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by jjmarr·7mo ago·view on hn ↗
I've been unable to convince any "businessy" or liberal arts people to vibe code. I've attempted with everyone in my immediate family, friends, etc. Even when they sit on the computer and watch the AI type out a script for them that saves them hours/day, they get an "ick" factor that prevents them from trying again.

They'd rather ask me to talk to the AI for them and pay me money to do so. Heck one of my cousins offered me $5 to edit a photo with AI tools? It's a 1000% markup for clicking 4 buttons.

I can't square this with the alleged tidal wave of non-tech people replacing SWEs with AI. Non-tech people largely refuse to use the technology right in front of them to improve their productivity. They'd rather ask me to spend 20 seconds on a task and pay me to do so.

More likely than an SWE crash is an SWE dispersal. Lots of non-tech fields have automation opportunities that haven't been seized upon since one can make $500k risk free in FAANG.

If that goes away, I'd start a consulting business and ruthlessly automate Excel-based business processes with AI coding agents.

It takes me half an hour to vibe code a proof of concept web scraper and immediately demonstrate value to someone now willing to throw money at me to maintain it for them at insane profit margins since I've replaced a human repeatedly clicking on things.

2 comments
I’ve seen experienced software developers make impressive stuff with AI. I haven’t seen anything interesting made with AI by non-developers. They make a landing page or something. It’s just… barely anything. It’s a nothing of a project.

We use AI a lot at work, and the developers are vastly better at getting AI to do what we need than the non-developers. AI is a tool, and like any tool, it takes effort to learn how to use it effectively. And so far, the skills to use AI effectively are something I’ve only seen in software developers.

I don’t think product people are going to replace devs. Ever. I agree that I think a dispersal is more likely than an outright crash.

Do you remember when travel agents were still around? Most people would absolutely never even consider using their computer to book a ticket. It was nearly 2010 before I could convince my mother to enter her credit card for Amazon. Just because someone isn't interested in vibe coding today doesn't mean they won't be using similar most polished tools in the very near future.
And yet many people would rather use Expedia or Google than buy the flights directly.