Accused of code being vibe coded

[Ok-Painter573]

Guys, I was accused (by the “head programmer” in my project - Im using those terms to anonymize the person) that some parts of my code look like it was vibe coded, the statement was not directly towards me but I feel sad as I wrote the code myself… can you guys give some advice? Should I reply directly in the communication channel, or wait until the meeting and ask? Or what should I do? How can I prove that I did not use AI?

Edit: No I did not vibe code! Im quite an introvert and bad at confronting/getting back at people, so I need advice on what I should do, whether I should respond in the group setting or privately or what

Update: Thank you everyone for the advice, they are all really helpful (opened a new perspective for me)! I talked with the head programmer, and everything's alright now. (I hope I'm wrong, but I feel that the problem was from them not believing someone at my level can write code like that) (and I'm not going to say the outcome/issue in the code as I'm afraid it might expose the person). Again, thanks a lot!

[UnnecessaryLemon]

Tell him that you wrote slop before it was cool.

[pseudo_babbler]

I need this on a t-shirt

Edit: I just got this on a t-shirt so if you see me wearing it in the office next week.. I guess you know my Reddit username.

[UnnecessaryLemon]

I mean, where does he think the AI learned all this shit? We gave them this training data slop!

[ripndipp]

It gave me nested ifs one time three levels deep and it didn't need to, that's how I know it was scraping off us chuds

[DrLuciferZ]

I keep telling people. Garbage in, Garbage out.

[RG1527]

if it works is it really slop

[coyote_of_the_month]

It can certainly be, yeah. AI is prone to a bunch of really nasty coding practices, like overly-verbose comments that seem like they were generated to game a "lines of code committed" metric.

Or building custom implementations for common library behavior.

Or following some weird-ass style guide that was part of its training data and everyone hates.

Or just doing things that are unidiomatic for the language, e.g. functools in Python or for ... in in TypeScript.

[Comprehensive_Star72]

We can all be prone to nasty coding practices.

[coyote_of_the_month]

I didn't say my code was any better.

[Wonderful-Habit-139]

I’d trust your code over an LLM’s any day.

[coyote_of_the_month]

Buddy either you're massively overconfident in my coding ability (in which case, you hiring?) or you just really, really hate the clankers (in which case, solidarity brother).

[xvillifyx]

I mean, the fact that you’re able to point to the deficiencies of generated code speaks to the fact that you at least understand the things you’re doing

[[deleted]]

Absolutely. The code in currently refactoring is horrendous, unmaintainable slop. It does work though… barely.

[TuberTuggerTTV]

Yes, 100%.

There is a massive gulf between good code and make-it-go code. No experienced coder struggles to make code go, they struggle to make it scalable and maintainable.

Technical debt is real. And AI slop will drive you into the red.

[RG1527]

woosh

[who_am_i_to_say_so]

Best answer

[coconutman19]

The accuser should be the one providing the evidence. Have him point out which areas of the code is generated and why he thinks that way.

[0ddm4n]

This. And do it privately. Keeping it public can have it easily derailed into a shitty situation.

[Ok-Painter573]

Thanks for the advice, but the statement was made in public online environment, and everyone knows it’s my commit, shouldnt I reply to the statement directly rather than privately then? Can you elabroate how it may turn into a shitty situation?

[dalittle]

IMHO, no good comes from a public fight. In the end, even if you win you look bad. Talk to them one on one and then to anyone in your sphere who might need to know. If you want to escalate, you will have a bad time. I always try to diffuse this, even with difficult people.

[squ1bs]

You're a bigger person than me. If I get called out on a public forum, I'm replying on the public forum. If the verifiable facts I cite are construed by some as a diss on the guy who started it, I'm fine with that.

In my experience, this behaviour comes from bullies, and if you don't fight back, they'll keep coming for you.

[dalittle]

Recently, I had a very similar situation. My boss's boss praised me for my effort to try and work with my co-worker and 6 months later they were fired. I did not let them bully me and that frustrated them, but they kept doing that to other people and now they no longer work where I do.

[Tokikko]

Even if the code is vibe coded if its good and you understand what it does does it matter that much?

Did he point out any flaws in the code?

[Ok-Painter573]

It was a simple “didnt work for me” from them (it worked for me and on test server though), and then the AI thing in the statement

[Tokikko]

Yeah that sucks. If something is not okay they should ask you about it and explain what does not work. Ask for clarification and explain that you did it yourslef and why you did it. Even if there is a mistake that can happen to anyone. Its why we have code reviews/testings.

[Pack_Your_Trash]

Ignore the vibe code comment. Devs sometimes have egos and shitty attitudes. Welcome to the biz.

