What Is Vibe Coding?
Vibe coding isn’t a programming language. It’s not a framework. It’s a builder’s approach to working with AI tools that prioritizes shipping over perfection.
Here’s what it actually means:
- AI-assisted development where you direct the tools, not the other way around
- Rapid prototyping that gets working products live in hours, not weeks
- Product thinking first, technical implementation second
- Learning by building instead of tutorial after tutorial
Think of it as the difference between spending six months learning to code “properly” versus spending one day building something that works and learning as you go.
The core insight: Modern AI tools (Claude, Cursor, v0, Replit) have compressed the skill floor. You don’t need to memorize syntax anymore. You need to know what to build and how to guide the AI to build it.
Where Do I Learn Vibe Coding?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: you can’t really learn vibe coding from tutorials alone.
Why? Because vibe coding is about decision-making under uncertainty, not following steps. Tutorials give you the steps. They don’t teach you:
- When to pivot vs. when to push through
- How to break down a vague idea into buildable chunks
- What corners you can cut (and which ones will break everything)
- How to debug when the AI hallucinates a solution
Where people actually learn it:
1. Intensive bootcamps (like RIL’s one-day courses)
- Guided environment where you ship something real
- Expert feedback when you’re stuck
- Pattern recognition from watching others hit the same walls
2. Building with a mentor watching
- Real-time correction when you’re going down a rabbit hole
- Someone who’s seen the patterns before
- Accountability to actually finish
3. Forcing yourself to ship under time pressure
- Set a 6-hour deadline
- Build something small but complete
- Deploy it (even if it’s ugly)
The courses at RIL compress this into one day. You leave with a working product and the mental models to build the next one solo.
How To Become A Vibe Coder?
Becoming a vibe coder isn’t about collecting certificates. It’s about building pattern recognition that tells you what to do next when there’s no clear answer.
The fastest path:
Week 1: Ship something tiny
- A one-page tool that solves one problem
- Use Cursor or Claude to write 90% of the code
- Deploy it to Vercel/Netlify
- Goal: Prove you can go from idea to live URL
Week 2: Add complexity
- Build something with a database (Supabase is easiest)
- Handle user input
- Make it do something useful for 5+ people
- Goal: Learn where things break
Week 3: Build under pressure
- Give yourself 8 hours
- Build something you’d actually use
- No tutorials allowed—only docs and AI
- Goal: Develop speed and decision-making
Week 4: Build something that matters
- Solve a real problem for someone
- Get feedback from actual users
- Iterate based on what breaks
- Goal: Ship something with impact
What actually makes you a vibe coder:
- You stop saying “I need to learn X first”
- You ship messy MVPs instead of polished nothing
- You know when AI is confidently wrong
- You’ve debugged the same error pattern 5+ times
- You can explain why you chose one approach over another
The RIL bootcamps shortcut weeks 1-3 into a single day. You build, break, fix, and ship with expert guidance the whole way.
Is Vibe Coding Worth It?
Short answer: If you want to build AI products that work, yes. If you want to “learn to code properly,” maybe not.
It’s worth it if:
- You have ideas but can’t execute them yourself
- You’re tired of tutorials that never lead to real projects
- You need to prototype fast for work or a startup
- You want product skills more than engineering depth
- You’re pivoting careers and need portfolio pieces
It’s NOT worth it if:
- You want to work at a FAANG company as a software engineer
- You enjoy the craft of writing elegant code for its own sake
- You need to understand systems at a deep architectural level
- You’re optimizing for job interviews that test algorithms
The economic reality:
- Traditional coding bootcamp: 12-16 weeks, $15K-$20K
- Vibe coding intensive: 1 day, £399-£699
- Outcome difference: Both get you a working product
But here’s what matters: speed to market beats code quality in 90% of early-stage product scenarios.
You can always refactor later. You can’t refactor something that doesn’t exist.
Who it’s working for:
- Product managers who can now build their own prototypes
- Founders who MVP’d their startup in a weekend
- Marketers who automated their workflows
- Analysts who built custom dashboards
- Career switchers who shipped 3 projects in a month
Is it worth £399 to compress months of scattered learning into one day where you actually ship? That’s the real question.
How Long Does It Take To Learn Vibe Coding?
To build your first working product: 6-8 hours with guidance.
To feel confident building solo: 2-3 projects (about 2-3 weeks if you’re focused).
To be genuinely good at it: 10-15 shipped projects (3-6 months).
