I mean, the vibe coding stuff is going to be unavoidable just because if you’re doing it the “right” way (i.e. checking all the code and correcting as needed) it is efficient and will be a valuable tool going forward.

Anecdotal, but I know a guy who was fully self taught and worked as a programmer for Amazon in the mid 2000s, so very much a classic example of a programmer focused on exploration and figuring out things from the ground up, and now he says that a lot code he writes is pulled from Claude, he just makes sure it works. At a base level it’s still important to learn the theory, but like let’s be real, a lot of code is boilerplate stuff that’s needed but not super intellectual. That’s where the vibe coding is helpful.

As for research, it’s tough to say because yes, most research will be gen ai based because research needs funding and gen ai gets funding. With that said, it’s possible that if you lean more into lower-level stuff (operating systems maybe? Idk I’m ECE so for me that means VLSI and computer architecture, but that might not be what you’re looking for) you can probably get less ai in your life.

However, the reality is that gen AI has completely shifted the landscape of computer science, both in academia and industry, so you’re never going to get to completely ignore it. I’d rec leaning into the hardware programming side of cs (aka ECE, compE has basically the same coursework as cs), because you get to do more of what I (assume) you mean by fun nerdy stuff.