This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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So there's this new thing going around called vibe coding, which basically is using tools like chat GPT, or maybe you prefer another language model, but using these tools, these AI tools to build apps and websites. And so the question is like, can you build an app just by describing your idea to AI? And that's basically what vibe coding is. Like, hey, I'm in a vibe and, you know, maybe put in a couple of ideas or prompts, or maybe I'm gonna get some code and then improve it. But basically it's like a new style of software creation.
So natural language conversations with AI that generate the code for you. So a listener today wants to know, is this a lasting trend? Can you actually build a sustainable project, product, or side hustle this way? Can you be like, hey, I've always had an idea for an app that does X. Chat GPT, go make me an app that does X.
And what are the likely outcomes or the results when you use something like that? Is it in fact gonna be a working app? Can you sell it? Can you use it? Can you put it in the app store?
Can you profit from it? Of course, we're all about helping you profit from your ideas here on Side Hustle School. So let's talk about this one. I wanna build an app with vibe coding. That's our listener's idea.
I'll bring you his detailed question and my answer right after this. [Music]
I've been hearing a lot lately about something called vibe coding, where you basically use AI to build apps or websites just by describing what you want without needing to manually write lines of code. It sounds almost too good to be true, especially for people like me who have ideas but no real technical background. My question is, how real is this? Could someone actually build a legit side hustle or product using vibe coding tools or is it more hype than reality right now?
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So one of the fun things about making this podcast year after year is that we keep seeing all kinds of new stuff come out. Like we had a bunch of episodes about crypto a few years ago when it was like, "Wow, this is a crazy new thing." And then we had episodes about NFTs and early versions of AI, mid-journey, like making AI art, prediction markets, and we've had so many different things, right? So now it's like vibe coding. Okay, what is vibe coding? Basically, it's like using natural language prompts.
If you use chat GPT or another tool, you kind of go to your tool and say, make a basic budget tracker with three input fields in a graph, for example. You can also make games, make a two player word guessing game. You can give it an aesthetic, like make it look retro. You could say, build a landing page that collects email addresses and sends a welcome message. And then the AI then goes off and does what AI does, generates the code, it's often HTML or JavaScript, sometimes even Python, a little bit more advanced.
And it suggests hosting, database setup, launch steps. It basically gives you all this stuff. So where it shines and where it still struggles, this is the key. It shines, it's really great at this low barrier to entry. You don't need any years of coding experience to get a basic project live.
It allows you to focus on creativity. You focus on what you want the experience to be like instead of obsessing over like a line of code. And it also just allows you to prototype really quickly. Like you can test ideas just so fast these days. So that's what's cool about it, but where it still struggles because it's not completely there yet.
And most people that I talk with say like, it's gonna be a while. It's not just a matter of months, but years. It struggles with complexity management. AI generated code is often messy under the hood. Like it works for some simple projects, but if you want scalability, customization, you're gonna run into some walls.
And then what do you do when you run into a wall? Well, debugging is still your problem, right? Like if the code breaks and it will, because that's how code kind of devolves over time, you either need to learn how to fix it or pay someone who can. And you're kind of in the same place you were before, except now you've sort of made an app. And there's also some security gaps because AI doesn't always follow best practices.
So payment processing, user data protection, those can be kind of sloppy if you rely only on AI output. And there can be some other downsides too. The point is like the promise is incredible. The execution, just like with a lot of AI, it's got some time to go. So, you know, can you actually build a side hustle using vibe coding only?
You sure can, as long as you have the right expectations. So some really simple things, you know, a micro game, a landing page, a simple SaaS tool, like a subscription software as a subscription, maybe a digital download platform. But you should think of vibe coding as getting you from zero to one, like not getting you from zero to a hundred. So a smarter strategy is, you know, to use vibe coding to build these MVPs, minimum viable products to test ideas, to launch quick experiments and see how things go. And if it seems like it has potential, then you might want to invest in some real dev work to actually refine, scale and secure it properly.
So I think vibe coding is a big unlock for solo entrepreneurs and people who just like to try different things, but it's still a starting point, not a shortcut to actually doing what skilled people do. So it's kind of more of a starting point than an end point for a lot of things. So that's my experience. That's what I've heard from a lot of folks. Of course, we'll see how things go.
The world does change pretty quickly these days. So perhaps we'll revisit this in six months or so. Until then, good luck. Let us know what happens. Listeners, thank you for being out there.
Let me know how things go with you as well. I'm on social media most days under my name, Chris Guillebeau or 193 countries on Instagram. And of course, there's a bunch of resources on the Side Hustle School website as well. I'm gonna sign off, but I hope you'll join me again tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau.
This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
From The Onward Project.
