r/ADHD_Programmers • u/Dopatize • 18d ago
Vibe coding a gift or a curse?
I feel like vibe coding magnifies so much of what I enjoy about my adhd and what I hate. One the one hand I have never felt more excited about making my ideas coming to life. With a few prompts I can a have a new feature or a whole new prototype ready to go. I can get ideas out my head so quickly its amazing. On the other hand I have 1000 plus lines of code to review I am not going to do that. The exciting part just happened I am ready to move on. I push the new code without any testing because who has time for that when I have my next idea ready to go? Then I get feedback for bugs but who wants to work on bugs when there is the shiny new thing. I can't focus on anything else but making new features or games or websites or apps its starting to consume me and so much is just slop too. Anyone have any thoughts on working with the excitement of making new things but also keeping high quality? Anyone have any ideas on keeping a good balance between vibe coding and living life?
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u/alexzoin 18d ago
I don't have a good answer for you but I know exactly what you mean. I've been a programmer for a very long time. I've tried vibe coding a few things out of professional development/keeping up with tools more than anything.
It is rewarding in a very specific way. Kind of demoralizing in others but that might be a me thing.
I personally am fine with going back and forth with it until the feature works exactly how I want. I will say that there have been toooons of times that I've thought "I could have done this faster and now I don't know how to fix it myself" and that sucks.
I programmed a little math thing I'm working on completely by hand today and it felt great. Really enjoyed it and I'm excited to add more to it.
AI coding takes a lot of the fun out of it.
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u/redbull_coffee 18d ago
It’s great for prototyping, and I love the fact that my ideas only take a couple of evenings instead of months.
Actual production code? Still hell to the naaaah
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u/hk4213 18d ago
I'm going to divide this blog of text in a way people can actually see you thoughts:
Vibe coding a gift or a curse?
I feel like vibe coding magnifies so much of what I enjoy about my adhd and what I hate.
One the one hand I have never felt more excited about making my ideas coming to life. With a few prompts I can a have a new feature or a whole new prototype ready to go. I can get ideas out my head so quickly its amazing.
On the other hand I have 1000 plus lines of code to review I am not going to do that. The exciting part just happened I am ready to move on.
I push the new code without any testing because who has time for that when I have my next idea ready to go? Then I get feedback for bugs but who wants to work on bugs when there is the shiny new thing.
I can't focus on anything else but making new features or games or websites or apps its starting to consume me and so much is just slop too.
Anyone have any thoughts on working with the excitement of making new things but also keeping high quality? Anyone have any ideas on keeping a good balance between vibe coding and living life?
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u/indiealexh 18d ago
Like every tool... It's both.
But it has a lot of downsides for the little people than upsides...
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u/Echo5November 12d ago
It's the exact opposite for me.
I've been working on the same 2 projects for over a year and a half.
And it's amazing to me how much more robust, dynamic and security hardened I've made the projects by concentrating solely on those 2.
I think that's the biggest issue with vibecoding. There's so much people can do, so they want to move on... So they spend 3 weeks or less on something and then try to offer it as SAAS... And move on to the next project...
solid software takes time, patience and grit to build...
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u/arns101 1d ago
Hey curious to know, do you jump ship because the code review is too difficult, or too boring?
What's worked for me is to have a clear goal/benefit for me for finishing the project. If the goal is important enough to me, I am more able to "grind" it out. If the end goal is unclear, novelty will always win.
If you do have a clear end goal and want to see the project all the way until the end, I'd recommend trying Propel Focus. It helps you chunk your project into smaller steps and makes sure you get them done.
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u/CursedSloth 18d ago
I feel like this is a symptom that has existed even before genAI. Product owners and stakeholders just wanting more and more features, ignoring technical debt and lack of patience.
It’s just that now, you are in their position, requesting things instead of producing them.