40-Year IT Veteran Argues Great Software Is Craftsmanship, Not Just Code

A software professional with four decades of experience contends that building truly effective software goes beyond technical skill and constitutes a form of craftsmanship akin to art. Drawing an analogy between a technician and an artisan, the author argues that knowing when to break design patterns and making a system elegant — not merely functional — cannot be taught in a course. The piece traces how knowledge-sharing in IT evolved from human mentors to books, then the internet, and now AI-powered 'Vibe Coding', which has lowered the barrier between an idea and a working solution. While acknowledging Vibe Coding as a genuine evolution, the author maintains that creativity, intuition, and the ability to envision what could exist remain distinctly human qualities. The central argument is that two developers given identical requirements will produce vastly different results, and the difference lies not in the brief but in the depth of craft each brings to the problem.