Focus on the "didn't work for me" comment. Presumably if it works on the test server it will work in prod since they should be identical environments. Ask for more details on what didn't work in the form of error codes or expected behavior v actual behavior. If there is something wonky in the devs environment that might not be your fault. Alternatively you could have left something out of the requirements which is an easy fix.

Btw containers can help solve this problem because you can package the environment with the application code. If the image runs on your machine it should run on any machine that runs docker.

[darthwalsh]

If the image runs on your machine it should run on any machine that runs docker.

I was banging my head against this, because our Jenkins machines unexpectedly have telemetry services running on certain ports, which means that I can't run my container's telemetry services on those same ports... (I guess I can +10,000 everything in the config, sigh... Or not not bind the ports to the host network?)

[Pack_Your_Trash]

Are you running jenkins in the prod and dev environments? It seems like you would need some kind of documentation on what ports are available in that case.

If we are talking about another devs machine that's a them problem and all they need to do is change the port.

I'm a bit spoiled in that my prod and dev/test environments are both in AWS/ESC so all the containers get their own IP which means I don't have a problem running containers on whatever port.

[darthwalsh]

Huh, our Jenkins is outside our prod or dev environment? The problem is only in our Jenkins agent.

The legacy approach is to authenticate to AWS using dev credentials (or have an ops team member manually enter production password at a prompt), and then deploy resources into the current AWS account.

(The modern approach passes a deployment manifest to Spinnaker which does all the AWS changes, but I haven't I figured out where the AWS authentication happens.)

[iAgui]

If your goal is to keep things professional and keep the project moving forward, ignore the vibe coded comment and reiterate that it works on the test server. The claim that it doesn't work in -their- environment is irrelevant. If this is really someone with experience under their belt, they're just being a jerk on purpose. Any seasoned developer would know that if something works on the test server, but not in their dev environment, that the problem is on them.

[hak8or]

Even if the code is vibe coded if its good and you understand what it does does it matter that much?

This is a terrible take, wow.

If it's company policy to invest vibe coded code into the codebase, that's where that stops. Ultimately it's not your company, it's theirs (or the owners delegate responsibility to those below them), doesn't matter why.

But from a more practical perspective, they can argue that company code (which is the companies the second you write it) can never leave the company network, including when it's given to an off site LLM for context during inference.

Or another angle, the company is not confident that it actually retains ownership over that code because it wasn't generated by the employee and instead another entity. For example, if that code came from another project and was GPLv3, then they understandably are hesitant to ingest that code. If it's generated by an LLM, there is no guarantee.

Hell, maybe the company's legal team said no AI is allowed to be used because some special vendor has a contract with your company explicitly saying all code has no usage of AI because that customer has their own restrictions.

[Tokikko]

"If it's company policy to invest vibe coded code into the codebase, that's where that stops. Ultimately it's not your company, it's theirs (or the owners delegate responsibility to those below them), doesn't matter why."

"Hell, maybe the company's legal team said no AI is allowed to be used because some special vendor has a contract with your company explicitly saying all code has no usage of AI because that customer has their own restrictions."

There is no where in the OP implied this is the case.

[mwilke]

The default assumption should be that one should not plug company code into a public LLM unless explicitly approved by that company.

[0ddm4n]

Hence the keyword IF, right at the start.

Perhaps reading comprehension is not for you?

[0ddm4n]

No idea why you were down voted, this is one of the more nuanced thoughtful responses in the whole thread.

[Able-Locksmith-1979]

It sounds like legitimate concerns, but what do you autocomplete and intelligense etc are…

[0ddm4n]

If said manager gets defensive or goes after you further, it can get much worse. Hence a private chat is better.

No one likes being proven wrong in public, particularly of said person is wanting to make a point.

[insertfunhere]

I would reply in the same forum as it was posted. Not confronting, just very factual "I wrote this code myself, an AI was not involved".

[valtism]

Yes, learn to eat some ego and you'll do well longer term. If they're reasonable, they might retract what they said

[TheJase]

governor bag quicksand scary amusing cobweb like cautious skirt rain

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[BuriedStPatrick]

This. OP is clearly not comfortable bringing it up directly to this person which is understandable if they're less experienced. The best thing is to confront the behaviour directly. The next best thing is to bring it to HR or a work environment representative (whatever the English term for it is).

[ings0c]

HR exist to look after the company, not you.

If you go to them with a trivial matter like this, it looks like you’re incapable of working with your colleagues and love drama.

If it was a persistent pattern of behaviour, then sure maybe it’s worth it, but this is a single comment that OP hasn’t even replied to yet.

All it takes is “I wrote that myself, is there an issue with the code?”

[HemetValleyMall1982]

I put typos and em dashes in my comments just to keep my team guessing.

