A software engineer's job is to design and create programs that adequately meet their need (including performance, reliability, and maintainability). That's your job. Your job is not "type out the code".

If an AI helps you do that (all of it, including the "maintainability" part), then sure, use it. If not, don't (or only use it in limited places where it can help).

How do you know? You almost certainly have to experiment. So look at your company's push as a chance to experiment. But when you do, make sure you have your "software engineer" hat on, not your "code monkey who cranks through Jira tickets" hat.

Play along, but keep relatively detailed yet abstracted notes on how the AI code is failing. Keep these notes private ... type them into a notes program on your personal device so that you can draw upon them in the future if needed.

Your concerns are completely valid - over-relying on AI for everything, especially deleting entire test files instead of debugging, will definitely stunt your technical growth and leave you managing a mess of generated code later. If leadership won’t listen to a balanced approach where AI handles boilerplate but humans handle complex logic and debugging, then it’s probably time to move on. With 5 years of experience, you’re in a good position to find a company that values proper engineering practices while still leveraging AI as a tool rather than a crutch.

The answers to stay until you find something else are correct.

I would also add that it's probably pretty easy to fake it - in my experience management, especially executive level, have no idea how things actually get done.

If they aren't prescribing a very specific workflow, you can create you own/install whatever tooling you want.

It's also worth pointing out - if you really are sufficiently experienced, these tools could prove to be a force multiplier and may actually be worth an investigation. You still have to review code and provide clear specifications in discrete, easily palatable chunks.

Technical growth in 2025 means understanding how to use LLMs effectively more than your peers.

There's no going back to pre-LLM days. Just like we're not going to stop using machines to weave textiles.

Quit. Doing the work you hate will burn you out, faster than you’d expect. The worst part is to pretend to be enthusiastic about the tech, while in the same time knowing it’s just not worth your time. If you don’t have enough savings and leaving the job isn’t an option right now, maybe just stay for several months and learn some tech that is complex and boring enough to not to attract too many ”vibe” people

My workplace has execs saying similar things unfortunately. it's even in some company goals that we will be using it. pretty commonly known company too.

Look for a new job but be amendable to your current one. If they want you to "vibe code" then do it and look for another job on the side. Get in touch with your network and see if anyone is hiring with reasonable coding practices. My company bought everyone a Claude subscription but they trust us to use it where reasonable.

25 years of experience here. AI is the real deal, and it should be the primary way you’re coding now. Everyone who doesn’t embrace it is about to become a dinosaur overnight.

They’re going to pay you to learn to work with the thing you need to learn to work with anyway? Be smart. Take the deal.

That said, it’s a free country, you can quit any time for any reason.

Knowing how to vibe code is a skill, though a lesser one than knowing how to design maintainable enterprise scale code that can be maintained and reused by others.

The vibe coding fad will pass, but building enterprise code and intelligently using AI for some tasks will make you better.