I shipped code I don't understand – and I was proud of it
The author describes shipping code that they didn't fully understand, working with an LLM to generate a patch for a complex codebase. Rather than feeling guilty, they felt proud of the outcome, reflecting on how AI tools enable developers to solve problems beyond their individual expertise.
Background
- The article describes a shift in how software is built: developers increasingly ship code generated by large language models (LLMs) without fully understanding the logic.
- "Vibe coding" is a term for this trend — treating coding prompts like conversational queries and accepting AI-generated code as long as it seems to work.
- The author reflects on a personal experience of pride in shipping code they didn't fully grasp, framing this as a sign of a deeper industry change rather than a failure.
- This matters because it challenges long-held developer values around code ownership, understanding, and debugging, and raises questions about accountability, security, and maintainability in AI-assisted development.