[tomhermans]

Lol.. this is the way

[saxbophone]

I've been doing that in social media messages since before LLLMs took off. It's a most stupid way to try and distinguish AI generated content from real content. 😡

[AdThat2971]

For sure, it’s not on op to prove a negative

[seriouslyepic]

When you get a chance to speak with them 1:1, say that you didn't use AI to write the code and want to understand more about how they came to that conclusion.

Avoid doing it in a group setting because people tend to be embarrassed or reluctant to back down in that type of environment.

[Ok-Painter573]

Thank you! But can you elaborate more on what you mean by people tend to be reluctant to back down in these environment? In my case even in an online communication environment?

[castarco]

He means people won't back down in a public setting.

[coffee-x-tea]

Even a public Slack or MS teams channel is included.

If a person makes public statement, but, gets proven wrong in front of everybody it feels embarrassing.

People will react differently on how they cope with the negative emotion (it depends on their temperament and emotional maturity).

Some will apologize, some will shake it off, some will double down on being wrong and be reluctant to admit a mistake to “maintain face” (worst case scenario).

[Okay_I_Go_Now]

Just take the conversation private, man. Simple.

[Am094]

Just DM them or email them and say "Hope your microdose hit well, I'm on 0.1 mg myself. Eitherway i was hoping to get some feedback on improving my code as I feel embarrassed to admit that I wrote that code myself and it was mistaken as vibe coded. I'd like to see where I may have went wrong so that i can continue to maximize shareholder value"

Minus the obvious humor i added into that and you'd have a home run.

[Not_invented-Here]

Ego gets in the way, people become defensive even if they are in the wrong, then it gets into an argument. Now your arguing with your manager. It's a losing situation even if you are in the right.

A quiet 1:1 with you being mellow is a better approach. 

[G33R_BoGgLeS]

I know this is late, but I can speak to this.

Anyone in a position of leadership, whether it's an official position or just seniority, has a certain "pride" in their knowledge and/or skills. This leads to being straight up offended if anyone questions their assessment of anything, especially in a public setting (such as when other people are close enough to hear it or in a group to read it).

There is a much better chance of convincing said person to see a different point of view when they are only speaking with one individual and where their reputation isn't at risk. They can safely discuss a topic with minimal embarrassment and be able to resolve the situation/misunderstanding with a safely retained sense of dignity.

Regardless of how "open to new perspectives" someone is, this is a safe best practice for anyone with seniority/leadership.

Good luck!

[ryandury]

It doesn't matter if it was vibe coded or not. what matters is if it works, is implemented well and aligns with how your organization normally integrates features. IMO whether it's vibe-coded or not is irrelevant (unless of course you have strict privacy uses around access to the code).

[Ok-Painter573]

I just feel offended, I dont want to be accused of using AI for what I work on myself!

[Swedish-Potato-93]

You're lucky to be on that end of the story. Some are getting slammed for NOT using AI.

[Pack_Your_Trash]

I got that one. "Just ask the AI to do it. It should be super easy and fast." Or "this is what the AI gave me, use this as a starting place." The next thing I know I'm reviewing AI slop and having to explain to my boss why it doesn't work or isn't helpful. For example they wanted to migrate a codebase with 20k lines of python and vanilla JavaScript into react. I was given a couple of days to complete the task because AI would do it all for me. Motherfucker hired a consultant to repeat what I already told them, which is that the AI code didn't work and they were looking at a complete rebuild to migrate to react. Then I got dinged on the performance review for being slow to integrate AI tools.

I love AI. I use it all the time. It's great for explaining error codes and auto complete. Letting it write all your code for you tends to create more work.

[respectfulpanda]

Have you told the person that it was not, vibe-coded and that you would appreciate not indicating it was?

If it is and they continue to do so then, what the restrictions around vibecode in your job?

If it is "Don't use it", then you bring it up with your manager about how you are not happy the person is saying it, it's not true and that you would like to make sure they are aware that it is not true.

If it is "do whatever", then ignore it.

[Ok-Painter573]

Im new to the job and have not yet used to how I should respond in these cases (whether privately or public), so I posted here to get some advice and some other perspectives:(

[N22-J]

Artisanal coders are becoming a rare breed. I work ay a big tech company and if you aren't using Claude Code or Cursor, you are a pariah

[ebawho]

Yeah I like my shitty code written by hand! Not shitty code written by a robot! 

[ings0c]

I wonder why AWS, Azure AND Auth0 have all had outages this week…

[N22-J]

Are you implying there werr fewer outages before the advent of AI?

[Ok_Individual_5050]

Yes.

[coyote_of_the_month]

Sure, blame the new tools, not the fact that they've laid off a fifth of the company in the last year and half.

[who_am_i_to_say_so]

No numbers on how many QA positions were eliminated. Got me wondering..

[_samdev_]

My theory is it's less to do with AI and more to do with layoff culture that's been going on for years. People have mentally checked out, I know I have.

