Sergiy Korolov, Co-CEO of Railsware and co-founder of Mailtrap, explores the emerging trend of vibe-coding versus traditional software development approaches. He defines vibe-coding, discussing its potential influence and limitations. The conversation delves into why vibe-coding has surfaced, the role of AI tools in enhancing development, and engineers' reactions to this innovate method. Sergiy also shares best use cases, highlighting that while vibe-coding can help with prototypes, it struggles to scale for complex products.
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insights INSIGHT
Vibe Coding Is Reinventing Old No-Code Ideas
Vibe coding largely recreates old no-code drag-and-drop patterns but uses LLM prompts instead of GUI widgets.
Sergiy argues it’s overhyped today and not fundamentally new, just more hyped by modern tools.
insights INSIGHT
LLMs Shine At Research, Not Complex Design
LLMs excel at research, documentation synthesis, and proposing architectural options.
Sergiy says these strengths speed onboarding and design decisions but where deep solution thinking is needed, LLMs still struggle.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Use AI Tools To Assist, Not Replace Engineers
Treat Copilot/Cursor as productivity assistants, not magic code generators.
Use them for research, onboarding, and docs parsing, but rely on engineers for complex implementation.
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Today, we are kicking off a new series, sponsored by our good friends at Railsware. Railsware is a leading product studio with two main focuses - services and products. They have created amazing products like Mailtrap, Coupler and TitanApps, while also partnering with teams like Calendly and Bright Bytes. They deliver amazing products, and have happy customers to prove it.
In this series, we are digging into the company's methods around product engineering and development. In particular, we will cover relevant topics to not only highlight their expertise, but to educate you on industry trends alongside their experience.
In today's episode, we are talking with Sergiy Korolov, Co-CEO of Railsware and Co-founder of Mailtrap. In this conversation, we are bringing up a popular - but somewhat controversial topic - vibe-coding vs. traditional software development approaches.
Questions:
You’ve been in tech for over two decades, and have definitely seen many trends come and go. How would you define "vibe-coding" and how does it differ from traditional software development approaches?
What drove the emergence of vibe-coding? Could it be a response to overly rigid development processes that many companies have? Or it’s a fundamental shift in engineering?
What do engineers on your team think about vibe-coding? Have you practiced this approach on some of your products?
What types of products or development contexts are best suited for vibe-coding?
Is it possible to create successful and scalable products through vibe-coding? For instance, can people balance vibe-coding with business requirements, deadlines, and stakeholder expectations?
To wrap up, is vibe-coding actually sustainable long-term, or is it just a trendy reaction to over-engineering?
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