I rebuilt my website with Claude Code earlier this year. Vibe coding, if you want the term for it. I only felt comfortable doing it because I'd already built basic websites with my own two hands. I'm not a professional web developer, and AI doesn't make me one.
Vibe coding websites and apps can feel like magic. Services like Lovable, Replit, and even Claude Code are touted as making development accessible for everyone. One prompt and you've got a fully-functioning website? One weekend and you've got an app ready to launch your side hustle?
If it sounds too good to be true, well... it is.
This week's piece is the capstone of the security series. Vibe coding closed the build gap. Security didn't follow.
What I'm reading
How to Start a Career When AI Is Doing Your Entry-level Job — Katie Parrott / Every. Employment for 22-25 year olds in AI-vulnerable jobs is down 13% since late 2022. Parrott's advice to the people on the wrong end of that number is to chase problems, not professions. She also suggests picking one discipline and protecting it from AI. Write your own sentences, write your own code. Mine is writing, which I suspect is obvious by now.
In Defense of AI Slop — Evan Armstrong / The Leverage. I wrote a whole rant about the word "slop" back in January. I'm not fond of the fact that it lumps too many things together. I still don't care for the term. And I'm happy to report that Armstrong too thinks that it is "ironically, itself a sloppy term".
Slow note
How's your breathing right now? Take a moment to observe. Is it deep and reaching your belly? Or is it shallow and stuck around your collarbones? If your breathing is shallow and tight, or you notice your shoulders somewhere up around your ears, it's time to take a break.