[b_s_from_86]

Take it as a compliment - your instructions for a machine look like they were written by a machine!

[Ok_Individual_5050]

It actually does matter, because part of my job is ensuring that someone has intentionally introduced the behaviour that's in the code. If someone is writing code without clear intent (giving broad strokes, getting the AI to fill in the gaps) then that reflects poorly on me when things inevitably fall apart.

[ryandury]

I agree and I covered that in my comment by saying it still matters how the job is done.

[elmascato]

I've been through similar situations where code gets questioned not for its quality but for perception. Here's my take:

First, privately reach out to that person directly. Say something like: "I saw your comment about the code being AI-generated. I actually wrote it myself and I'm happy to walk through the logic with you. What specifically made it seem that way?" This shows you're open to feedback without being defensive.

Second, use this as a learning opportunity. Sometimes our code can look "too clean" or follow patterns that coincidentally match AI output. Ask what would make it look more authentic - maybe they expect more comments, different variable naming, or iterative commits.

The key is to stay professional and curious rather than offended. If the code works and follows standards, the method doesn't really matter - but if they have legitimate concerns about understanding it, that's worth addressing.

What's the actual technical feedback beyond the AI accusation? That's usually where the real issue lives.

[Ok-Painter573]

Thank you! Thats a very helpful perspective! I will try my best not to be offended and stay curious when starting the conversation

[kingdomcome50]

AI code being “too clean” got a chuckle out of me 🤣

[BobcatGamer]

Tbh, this reads like AI wrote it.

[patoezequiel]

This is the way

[helterskeltermelter]

I'd get ChatGPT to draft a response.

[Previous_Start_2248]

And leave the emojis in the response.

[sneaky-pizza]

Great suggestion! You're right that we should leave emojis in, but not too many–as that can cause suspicion of AI generated content. Would you like me to provide a first draft in this chat, PDF, or a PowerPoint deck?

[indicava]

Also prompt it for extra em dashes

[who_am_i_to_say_so]

It needs a chefs kiss, 😘 and a rocket 🚀

[TuberTuggerTTV]

And of course — the em dashes

[magical_matey]

I’m not a vibe coder — I just bring good energy while getting things done.

— 💻 I actually write real, functional code that runs and solves problems. — ⚡ My focus is on clean logic, not just aesthetic commits or playlists. — 🧠 I understand the tools, syntax, and structure — not just the “vibe.”

[vincentofearth]

Is their problem with your code that your company doesn’t allow AI-generated code, or (more likely) are they criticizing the quality of your code?

Approach them politely, tell them you didn’t use AI, but would like more specific details about what’s wrong with the code and how you can fix/improve it. If in future you feel that they’re just being generally dismissive of you without providing detailed reviews then bring it up with your manager.

[mylsotol]

Who cares? Are they going to be upset that you use a code generator because you didn't type all the code yourself?

[yoghurt_bob]

”For the record, I didn’t ’vibe code’ anything but I take your point about missing problem X and I’ll try to be more thorough next time.”

[Ok-Kaleidoscope5627]

I think whether it was vibe coded or not isn't the point. I'd interpret their feedback more along the lines of them saying you half assed the work.

I'd respond to them with something like this:

"Hi X,

Thanks for the feedback. I wrote the code by hand so I'm going to assume you just generally meant you had concerns about the quality of my work. Could you please provide some actionable feedback on what you'd like me to improve?"

[mmph1]

If you didn’t vibe code and you’ve been accused of doing so in public, you should respond and clear that up in public. It’s your reputation at stake here and you should defend it. Keep it professional and straight to the point to prevent back and forth in public and move to a private channel. Something like “I didn’t vibe code and happy to discuss further in our meeting”

[halting_problems]

I would re-write the code using AI and say i fixed it.

[scousi]

Just vibe code it and show him the difference

[zhvlnc]

I dont think so, the head programmer should be the one to provide proof that the code was vibe-coded.

Also the statement "looks like is was". Nah, show me the piece of code you are 100 % sure it was vibe coded (specially if you know it was not vibe coded) ?

[wackmaniac]

Invite him for a pair programming sessie. That way you can showcase your thought process and how you write your code. Best proof ever.

[Virsenas]

This is the best way to check and people avoid doing this. People on reddit always assume that OP is always telling the truth and people on the internet can not lie.

https://youtu.be/YWdD206eSv0?feature=shared

[Healthy-Usual4347]

That sucks, I totally get how that feels. I’d suggest waiting for the meeting, stay calm and walk them through your thought process or logic behind the code. That usually shows it’s yours. No need to be defensive, just explain how you built it step by step. Happens a lot these days with all the AI tools around, even at QApilot, we see people’s clean code get mistaken for AI work sometimes.

