Vibe coding – the use of AI to write code – is quite popular now. So much so, that companies now claim that most of their engineers have stopped coding manually. However, sometimes relying too heavily on AI for coding may backfire, as was the case with one Indian techie, according to a Reddit post.
Reddit user u/Karmaisabeachhh shared a post on the subreddit, r/DevelopersIndia. The user explained that they joined a startup as a frontend engineer in a startup which was very AI-driven. The person later wrote that the startup was a fintech firm, though they did not name the company. At the time of joining, another person joined alongside them, who was eventually fired for using AI, despite the company’s focus on AI tools.
According to details shared, the coworker lacked prior internship experience, which made it difficult to manage deadlines. At first, the manager was supportive, but later the techie was forced to take the help of AI. The user wrote, “Initially they were generous and he was writing code by hand. Eventually they got tighter and tighter, and at one point, he had to start using AI to meet deadlines.”
The techie used AI without understanding it
Now, using AI to meet deadlines is not uncommon, most coders do use tools like Cursor today. However, according to the user, the techie didn’t understand what AI was actually doing. The post read, “He started understanding code in ‘chunks.’ So, this function basically does this, even though we don’t know how.”
Manual coding often allows developers to quickly identify and resolve errors due to their familiarity with the code structure. In contrast, AI-generated code can be far more complex and harder to debug. This forced the techie to use AI to fix codes made by AI. As noted in the post, “AI does not care if the file is fifteen thousand lines wrong. But after a point, it becomes a headache even looking at those files. So, this promotes fixing further bugs via AI.”
The breaking point came late one night when a Slack notification alerted the team to a production failure. “It was all well and good until, one day, we get a slack call at 11PM, saying something broke in production. We then had to spend the entire next day trying to find and fix the problem. We found out that the problem was in his code,” the user said.
Fired for using AI at a startup that encourages AI use
Investigation revealed that previous code changes had been generated using AI tools and were merged into production by the manager, who also relied on AI for code review. Tracing the issue was described as time-consuming. “Digging through all that was no easy task. But apparently, he had generated some changes via cursor before, and the manager merged it by reviewing it with AI.”
And once the manager found out, the techie was sacked. The person added, “The guy was promptly fired (this was his second bug in production).”
Do note that the startup relied heavily on AI, and the user was often told to use more AI at work. The person wrote, “I have had 1:1s which were entirely about how my ‘cursor usage was the lowest in the company’ even though I have never missed a deadline.”
Reddit calls the startup ‘toxic’
Users on Reddit were seemingly furious with the way the techie was treated. While the techie did cause a major disruption, many believed that one shouldn’t be fired after just two bugs. One comment read, “Firing over two bugs is the stupidest thing ever. A useless and toxic company.”
Another user insisted that the Manager simply used the techie as a scapegoat. They said, “Lesson in how not to act as a leader, firing a junior as a scape goat. Manager who merged it and set deadlines should have been promptly fired.”
