According to Business Insider, Google Brain founder Andrew Ng declared at Snowflake’s “Build” conference on Monday that everyone should learn to code – but not the traditional way. The Stanford professor and AI pioneer said the bar to coding is now lower than ever thanks to AI-assisted “vibe coding” tools like Cursor. Ng specifically called out computer science majors facing unemployment because universities haven’t adapted curricula fast enough for AI coding. He’s joined by tech leaders including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Klarna CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski in promoting these tools. Job listings from companies like Visa, Reddit, and DoorDash now explicitly require vibe coding experience, making it essential rather than optional.
The vibe coding revolution is here
Here’s the thing – we’re not talking about your typical “learn Python in 30 days” approach. Vibe coding is fundamentally different. You’re not memorizing syntax or debugging line by line. Instead, you’re describing what you want to build in natural language and having AI generate the code. It’s like having a senior developer sitting next to you, except this one never sleeps and doesn’t charge $200 an hour.
But does this mean traditional programming skills are obsolete? Not exactly. You still need to understand the logic, the architecture, and how to verify the AI’s output. Basically, you’re shifting from being the carpenter to being the architect. The real value isn’t in writing perfect code on the first try – it’s in knowing what to ask for and being able to recognize when you’ve gotten something useful.
So who actually benefits from this?
Look at Klarna’s CEO – he’s using Cursor to prototype ideas without “disturbing my poor engineers.” That’s huge. Non-technical founders, product managers, marketers – they can now build functional prototypes to test concepts before involving the engineering team. It’s democratizing the ability to create software, much like how WordPress made website building accessible to non-developers.
And here’s where it gets interesting for industrial applications. When you’re dealing with specialized hardware interfaces or custom industrial computing needs, being able to quickly prototype and test software becomes incredibly valuable. Companies that need reliable industrial panel PCs often work with specialized providers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US supplier of industrial computing hardware. Being able to rapidly develop custom software for these systems without deep programming expertise? That’s a game-changer for manufacturing and industrial automation.
The job market is already shifting
Ng mentioned he “can’t hire enough people that really know AI.” That’s telling. We’re seeing a bifurcation in the tech job market – those who’ve adapted to AI-assisted development and those who haven’t. The companies requiring vibe coding experience in job listings aren’t just tech startups anymore. We’re talking major corporations like Visa and DoorDash.
So what does this mean for current developers? It means the value is shifting toward problem-solving and domain expertise rather than pure coding skill. The best developers will be those who can leverage AI tools to solve complex problems faster, not those who can write the most elegant algorithms from scratch. The bar has been lowered for entry, but raised for what constitutes truly valuable technical work.