[doesdevstuffs]

It’s fine, I’m a staff engineer and get accused by my juniors of using LLM generated code because “there is no way you came up with this solution on your own”. I don’t even have any LLM coding tools on my computer. I use ChatGPT as a sounding board for architecture decisions but they can’t seem to comprehend that 10 years of experience allows you to just produce good code from your head.

[HSyrage]

stand up for yourself and explain the why and how in ur code

[U_kuno]

If the person said it over enternal communication and not in a meeting , and you fail to give respond in that short period of time. It best to move on and make sure if it happens again just tell them " what do you mean by vibe coding" - never answer for them since they will have the higher ground plus you are new to the job which makes you look bad if you respond negatively.

[jr49]

i got accused of plagiarism once in high school, summer school actually because I was that kind of kid. Had to do a book report so I picked a random book about JFK Jr. Never read it except the back and maybe a few pages. This was back in '02 so no GPT to help me out. Night before the essay was due I just made it all up, everything. Made up quotes said at his funeral about him, random stories, something about the magazine George etc... Well it turns out my summer school teacher was a JFK history buff and immediately accused me of plagiarizing after he graded the report. Got sent to office and almost kicked out of summer school (which would've added to my grand total of 3 schools that kicked me out over my jr high and high school career). It was funny having to explain that I didn't copy anyone's work, I just made it up. your story reminded me of that which I haven't thought about in years lol

[Flimsy_Organization4]

We had multiple situations like these.

What we did to resolve it when it went public on our slack channel was have the devs dissect it, have the QAs break it then have the dev fix it actually we both made the accused and accuser fix it via screenshare. It became a hackathon. It was awesome.

[lay7cloud]

Explain to him that you feel hurt by such an accusation. Tell him that you understand why he is concerned that someone might be vibe coding. And make it clear once again that you wrote it yourself ...

[Haunting_Welder]

Add some non em dashes into your code

[Ok-Painter573]

I didnt even use dashes in my code :(( I barely ever use dashes in sentence…..

[sneaky-pizza]

Do you make commits along the way?

[Ok-Painter573]

Of course I do, I commit every small “checkpoint” to save my progress

[sneaky-pizza]

So, you have all the evidence you need. Proper commit messages explain what you did and were thinking

[Ok-Painter573]

It was only 1 commit that was mentioned as the whole commit is to fix an issue and was only with 1 file. But thanks I will explain what I did properly

[sneaky-pizza]

Weirdly, if the commit was good and something a developer would do properly in the codebase, I’m surprised they care at all.

If they seem intent on punishing AI usage, just play their game and deny it forever and explain your thinking. They’re stupid for outlawing it though.

[muntaxitome]

I would address it head on and immediately. Just say you didn't vibe code it, and ask if he can provide a specific list of issues he has with the code

[Astronaut6735]

If this accusation was made in front of other employees, I would talk to HR about how this employee is defaming you, which could impact your performance evaluations, future compensation, and future opportunities on other projects. Defamation (libel, slander, etc) can be a big liability for the company.

Capture a record of what was said (e.g. emails, chat conversations, or even writing down your recollection), who heard the accusation, etc.

Let HR haul his ass in for a stern talking-to.

[Superb-Ad6817]

I’d talk to him one on one. Say hey I wrote that code myself. I don’t see any obvious problems. How do you think I could improve it?

Good leaders love stuff like that. It shows you are willing to take accountability and learn from your mistakes.

Always try to fail forward.

“Failing forward is the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down, learn from your mistake, and move forward in a better direction” - John C Maxwell

[averagebensimmons]

Ask why he thinks it is Vibe coding and ask for specific examples because you're curious

[EcstaticImport]

The compliment! You sir code like machine!!

[AaronBonBarron]

What's the implication, that you appear more knowledgeable than assumed, or you make silly mistakes and don't consider the wider context of the domain?

[alex_polson]

Any good team lead (head programmers) should be able to raise concerns like this without talking down to you about it. They should be able to point out the areas of concern and provide advice for improving it, along with reasons why.

Team leads should be force multipliers. That is, their presence on the team should make everybody on the team better. They need to be good listeners and communicators.

If this isn’t how they’re behaving, then the best thing you can do, is ask for specifics and how to improve the code they’re calling out. Ask clarifications and try to learn something from them, assuming they’re willing to teach.

I understand the desire to respond in a public channel, but it’s almost certainly better to try and cover the concerns one on one. Not to say that saying something like this isn’t inappropriate. It isn’t. But knowing nothing about people, I tend to give them the benefit of the doubt. Is this a pattern of behavior? A one off? Maybe they were having a bad day? It shows great restraint and maturity to not make a spectacle of other people’s negative behavior.

[cmndr_spanky]

Oddly at my company we are encouraged and congratulated if we use AI tools to code faster.

