For the last three decades, the sheer headcount of software engineers have been translating into big revenues for Indian IT services companies. The offshore execution efficiency combined with the ability to add talent as and when new projects came up, defined the growth trajectory for the business. This phenomenon is poised for a dramatic shift that would redefine how IT service businesses can count on their advantage. The change in the offing is due to the fundamental shift to the coding process beginning to get wider adoption. Vibe coding is the emerging method of software development in which developers describe intent, context and the required outcomes in natural language instead of the laborious coding method followed until now.
The evolution of vibe coding has been gradual and every phase has helped in making the journey more exciting. The early phase of natural language programming systems allowed developers to describe small tasks in English and receive code snippets using simple text to script tools. Thereafter, AI started to support the coding process by gathering context from adjacent files and by extending assistance for code completion. With the release of Open AI’s ChatGPT in 2022, it became feasible for developers to explain the problems through conversations and seek help in a number of different ways – documentation, testing to name a few. Although there was limited context and large codebases were difficult to manage, it proved to be the turning point for the software development process which now had access to brainstorming and modifying their codes with the help of the anonymous ‘expert’.
Vibe coding has emerged as a professional practice since a year ago. Developers are now able to define what they want and AI tools have become smarter to interpret their requirements including processes that are multi-step and act upon them using AI agents. The LLMs are now capable of reasoning across files and architectures. Businesses are also keen to get their outputs faster and avoid the long wait times for multiple sprints. All of these reasons have enabled vibe coding to get more popular, practical and relevant.
Unlike traditional coding, in vibe coding, instead of Syntax mastery, it is the articulation of intent that has become important. As a result of AI generated codes, there is a quantum improvement in the time to output. It is also possible to develop the codes now on a continual basis instead of the upfront design thinking that is required in the traditional coding approach wherein all workflows and parameters are clearly defined and preset. Documentation of software which has involved a painstaking effort, normally done after the completion of the project is done on an ongoing basis, embedded in prompts.
The deployment of vibe coding has impacted India in different ways. Hiring of freshers has been on the decline whereas the demand for fewer but excellent engineering talent including AI architects as well as those who are able to translate the business needs to AI requirements has been on the rise.
Global capability centres are adopting vibe coding faster than IT outsourcing companies as they are seeing immediate benefits by lowering headcounts resulting in immediate cost benefit. IT services businesses are recognising the need to move away from application maintenance contracts, staff augmentation services and testing services. Instead, outcome-based pricing, AI agents as a service and proprietary accelerators are being proposed as new offerings.
In order to take advantage of the vibe coding approach, systems thinking capability along with prompt engineering skills have to be nurtured consciously by developers. Vibe coding is yet to mature to its fullest potential hence there are risks involved. The contours of logic may still be shallow and require further exploration by both those who are developing AI tools as well as the developers who would be using them. There could also be security blind spots which may be overlooked. Hence both AI based verifications and human checks continue to be important to offset these limitations until vibe coding fully matures.
