Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably noticed a shift happening over the past year or two. Suddenly people left and right are coding, as generative AI agents have made it incredibly easy for anyone to create software. Even with zero technical background. It's not the first time we've seen this kind of shift though!
Back to the mid-2000s
Ever since I started my professional career, WordPress was often dismissed by developers as insecure, clunky, slow and generally outdated. And yet... it still powers around 40% of the web. How did it get there? Lowering the bar of entry.
Sure, we can rant all day about its quirks, awkward architecture, not adhering to any of the current PHP standards, or its checkered security history. But the truth is, it works – and it works for a lot of people.
Not everyone is an engineer. Not everyone wants to care about the intricate technical details behind a CMS or a modern frontend stack. In most cases, it really is irrelevant. Some folks just want to publish a website, run a business, or share an idea. And while more modern or technically elegant alternatives exist, none has struck the balance between accessibility and customizability quite like WordPress has for the last two decades.
If it works it ain't stupid
This is where we can start drawing parallels to what's happening today with AI tools and what some people call "vibe coding". It's never been easier to get started building just about anything – going far beyond just the web.
There's also no lack of similar criticism. Every day, I see articles criticizing this new way of building – claiming it's not "real engineering". Or that it won't scale. Or that it's technical debt. And sure, many of those points are valid when you're already operating at scale. But here's the thing: most people never get there.
If the only problem in your product is scaling, congratulations – you've already made it. For the vast majority of builders, the challenge isn't scale or performance. It's getting their first customer.
That's where these new tools shine. They help people move quickly, test ideas, fail fast, and try again.
The tech world can be a bit of a bubble. It's easy to forget that outside of our neatly structured frameworks and libraries, people are facing real, often unpredictable problems – and they're solving them however they can. And if vibe coding, WordPress, or anything else gets them to a working solution? That's just being resourceful. Not everyone has a six- or seven figure budget and several months at their disposal.
Combining tools with talent
As an engineer, while it's definitely not without flaws, I think it'd be foolish for anyone to dismiss AI outright. Multiplication works both ways. While everyone talks about AI 10x'ing engineers, it's being a good engineer in the first place that allows you to get 10x the value out of your AI toolchain.
And let's not forget, code is just one part of the equation. A lot of our work is about communication: building proofs of concepts, fleshing out ideas and discussing architectures. This is literally what LLMs were built for. And I'd argue just the ability to express your ideas clearly, and efficiently, has the potential to save more time and money than any code micro-optimization. But that's a topic for another time.
Vibe coding is something we should be cheering for. Let people create the messy prototypes. In the end, this only leads to better products and more opportunities overall.