The learning curve looks like this:
Hour 0-6 (First project):
- Everything feels overwhelming
- You copy-paste a lot
- AI suggestions seem like magic
- You ship something that barely works
Hour 6-30 (Projects 2-4):
- Patterns start clicking
- You recognize common errors
- AI responses make sense
- You ship faster each time
Hour 30-100 (Projects 5-15):
- You know what’s possible
- You debug confidently
- You guide AI effectively
- You ship production-ready work
The bottleneck isn’t learning—it’s shipping.
Most people get stuck in this loop:
- Watch tutorial
- Feel motivated
- Open editor
- Get stuck on something random
- Give up
- Repeat
Vibe coding flips this:
- Start building
- Get stuck
- Ask AI / mentor / docs
- Fix it
- Ship
- Build next thing
The RIL approach: one day, one working product, every pattern you need.
You don’t learn vibe coding by studying it. You learn it by doing it with someone watching who can unstick you in real-time.
What Tools Do I Need For Vibe Coding?
Good news: you don’t need much, and almost all of it is free to start.
Essential (can’t build without these):
1. AI coding assistant
- Cursor (best for full projects) - Free tier available
- Claude.ai (best for thinking through problems) - Free
- v0.dev (best for UI components) - Free tier
- Pick one. Learn it deeply.
2. Code editor
- Cursor (doubles as editor + AI)
- VS Code with Claude/Copilot extension
- Replit (browser-based, good for beginners)
3. Deployment platform
- Vercel (easiest for web apps)
- Netlify (great for static sites)
- Replit (deploy from browser)
- All have generous free tiers
4. Database (for anything non-trivial)
- Supabase (Postgres + auth + storage)
- Firebase (Google’s ecosystem)
- Airtable (if you hate SQL)
Nice to have (not required day 1):
- GitHub account (version control)
- Figma account (design mockups)
- Stripe account (if handling payments)
- Custom domain (makes it feel real)
What you DON’T need:
- ❌ Expensive laptop (any computer from 2018+ works)
- ❌ Paid courses (yet)
- ❌ Multiple monitors
- ❌ A CS degree
- ❌ Existing coding knowledge
Total cost to start: £0
Cost if you want premium tools: £20-50/month (Cursor Pro + Claude Pro)
The RIL bootcamps include setups for all these tools as part of the first hour. You leave with a working toolkit, not just theory.
Can I Learn Vibe Coding Without Coding Experience?
Yes. That’s the entire point.
But let’s be specific about what “no coding experience” actually means:
You CAN learn if you:
- Have used a computer for more than email
- Can follow multi-step instructions
- Are comfortable Googling things when stuck
- Have built anything (Excel sheets, Notion docs, website on Wix)
- Can think through “if this, then that” logic
You’ll struggle if you:
- Expect it to be completely effortless
- Give up at the first error message
- Need someone to hold your hand for every decision
- Aren’t willing to try things that might not work
What actually helps (that isn’t coding):
- Product thinking: Knowing what to build
- Writing clearly: Telling AI what you want
- Basic logic: If X happens, do Y
- Persistence: Trying 3 solutions when the first fails
The mindset shift you need:
Old way (traditional coding): “I need to learn JavaScript → React → Node → databases → deployment before I can build anything.”
Vibe coding way: “I want to build X. What’s the fastest path to a working version? Okay, let’s start there and figure out the rest as we go.”
Real example from RIL bootcamps:
We’ve had participants with zero coding background ship working products on day one:
- A marketing manager who built a lead qualifier tool
- A consultant who automated their client reports
- A teacher who made a custom quiz app
- A founder who prototyped their SaaS idea
What they had in common: Clarity on what they wanted to build and willingness to debug.
The catch:
You need someone who knows the patterns to guide you through the first one. Self-learning works after you’ve shipped project #1. Before that, you need directed guidance.
That’s why intensive, hands-on courses exist. Not to teach you syntax, but to show you how to think when building with AI tools.
Ready To Stop Wondering And Start Building?
The difference between someone who’s “learning vibe coding” and someone who is a vibe coder?
One has shipped something. The other hasn’t.
Reading this article doesn’t make you a builder. Building something does.
Your next steps:
If you want to try solo first:
- Pick the simplest idea you have
- Give yourself 6 hours
- Use Cursor + Claude to build it
- Deploy it somewhere (even if it’s ugly)
- Send it to 3 people
If you want the fastest path:
- Join one of RIL’s one-day bootcamps
- Ship a working product with expert guidance
- Leave with the patterns to build the next one solo
Either way, start today.
The best time to learn vibe coding was yesterday. The second best time is right now—with a 6-hour timer running and something real to build.
Stop reading. Start shipping.