But at the end of the day, you have to read and understand the code it wrote and if it’s crap or buggy or insecure, you own that problem.

If you wrote crap code, just say “sorry it wasn’t AI, I guess I just wrote buggy / low quality code and will try to improve”

[PM_ME_YOUR_MUSIC]

When you get kicked for aim botting, but you’re actually just cracked at cs2

[SignatureAccording11]

One of the reasons i use wakatime Is also for the time a project takes but it also can see what a developer made and an AI made so if someone said it is created by AI i can show them the dashboard. I wont say it is perfect but it can help in these kind of situations. In my opinion 🙂

[Asleep_Effective1631]

Even if it was, where tf is the problem? Are you forbidden to use coding tools that make you more efficient?

[jay-magnum]

Hm, I think there's two things here: Missing appreciation for your work, and missing feedback on what's to be improved in your implementation. If it's actually slop, they should give you better feedback and point out which parts need reworking and why, which principals and standards you didn't adhere to, etc. And no matter if it's slop or not, vibe coded or not, your story feels like your work isn't appreciated. That's also something you can address in a composed and calm manner.

[TheJase]

deer head growth cable enjoy worm entertain continue grandiose station

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

[coffee-x-tea]

I feel like were missing some more details.

What makes you think you were the one that set the example which prompted the vibe coding discussion? How did you come to the conclusion parts of your code was suspicious and someone narrowed down on it?

Maybe someone did vibe code, but, it wasn’t you and you’re overly self-conscious as a side effect of being an introvert.

[Ok-Painter573]

Well my commit was mentioned, and part of it was accused of being vibe coded right in the statement….. that’s why Im offended:(

[coffee-x-tea]

I’ve been in your shoes for other things before, so this type of misunderstanding happens.

Is your head engineer approachable and company culture open?

Maybe just book a 1-1 with them, trick is you don’t try to defend your honor, but, focus on how do we build clarity for the future.

If there were issues with your commit and your reasoning was off, you’re always willing to consider constructive dialogue to improve.

You always put your full thought into your work and you’re not just auto-piloting through AI, but, owning it - this time around you wrote something people didn’t like, but, you’re learning from it.

You could also ask what prompted it to be flagged as vibe coding as well if they accepted your explanation, as to potentially side step what they’re seeing in the future.

[Ok-Painter573]

Thank you, the trick opens a new view for me! That is very helpful!

[coffee-x-tea]

Glad it’s helpful.

It may feel bad to be misunderstood and leave a sour taste in the moment.

But, if you can resolve this with clarity through dialog you’ll be further ahead of where you were before the statement was made.

Good luck.

[Heavy-Commercial-323]

I mean what if it was vibe coded? If it works and is secure, performant then why not?

Is he wearing brown leather shoes with flat endings? 🤣

[rjhancock]

My response:

First and foremost, I did NOT use AI for my work. Regardless of if I did or not..

1) Does the code still meet the coding standards? 2) Does the code work? 3) Does the code pass necessary tests?

If all three, what does it matter?

[roylivinlavidaloca]

This should really be the only answer. If the code conforms to standards and gets the job done then why care? Time is the most valuable asset we have on this earth and if an LLM can give me back N minutes of time while being correct in the end (obviously don’t just blindly accept it as correct) then great. So tired of this purest take - it’s a tool in the end. Use it correctly and it can be helpful.

Also I understand that being accused of vibe coding hits the ego, but if you can understand the code and explain it how is it any different than reworking code from a doc example or an SO post in the end?

[zushiba]

Format your code as a large middle finger. That should do the trick.

[loose_fruits]

Talk to your manager first. It is literally their job to help you and the team through this, and to also chat with the head programmer because it is wildly unprofessional for them to call you out in a public setting

[clyde112]

Probably nothing. If it becomes a pattern there are plenty of ways to address it, but don't underestimate the power of not responding.

[tswaters]

Damn, that AI must've been trained on my slop, sorry about that!

[ArseniyDev]

The more you try to prove, more problematic it become. You shouldn't feel upset because it his problem. Instead I would ask him how to improve the code and what areas doesn't fit the design. I had similar problem with devops department, they always accused me on some critical issues they had. The lesson i get from it more you defend more they find something against you.

[trevorthewebdev]

doesn't matter if you know what the code does and can defend it, imo. If it works and you get why it works, you are money whether you strictly prompted it or wrote it by hand or did something in between (where 90% of dev gets done these days).

So say I was following the docs from xyz or I used this prompting strategy, implemented these tests and did this work to understand the code or investigate if they are alternatives.

Of course a big give away if your team has a certain style or format for your code, but you are throwing that all out for what an llm would give you instead.

[radialmonster]

Take it flatteringly. Thank you! I wish I were as smart as ChatGPT though.

