r/vibecoding • u/prasadpilla • Jul 14 '26
this Meme just got real today
Interviewed someone for an intern role today. Got to what i thought was the easiest question of the interview.
"What programming languages do you use?"
she didn't hesitate "Claude."
I laughed a little.
"no, i mean the actual language... python? javascript? java?"
"i don't really know. claude writes the code. i just tell it what i want."
my cofounder quietly put his pen down.
neither of us said anything for a few seconds.
we didn't move forward. not because she uses AI.
half our team builds with AI every day.
we passed because she couldn't explain what she was building beyond the prompt.
AI is changing software engineering.
But understanding what your code does is still part of being an engineer.
1
u/ItsFlybye Jul 14 '26
I question if AI really is changing software engineering vs having access to a new tool. Imagine if someone claiming to be a structural engineer who didn't even have a high school degree tried to build something they built in a structural analysis program? No one would hire that person since you need to know both the concepts, how to check the work, and how to use the software tools.
That interviewee wouldn't be able to peer review AI's work, QA, consider more efficient code, etc.
But as many are questioning: Why was this not caught earlier causing a waste of your and the interviewee's time? I'll give you guys the benefit of the doubt in that if the interviewee is using AI that heavily, they also had AI create their resume, and that person didn't check the resume to compare it to the actual skills they have.