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The Rise of the
Vibe Coder

Lazar Jovanovic
Professional Vibe Coder, Lovable
FEB 8 2026
New Job

Professional Vibe Coding
Is a Real Career

VIBE CODERS HIRED
"I'm the first official vibe coding engineer at Lovable."
  • Vibe coding = directing AI to build, with taste and intent as the skill
  • Lovable employs full-time professional vibe coders
  • The role: product vision + prompt engineering + QA + iteration
  • This job did not exist 2 years ago
Framework

The Vibe Coder Stack

VISIONPROMPTSHIP
0
lines of handwritten code
5-6
Lovable tabs in parallel
80%
time spent planning, 20% executing
  • Tools he uses: Lovable, Cursor, Claude Code, ChatGPT
  • The workflow: describe → generate → test → iterate → deploy
  • Bugs are fixed by prompting, not debugging in the traditional sense
  • The learning curve: taste and specification > syntax and algorithms
What he optimizes for"I'm optimizing 100% of my time today on good judgment, clarity, quality, taste."
What Vibe Coders Build

Real Products, No Traditional Coding

  • Internal tools: Admin dashboards, data pipelines, workflow automation
  • Customer-facing: Shopify integration templates and the Lovable merch store
  • Prototypes: 30-minute demos handed off to engineers to replicate in production
  • Where elite engineering is still needed: maintaining and scaling code bases, and infrastructure
The quality ceiling

Vibe coding hits walls at system design, scalability, and security. Know where to hand off.

The new PM

Vibe coders are collapsing the PM + engineer + designer into one role for certain products.

Playbook

Become a Vibe Coder

  • Master specification: the clearer your vision, the better the output
  • Learn to evaluate code quality without reading every line, use tests, user behavior, error logs
  • Build in public: share what you built, get feedback, iterate fast
  • Toolkit he names: Lovable, Cursor, Claude Code, ChatGPT (custom GPTs for PRDs)
Where this is going"Vibe coding is just coding in 12 months from now."
Contrarian

What Vibe Coding Challenges

✗You need CS fundamentals to build softwareINSTEAD →✓ You need product fundamentals. Understanding users matters more than understanding pointers.
✗Tell a young person to get a CS degreeINSTEAD →✓ "If I had an 18-year-old brother and he asked me what should I do, I would tell him, 'Go become a plumber. Don't go and get a CS degree. Learn a good trade.'"
✗This is just a toyINSTEAD →✓ At least half of S&P 500 companies have people using Lovable. Vibe-coded tools are in production at real companies today.
✗Real engineers don't use thisINSTEAD →✓ Real engineers use AI tools. "Vibe coder" is just the name for people who go all in.
Based on Lazar Jovanovic's episode on Lenny's Podcast. All ideas on this page are from the episode.Watch on YouTubeFollow @lakikentaki on X
GO DEEPER IN THE EPISODE
04:53 What a professional vibe coder actually does day-to-day09:26 Why non-technical backgrounds can be an advantage12:24 The importance of self-awareness14:42 His “genie and three wishes” mental model17:43 Developing taste and judgment in the age of AI21:46 The parallel project approach for better outcomes29:30 Creating dynamic context windows with PRDs36:56 Why elite vibe coders focus on planning, not coding44:43 Creating MD files to guide AI development50:57 Why prototyping still matters56:50 Why “good enough” is no longer good enough01:00:53 The future of engineering in an AI world01:05:14 What to do when you get stuck: his 4x4 debugging workflow01:14:27 Helping agents learn from their mistakes01:15:35 Why watching agent output is more important than code01:19:08 The incredible pace of AI development01:22:55 Why emotional intelligence will become more valuable01:28:30 How to become a professional vibe coder01:30:10 Why building in public is the fastest path to opportunities01:37:03 Final thoughts on focusing on quality over tech stack
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