Am I Testing This Code Or Is It Testing Me?

Ah, the infamous "vibe coding" conversation. Junior devs think they're being innovative with their "I'll just vibe code something" approach, completely oblivious to the technical debt tsunami they're summoning. Meanwhile, senior devs are having Vietnam-style flashbacks to the last time they had to untangle spaghetti code that someone "vibed" into existence. The real punchline? That month and a half of trouble isn't the junior fixing their own mess—it's the senior who'll be staying late while the junior's already moved on to vibe-coding their next masterpiece. After 15 years in this industry, I've learned that "I'm feeling inspired" is code for "someone else will be feeling despair."

This is what happens when a Python dev tries to write Rust without actually learning Rust! The code is a horrifying Frankenstein's monster of Python syntax smuggled into Rust—like that .expect("Failed to read line") that would immediately error out since it's attached to a read operation that already completed. And don't get me started on using match with a dot operator right after! The error handling with Ok(num) => num looks legit until you see that bizarre Err(_) => continue syntax that would make the Rust compiler have an existential crisis. It's basically Python wearing a Rust trenchcoat trying to sneak into the memory-safe club.

The rarest sight in AI development: code that works on the first try. This image shows NASA engineers celebrating a successful mission, but in the AI world, it's more like celebrating when someone's neural network doesn't immediately catch fire or hallucinate that birds are government drones. Builder.ai probably shared some code that actually ran without 47 dependency errors, 18 version conflicts, and a cryptic error message about missing semicolons in a language that doesn't use semicolons.

The classic half-drawn horse meme perfectly captures the AI coding experience. Left side: your meticulously crafted code with proper architecture and thoughtful design. Right side: whatever the hell that AI generated abomination is. Sure, it technically "works" in the same way a stick figure technically resembles a human. Bonus points for the smug little smile on the AI side—it has absolutely no idea how horrifying its creation is, yet it's so damn proud of itself. Just like when you ask ChatGPT to fix your bug and it confidently returns code that would make a CS101 student weep.

Content I've interviewed a lot of people over the last year (Java), and my favorite test is to throw a Stack Trace at them and ask them to figure out what the problem is. The answer is actually quite clear, however. Half of them don't know it's called a stack trace. Some don't know what they're looking at (BYE!). Several focus on the wrong section of proprietary code. Some ask to "open a debugger". however the answer is right there in plain english if you just read the method names. Many don't realize the line numbers are RIGHT THERE, and then start focusing on the lines ending with "Compiled Code". Then there are the ones who work their way up from the bottom, starting with the application container code, and lose their minds. Some who figure out what is happening don't have a solution to prevent it from happening. No, I'm not sharing the trace; suffice to say it's been reviewed by more than 5 of my peers and they all passed. Like Reply 1h Edited I mean, it isn't hard to eliminate people with a coding question. Do you find it impossible to teach people how to read text stack traces, or is this a skill without which they will be unable to do anything of use, or do you just not want to hire anyone? 1 am serious. 1 can come up with dozens of useful programming skills I can test a candidate on that most perfectly skilled programmers would fail. Start with eliminating people who can't code at all. Then find out what they can do that could be useful. If I have 5 people who can already take a printed out stack crash dump, I probably don't need another, and if I do, a qualified candidate can be taught that skill by someone who knows it in under a week. Then again, maybe you work for Stack Trace Inc, and your entire job is looking at stack traces. If so, by bad. Like Reply 22m

Content 5 Cal Users KnzAppData Local Programs Python Python37) new.py - Sublime Text Eile Edit Selection Find View Got Tools Project Preferences Help Python notes.py knzjs new.py ese htm 1 import os 2 def WindowsDiagnostics() 3 print ( Looking for problems') 4 waitTimer (20000ms) 5 print ('Unable to fix the issue.') 6