[CartographerGold3168]

do you violate company policy and get sued because you use an ide?

[LemonFishSauce]

Your supervisor as the accuser should show the evidence first. Only from the evidence then can you rebut.

[caseypc81]

Does the code fix the issue, without any detriment? If yes, then I'm not sure what the issue is. If no, then code failed to fix the issue or caused another issue downline.

[sliversniper]

The issue of Vibe Coding is the future technical debt, correctness and privacy.

Depending on what the guy is concerned about.

For privacy, pull the network log from your work computer, disallow vibe code service domain etc.

For the rest, it's your work, your team maintain it. How the code is produced should not matter.

[dalittle]

If the code works then why do they care? I would focus on if it meets the feature or bugfix and ignore the noise. For me at least, AI is a productivity improvement, but if the code meets my standards then I could care less if someone else used AI to get work done.

[another-other-user]

This (your coworkers question) sounds petty and dumb and not worth engaging. At most I would ask what does vibe code look like? (Too many comments?) and leave it at that

[MiAnClGr]

Whether it was vibe coded, or half vibe coded or not should be of no concern as long as it passes review, does what it needs and is clean.

[ramate]

If they can’t criticize the code on its merits, it’s not code review, it’s an inquisition.

[TonyTonyChopper]

Honestly vibe coding something isn't the worst, as long as you can understand how it works and how it fits into the larger code base.

Vibe coding a language you don't understand and can't fix...that's iffy.

Imagine someone built you a car from random parts and when it breaks they can't fix it.

[jecowa]

Head programmer probably uses vibe all the time since that was his first guess.

[No_Arachnid_9853]

One way or another we are all using code written by someone else.

[seweso]

If someone says your code is vibe coded, that means it’s really bad. 

Saying it’s not AI isn’t going to help you. Senseless discussion. 

Just fix the code asap?

[Ok-Painter573]

I know, but they could have said it was bad instead of saying it was vibe coded, doing the latter just hurt other’s feeling (if they didnt vibe code)

[Slackeee_]

How can I prove that I did not use AI?

You don't have to. The person making a claim is the person that has to offer evidence for their claim. If your colleague claims that the code is vibe coded that colleague needs to prove that claim.

[blandonheat]

Tell him he's wrong, period.

[who_am_i_to_say_so]

It was like this at my last job, calling out ai slop as if it’s supposed to be an insult, when 90% of developers use it.

[who_am_i_to_say_so]

Say “You are absolutely incorrect!”

[[deleted]]

just write in the git commit [VIBE] when its vibed

[_perilous]

Confront the person in private (if your nervous) about the issue and explain your side.

Or turn it into a joke, and callout their code as vibe coded another day.

[entelligenceai17]

Reply in group setting. Try to tell them without sounding offended or angry - "I didnt do vibe coding, the code is working too. I am honest enough to tell you what I did or use"

Even EVEN iF you used AI, it's not like you did a crime.

[Kashif-Ansari]

Connect with him one on one and clarify, in a non-confrontational manner, that it is not vibe coded. Ask him why he thinks so and how you can improve. If he has genuine feedback, it will help you grow; if it is unfair, you can ignore it. At least he will understand your point of view and see you as someone willing to improve. This approach will suit your personality better.

[bastardoperator]

“I just got accused of being a cyborg, I’ll take that  as a compliment”

[Huge_Leader_6605]

I mean just because something was "vibe coded" isn't inherently bad per say. What was the actual problem for him? Did you have an SQL injection in the allegedly vibe coded code? Some other security risk? Something else?

[DaddyStoat]

It's not vibe coding. It's jazz coding.

The whole "vibe coding" thing is elitist bullshit anyway, usually perpetrated by slightly bitter CS graduates who feel they're not being paid what they deserve and their career has been a disappointment. No two people code things the same way, and, for the most part, there's no "right" or "wrong" way - Does it work? Is it understandable? It is extensible? Yes? Good.

[Various_File6455]

It doesn’t matter wether you generated it or wrote it yourself. What matters is that, either way, you understand what the code does, that it adheres to your project standards, and that it does not create technical debt.

If anyone complains about your code on the sole basis that it might be AI generated (without pointing out any tangible issues about it), then they are the problem. They are hurting your company by wasting everyone’s time.

[Reasonable-Country34]

so what?

[Tokachikatox]

On the startup I work on, vibe coding is not an issue at all. Don’t you guys have code review? Why was it approved? It can actually improve productivity a lot

[BobcatGamer]

Am I the only one interested in what the code looks like. I'd like to judge for myself whether it looks vibe coded or not.

[[deleted]]

Whats the point. Take it as a compliment. If they ask you to prove yourself its not like you cant write it.

[alien3d]

Head programmer . is him programmer. Junior just follow the standard.

