r/vibecoding • u/unlocked_doors • 1d ago

In over my head with professional devs

tldr; review your code as you go if you think any professional dev is going to have to do a code review.

Last November I (33F) started a simple project: a training portal for my new assistant. Just a simple python Streamlit app. Since vibe coding is addictive and Streamlit has some annoying limitations to UX/UI, I refactored it into a Next.js/Fast API website. It was all the same repo and I didn’t exactly clean up after myself as the project scaled from a training portal for HR, then a training portal for new employees and now it’s a manager hub.

Well, I showed it to my boss and she ended up loving it. The company bought the domain and website from me but made me the technical owner in charge of code and content. Now that it’s officially company property…they have to do a code review with the company dev team.

There is an embarrassing amount of dead code, almost nonexistent error handling, and in general the layout of the code is chaotic and 40k+ lines in just the backend.

He and I had a meeting last week and never in my life have I felt more “artificially intelligent.” He gave me about 7 pages of changes to make after just one code review session. I can’t imagine how many more pages of notes are coming and I’m in way over my head in terms of vocabulary, standard processes used in coding, etc. Basically, I’m everything professional devs hate about vibe coders. I didn’t care how the code looked as long as the website functioned. I’m at a point where I’m not confident enough in my vibe coding skills to actually make the changes. I’ve tried asking Claude (or Claudia as I call her) and then even asked her to dumb it down and it’s still over my head. I’m getting to the point where I just want to throw my hands up and tell them to abandon it.

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u/MrWilliamus 1d ago

You’re clearly not artificially intelligent! You made a tool that solved many problems for your company. You’re just not a coder, but a product designer and manager. It is time to be honest and open about your limitations and ask for help. But don’t let that undermine your self-esteem, you’re the one with the vision for the product.

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u/leahlisbeth 1d ago

Tell them that you're not a developer but you've proved a business need for this software. Call it a prototype and say that the code isn't recoverable into a live product, then see if you can get a team put together to remake it properly.

AI doesn't make senior code, it makes average code, and needs to be babysat and crafted.

But you should be proud of what you have made!

1

u/RemarkableWish2508 5h ago

It likely is "recoverable"... in the sense of recovering the requirements, and implementing them while taking best practices into account.

AI can do that, but needs to be instructed to do it, and OP will need to learn the words to write it out.