coding

AI Coding Gets Same Gatekeeping as IDEs and Stack Overflow

Developers face familiar barriers as AI coding tools encounter the same restrictive corporate policies that previously blocked IDEs and Stack Overflow access

Someone got tired of the “vibe coding” criticism and pointed out the obvious hypocrisy - developers have always gatekept new tools.

The pattern repeats:

  • 1990s: “Real programmers use vim, not IDEs”
  • 2000s: “Real programmers don’t copy from Stack Overflow”
  • 2020s: “Real programmers don’t use AI - that’s just vibe coding”

The irony? Same people who said “don’t reinvent the wheel” now criticize developers for using AI to avoid reinventing wheels.

The actual take: Using Claude or ChatGPT to write boilerplate, debug faster, or explore unfamiliar APIs isn’t lazy - it’s just the next evolution of developer tools. Someone who started coding on a Commodore 64 in the 80s isn’t less legitimate because they use modern tooling now.

The gatekeeping just shifts targets every decade while productivity keeps improving.