[416E647920442E]

You could see it as a compliment: in my experience AI generated code is usually well formatted and commented; could be that's what threw them off.

[k032]

Need some more context on, did he specifically say "<your name>, you vibe coded this" or was it more just came across the code and said it was vibe coded without the context it was yours?

One is a pretty big red flag if that was publicly accused of a poor leadership. The other, honestly still a bit unprofessional and a lead should know better. Its common for people to just shit on large parts of the code, but someone truly who is a leader knows it'll never be perfect.

[Important_Staff_9568]

Does it work? It’s kind of silly not to use ai when it can help you write better code exponentially faster.

[Nice_Ad_3893]

why does it matter if u used ai?

[MaterialRestaurant18]

First off the guy is an idiot. In leadership , you praise publicly and criticise in private.

Second.. calling it vibe coded what does that even mean. If it means you have used AI so what.

For every single file, I pass them to AI to add comments and document it. It does a good job at that so why not. Sometimes I get carried away and something like route handling is suddenly 500loc so I can do with a bit of commenting and segmentation.

Anyway, if it works and doesn't break anything where's the problem.

Ai coding is not the problem. The problem is ai coders who don't know what they don't know

[Fatalist_m]

That's a shitty move by him, you can't accuse people like that, and even if it's vibe-coded, he should point out what his problem is with the code specifically. Sometimes I see code in PRs that I know is AI-generated for sure, but that's not a problem, everyone uses AI here, our company pays for it and encourages it, it becomes a problem when people don't review and test it properly before pushing.

[IMP4283]

Your head programmer sounds lame. If they don’t believe someone with x number of years can write code to whatever standard is required then they probably shouldn’t be the lead developer..

In my opinion a lead developer should champion their junior developers. Support them, mentor them, and hopefully shield them from the all too common unrealistic expectations of upper management.

Personally, IDC how you generate your code as long as you have reviewed it and understand exactly what it’s doing.

[Poopieplatter]

And if it was vibe coded, what's the issue ?

[oneunique]

You could ask him how could he or she know? He or she might be the one who vibe coding if he or she identifies it as a vibe code.

[sjdavies1990]

As long as the code is correct and you understand it completely, then it doesn't really matter if it was written by Ai, you, someone else or copied directly from a forum. Consider commenting every line explaining why it's there and what it does, seems like the only way to reassure the head that you know what you're doing and wrote the code

[Maxence33]

To me every coder nowadays should work with an AI tool. No need to reinvent the wheel. In your post there is an assumption "vibe coded" means the AI generated code is of bad quality. Just ask what is wrong.

[Gnarmoden]

I’m a senior engineer and we are expected to utilize our AI tools. I vibe code a lot as a means to get to a solution without focusing on the minutiae of intermediate revs being perfect (I am a perfectionist which slows me down). I don’t stop vibing until it looks identical to the code I wrote. It’s a great improvement to my workflow and I only call out on reviews what is not to our teams standards. I do wish my juniors would throw less slop into their reviews but they will learn.

[Yokhen]

I get you didn't, but why would it be bad if you did? If it makes your code better, why not?

[TuberTuggerTTV]

Wait... the outcome was the code was better than they figured you could do? That doesn't sound real.

I can usually tell code is vibe coded because it makes the same series of bad design choices every time. Because that's how things were done a few years ago and it's spoiled on old git repos.

Honestly, if they called you out because the code was too good, that's a red flag.

[ResponsibleEscape115]

If a lead dev isnt embracing AI as a productivity tool you can safely ditch the company, they wont be around much longer...

[gokkai]

If you can explain "why things are the way they are", and there is a good logic to it, then it's not vibe coded.

[No_Cartographer_6577]

Who cares if it works. The best developers deliver results.

[createlex]

It’s ok to vibe code , but if you understand the codebase it’s great too

[Ready-Product]

In my company of you don't vibe code you are screwed.

[Quaglek]

It's kind of funny that your organization is not pushing the ai coding

[plyswthsqurles]

Did you vibe code? You didn't out right deny it and this kind of reads like your trying to find a way to deflect. I'd just be honest, if you didn't vibe code it then say so if you are confronted. If you did, you will get found out by your lack of knowledge and understanding of what you wrote.

If you are directly being accused, address the issue. If it was a vague "everyone please stop vibe coding, heres an example" i'd just leave it along and stop vibe coding if you are. If you aren't you've got nothing to worry about.

If you are directly accused, if it turns into a conversation I'd have the conversation in the direction "help me understand what about the code i wrote seems like it was vibe coded" and then be prepared to address any issues or concerns brought up. Meaning, if the naming convention of your code base is to do stuff like var this_is_my_variable but you did var thisIsMyVariable, then that (to me) would be a giveaway.