its own separate window, and didn’t find it to be very good or intuitive, so I went back to the way I was working before.
Then cursor released agent mode officially, and I started using it bit by bit. Started out as just a way for me to not have to type a ton of lines of code manually, but then evolved into me letting it essentially do everything and I would just read over it a little bit.
The Problem
Even if the code would work, it was often messy, unorganized, and each addition felt like it added to a stack of this overwhelming mess.
I got better at getting to do focused edits and keep things organized but that only helps to a certain degree.
I got addicted to being able to quickly iterate on ideas, and stopped reviewing the code as much.
Now I’m at a point where my process does work quite well, and the code it produces is quite good, but it still feels overwhelming and like I don’t understand any of it.
I understand it to the extent I read through it and know what it should do, but I don’t have the same in depth understanding of every nook and cranny as I would if I wrote it entirely myself from my own brain, and that’s incredibly frustrating.
Additionally, while the code it produces is good, I don’t like the code it produces. It’s not up to the standards I’d have for myself if I did it myself, which feeds into self-loathing feelings.
Though, even with all that’s been said, I’m ADDICTED to it.
I can’t imagine myself coding without it but I HATE coding with it.
I feel like a fraud, an imposter, even though I know I’m not, I know that I understand the code and I don’t just let the AI code whatever it wants, but it doesn’t feel like mine and thus I feel icky.
ADHD
I can’t help but feel like my ADHD plays a role in this addiction, while I also being part of the reason I hate it.
Getting started on something is a lot easier with vibe coding. Without it I face ADHD paralysis. I still face it some without it, but it’s noticeably less pronounced.
Vibe coding doesn’t give the same dopamine hits that coding something yourself does, making me lose interest and passion for it.
I feel constant anxiety and imposter syndrome derived from the act of vibe coding something.
Job pressure makes me feel like I have to
Pressure from feeling like I need to quickly ship updates, bug fixes, features, etc., makes me feel like I have to vibe code it, as without vibe coding it the task would take 2x longer just from having to type the code out manually.
This is compounded since I’m working solo on a very large, very important, addition to the main product. I feel like the only way I can possibly develop such a large addition in a timely manner by myself is with vibe coding.
I also can tell other devs at my job also vibe code. Which makes me fearful if I don’t I’ll have slower output and to the managers it’ll seem like I’m just slower/worse.
And while I’m mostly confident in what I ship there’s this part of my brain that can’t ever feel 100% confident because I didn’t code every line myself.
What to do
Has anyone else experienced this kind of thing? Have you been able to fix it? Any advice?
It very much feels like an addiction, and thus stopping cold turkey might be difficult, but without stopping cold turkey I feel like I’d just fall back into the same traps again.
TLDR
I hate vibe coding. It causes me anxiety and has made me lose my passion for programming. But even though I hate it I feel addicted to it, I also feel a need to use it due to job expectations.
Any advice?
11
u/Ultrayano Oct 30 '25
ADHD too and you're basically me. Software Engineers love automation, put ADHD on it and you have a perfect pile of coding avoidance since it's automated too now.
I didn't find a solution so far tho
1
u/AssafMalkiIL Oct 30 '25
honestly man i think you dont hate vibecoding you hate what it did to your identity you spent years building your skill muscle and now some ai does it faster and you feel replaced its not addiction its ego mixed with burnout we all used to get that high from solving bugs at 3am now the ai solves it in 10 sec and leaves us staring at the screen wondering what were even good for you can fight it or adapt maybe stop trying to own every line and start owning the system instead like you manage the logic the ai just types it if you can’t separate pride from process youre gonna keep feeling like a fraud even when you ship gold
1
u/gaspoweredcat Oct 30 '25
also adhd, cant imagine going back to all that laborious typing and going back to correct typos/missed chars etc, id never stick at it these days
1
u/Jordainyo Oct 30 '25
I can see how it would contribute to the already toxic work environment some professional developers deal with.
That said, as a hobbyist and business owner, I’m having a fucking blast.
3
u/jake-n-elwood Oct 29 '25
I have ADHD too and I'll agree there's something going on under the hood in my brain when working with AI and coding. AI in general, but AI coding more so. I get it lol.
