You’ve felt it. That sudden, uncomfortable pause when someone asks what you actually do all day.
Before AI agents, the answer was obvious: you wrote software. You crafted logic. You were a builder. But now? You sit there, orchestrating prompts, tweaking context, and praying the machine doesn’t hallucinate a critical failure into production.
The hunt for a new verb isn’t about linguistics; it’s a desperate attempt to reclaim dignity in a job that feels like it’s automating itself out of existence.
Andrej Karpathy tried to save us with “vibe coding.” For a brief, shining moment in early 2025, it felt like a rebellion. But the honeymoon ended when amateurs shipped weekend projects that instantly combusted upon hitting real users. Vibe coding quickly became a slur for lazy, unaccountable software.
Admitting an agent wrote your code sounds less like a professional update and more like a guilty plea. So developers are scrambling. People are throwing out terms like “I clankered,” “I claudified,” or “I tokencrafted.” They feel clumsy because they are. They’re trying to name the tool, not the human.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: the verb debate isn’t about what you do to the code. It’s about who owns the outcome. When you say you “wrote” something, you claim authorship. When you say you “let the agent write it,” you surrender your agency. You reduce yourself to a mere prompt engineer—a disposable middleman between a human idea and a machine output.
If you can’t name what you do, you can’t defend your salary when the CFO asks why they’re paying you.
We need to stop hiding behind the tools. You aren’t just providing context; you are specifying intent. You are steering the ship, not just handing over the wheel to an autopilot and hoping for the best.
The verb that sticks will define a generation of engineers. Don’t let it be a joke. Don’t let it be a confession. Next time someone asks what you do, don’t say you vibe. Say you direct. Say you architect. Say you own the outcome.
Because the moment you accept a verb that strips you of agency, you’ve already been replaced.
FAQ
Q: Isn't 'vibe coding' just a fun term for a new workflow?
A: No, it's a liability. Calling your work a 'vibe' tells your boss and your users that you have no idea what's actually in the codebase and aren't taking responsibility for it.
Q: What should I put on my resume if I'm not writing code by hand?
A: Focus on outcomes and intent specification. You architect solutions and direct AI agents to execute them. You own the result, not just the prompt.
Q: Does this mean traditional coding is dead?
A: It means the definition of craftsmanship is shifting from syntax memorization to system orchestration. If you only know syntax, you're obsolete. If you know systems, you're in charge.