Indian startup fires techie after AI messily writes code, breaks product
An Indian techie shared on Reddit the story of his co-worker who used to vibrate code while at work. The post claims that his co-worker was immediately fired after production of his AI-generated code stopped.
Vibe coding – using AI to write code – is quite popular now. So much so, companies now claim that most of their engineers have stopped coding manually. However, sometimes relying too heavily on AI for coding can backfire, as was the case with an Indian techie, according to a Reddit post.
Reddit user u/Karmaisabeachh shared a post on the subreddit, r/DevelopersIndia. The user explained that they joined a startup as a frontend engineer that was very AI-driven. The person later wrote that the startup was a fintech firm, though he did not name the company. At the time of joining, he was joined by another person who was eventually fired for using AI, despite the company’s focus on AI tools.
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According to the details shared, the coworker lacked prior internship experience, which made it difficult to manage the deadlines. At first the manager cooperated, but later the technical expert was forced to take the help of AI. “Initially they were lenient and he was writing the code by hand. Eventually they became stricter and at one point, they had to start using AI to meet the deadline,” the user wrote.
Techie used AI without understanding
Now, it’s not uncommon to use AI to meet deadlines, with most coders today using tools like cursors. However, according to the user, the tech expert did not understand what the AI was actually doing. “He started deciphering the code in bits and pieces,” the post reads. So, that’s basically what this function does, even if we don’t know how.
Manual coding often allows developers to quickly identify and resolve errors due to their familiarity with the code structure. In contrast, AI-generated code can be far more complex and difficult to debug. This forced the technical expert to use AI to fix the code created by AI. As the post says, “AI doesn’t care if the file is fifteen thousand lines wrong. But after a point, even looking at those files becomes a headache. So, it promotes further bug fixing through AI.”
The breaking point came late one night when a Slack notification alerted the team to a production failure. The user said, “It was all fine and good until one day we got a Slack call at 11 pm saying something went wrong in production. Then we had to spend the entire next day finding and fixing the problem. We found out the problem was in his code.”
Fired for using AI in a startup that encouraged its use
The investigation revealed that previous code changes were generated using AI tools and merged into production by the manager, who also relied on AI for code review. Finding the problem was said to be time consuming. “Digging through all this was no easy task. But apparently, they had made some changes through the cursor first, and the manager reviewed it with AI and merged it.”
And when the manager found out, the technician was fired. The person added, “The guy was fired immediately (this was his second mistake in production).”
Note that the startup relied heavily on AI, and users were often asked to use more AI at work. “I’ve had 1:1s that were solely about how my ‘cursor usage was the lowest in the company’ even though I never missed a deadline,” the person wrote.
Reddit calls startup ‘toxic’
Users on Reddit were outraged by the way the techie was treated. While the techie caused a major disruption, many believed that no one should be fired after only two bugs. One comment read, “Firing two bugs is the stupidest thing ever. A worthless and toxic company.”
Another user insisted that the manager merely used the technical expert as a scapegoat. He said, “A lesson in not acting as a leader, using a junior as a scapegoat and firing him. The manager who merged it and set the deadline should have been fired immediately.”