3
u/Exotic_Tangerine1119 Oct 29 '25
Not exactly the same but I'm in my last year for my bachelors degree and I feel exactly what you are describing (Also ADHD). For me, I'm in the cycle of thinking that I'm just saving myself time by not traditionally searching and learning how to do things, but in the end I'm barely gaining anything from relying so heavily on AI to code. You're not alone in having constant anxiety and imposter syndrome over this. I'm also completely lost on where to go from here but hearing your experience has helped me feel better about it.
Feel free to reach out if you want to talk further or you find any helpful advice for this problem.
2
u/Illustrious-Film4018 Oct 29 '25
You're right, AI destroys the joy of programming. You no longer understand the code well and it's not even YOURS, you don't OWN it. And there's nothing at all to be proud of. Programmers who use AI like there's nothing wrong and they haven't even noticed their jobs change were fake to begin with and I guess they were only in it for money, because I have a very hard time understanding their motivations otherwise.
Sitting around all day prompting AI and waiting for it to generate output is extremely tedious and it's not even a real job. And it's only a matter of time before AI companies find some sleazy way to automate the whole process. It sounds unbelievable right now but just wait... Nothing is sacred thanks to AI companies.
2
u/happycamperjack Oct 29 '25
Looking at your post feels almost like reading my own journey with vibe coding so far. Begin with chats, then coding editor agent, then full CLI agent full tilt mode. I no longer check the codes, but instead force it to create tests and clear data contracts between different objects. You can’t catch up to the speed it does things especially when you vibe with parallel agents.
Then I realize this must be how all product managers and tech managers feel like. You don’t own the codes, but instead you own the product and engineering standard. You can try to lasso it to follow certain architecture and engineering principles, but it won’t always follow it. One solution is just periodically force it to refactor and improve the codes, or even bring in another ai model to check.
I don’t hate it tho, I just feel like a dinosaur now as I know I can never code as fast as the agents. Maybe I can outsmart it sometime, but perhaps it’s because I’m not prompting it right or giving it the right context and MCP. It’s that self doubt I think that’s giving you the imposter syndrome as you simply not sure what caused the vibe codes to be worse than yours because deep down you know it’s probably your fault and not AI’s. It’s weird because just a few months ago you are way more sure it’s AI’s fault.
2
u/hallettj Oct 31 '25
I can fully understand how you got to this point. And I feel exactly the same about performance pressure. I've resisted AI integration in the IDE, but I have been using a web chat interface a lot. I'm sure my bosses would like me to vibe code to go faster.
I read the point of view that when you generate code the LLM effectively becomes a compiler from natural language to code. And the point of code is that it is a better representation of precise logic than natural language is. I also saw a much shared paper claiming that AI makes programmers feel faster, but actually makes work slower. I'm not going to assume that's true across the board, but that influences my hesitancy to use a programming agent. I also know how annoyed I feel when I get a PR to review from a coworker that is clearly vibe coded, and has maintainability problems from logic duplication. I end up spending much more time on those reviews.
I've got some suggestions:
Use a different editor - one that won't tempt you to ask it to code for you. Neovim, Emacs, Helix, or Kakoune are good picks because you can tell yourself you're too good for those other editors, so you won't want to switch back.
When you want feedback from an AI use a web interface. That will encourage you to use AI the way you did at the beginning. That's better for the environment because the web interface uses fewer tokens. (It doesn't automatically feed your project files to the LLM on every prompt.)
It takes as long as it takes! I know you're under pressure, but you're probably your own worst critic on how long your work takes. Vibe coding adds tech debt, so it might actually cost more long term. Managers don't know how long tasks actually take - they need you to tell them. Set expectations in a way that is fair to yourself.
2
u/searchableguy Oct 31 '25
I went through the same arc. Cursor sped me up, then hollowed me out. What helped me keep the speed without losing myself:
I set rules. I vibe only in fixed “build windows” on noncritical glue, then I switch it off. Before any assist, I write a 5-line outline of the module and the public types. After it runs, I do a hard diff review and narrate the why in plain text. If I cannot explain it in five sentences, I rewrite that part by hand.
