🤔 When an Engineer Generates All of Their Code With AI, What Do We Call It? | Antony Kelly

🤔 When an Engineer Generates All of Their Code With AI, What Do We Call It?

👉 I don’t “manually code” anymore. I generate all my code with AI, heavy agent mode usage not little prompts. I love it. It’s fast. It’s powerful. It’s how I build. But am I coding? Or building? Or 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠?

Normally I share hints and tips on 𝐀𝐈-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 and how to use AI effectively. But today, I don’t have the answer — I’m asking the question.

Its a crazy, fun time to be an engineer when we don’t even know how to describe what we do anymore.

On LinkedIn and elsewhere, I see debates every day:

* 𝐕𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 * 𝐀𝐈-𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 * 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐈 * 𝐀𝐈-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬

Different terms, different nuances — but none agreed upon, still debated, often confused, and causing misunderstandings.

I personally use 𝐀𝐈-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 a lot — meaning AI is the 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥 across the entire 𝐒𝐃𝐋𝐂: requirements, design, analysis, implementation, QA, deployments. Not just coding.

But when it comes to 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, it gets tricky.

🎵 The Vibe Coding Debate

“𝐕𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠” has picked up traction. It usually means non-technical people can 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐫 their way to an app or prototype. It works, sort of. It vibes.

That’s a clear label for non-engineers. But for engineers, it feels loaded. In engineering circles, “𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠” often suggests low standards or lack of discipline and not production quality.

Yet when I work with AI, it doesn’t feel that different. I describe the system in natural language:

* 𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬. * 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧. * 𝐂𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞.

The AI writes it. I review, refactor, and iterate until the code meets my standard. That’s building. It’s structured. It’s engineered. But it *looks a lot like 𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 with an engineer at the helm.*

🧑‍💻 Coding With AI?

Some argue it’s “𝐀𝐈-𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠.” Others: “I’m 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐈.” some take offence to AI writing code not engineers even when an engineer at the helm.

But none of these land for me. 𝐀𝐈-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 captures the process — but when I sit down to build a feature, what do I *call that act*?

I’m building. I’m not typing out lines of syntax. I’m creating software through dialogue, design, iteration. That’s not traditional coding.

💡 So What Do We Call It?

This is the gap:

* Non-technical “𝐯𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠” is clear. * 𝐀𝐈-𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 describes the full process. * But the act of an engineer 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐀𝐈 still has no universally accepted term.

👉 That’s my question: what do we call it? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

#AI #Engineering #SoftwareDevelopment #DeveloperExperience #FutureOfWork | 71 comments on LinkedIn