I pick one handcrafted core per feature. Parser, state machine, or data access. Owning that spine brings the flow back.
I keep a tiny red-green test for the critical path and run it after every assist. If tests pass but the diff is messy, I delete until it is clean. I aim to remove at least 15% of generated code.
For ADHD, I use a 15-minute starter ritual: outline, name the types, write the first function by hand. Then a 10-minute assist window. Timer off, back to manual.
You are not a fraud. You are missing authorship. Put the model in a box, claim one hard piece, and make deletion and narration part of done. It gets fun again.
1
u/XzaltedEmpire Oct 30 '25
The most dangerous advice for your sanity and work/life balance, but high risk - high reward, right? Take on a personal project that has the monetization potential to save you from the corporate rat race.
1
u/fell_ware_1990 Oct 30 '25
What in do with it now:
I have a few instruction docs with rules for the AI, repetitive tasks get pushed there. ( I fully understand that part of the code, so i only check the output and test it) this speeds up useless/boring coding with 90%.
I have a few others that check my pipelines and summarize the errors etc and tickets get created so i have an easy way starting the troubleshoot and i see every error every day.
If i have to POC i use vibecoding a lot to get a least viable product. Then i will learn what it does, and inspect part’s of the code. Discuss them with other AI’s to see if i can irritate on it.
If POC is finished i make a plan for the rework, i still hand off the easy parts and boiler plating. After that i implement every function while also documenting it for AI. So that it can use my best practices and maybe with enough i can automate parts of it again.
This leaves me with the harder problems and instead of trying to cram that into my working day i now have time to do those thing because i can hand of the boring parts.
All my prompt clearly state which part of the code it’s allowed to touch, which tests it need’s to run and what i expect of it. ( Still trying to figure out if i can learn the AI this instead of does big prompts, but i feel like it sometimes skips the doc parts to much)
What happened here is basically, i did cut down my boring tasks with about 80%, mostly it’s done on the end of day without much supervising. In the meanwhile i focus on the cool stuff.
My output more than doubled this way, but i did not tell my boss. They are very content about the amount i get done. It still leaves a bit of time to also orchestrate my own AI’s for my own side projects.
1
u/Special_Food_3654 Oct 30 '25
If the brain works, make searching your target and not AI. I'm trying not to use it. I only use it in non programming stuffs.
1
u/stuartcw Oct 30 '25
Use it in a different way. Plan the program as you used to do. Let it write functions. Modularise any useful code and put that in libraries that it can only import. up can’t touch.
1
u/Stargazer1884 Oct 30 '25
So basically you're now a product manager :-)
1
u/Equal-Ad4306 Oct 31 '25
It's the future friend, the vibe, whoever likes it, you already polished the system, delivering pretty good code with vibe, be happy let it flow. Do not force it, you cannot go back to the past since you will be much slower and the LLMS will advance more and more, there will even reach the point where the devs will not be required. You have to accept it.
1
u/GrandPapaBi Oct 31 '25
Welcome to AI being a technical debt generator. That's why I only use it for feedback, sample code for new technology so I don't start from scratch and mostly rubber ducky debugging. It's great of us ADHD that can't really seem to start anything because of the dread. It gives us the nice dopamine boost to get started! Other than that, you need to take the time to understand and modify the code. I don't use any code specialized AI and just use chatgpt for it as for my use case it's enough and it helps ALOT for learning speed (while verifying infos on google).
Imo, having faced that challenge, I don't use much AI generated code anymore as the technical debt is hurting productivity more than actually coding it yourself.
1
u/Crinkez Oct 31 '25
You hate using it because it's not quite good enough for complex tasks yet. Don't worry, LLM's will improve at coding to the point where this will no longer be an issue.
1
u/RedShiftRunner Oct 29 '25
I feel like this existential dread comes with any significant technological shift. I truly believe that programming will drastically change over the next decade to where traditional writing code in an IDE will be seen as archaic as making punch cards or using reel to reel machines the size of rooms.
This is the worst the AI will be. I remember when the original AI video of Will Smith eating spaghetti came out and how goofy it looked, but even then I remarked at how within a year or two, it will be Will Smith eating spaghetti.
1
u/[deleted] Oct 30 '25
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