200: Magician vs. Conductor: How to Build (and Fix) Products with AI in 2025

Heads-up: I use some salty language. Nothing hateful, just passionate about this topic. Skip if that’s not your vibe.

It’s 2 AM, your side-project just went viral, and the signup flow is on fire. Do you keep “vibe-coding” blind prompts, or step up as the conductor who actually knows the score? In this first-ever solo episode, I unpack why “anyone can code with AI” is 2025’s biggest myth and show you how to turn large language models into the ultimate co-pilot instead of a ticking time-bomb.

Key Takeaways

1. Illusions break at scale. Vibe-coding can get you an MVP, but you’ll pay interest when production fires start.
2. Your new super-power isn’t “no knowledge,” it’s “faster knowledge.” LLMs shrink the gap between “I don’t know” and “I can ship.”
3. Learning beats prompting. Prompting is great, prompt-and-probe is better. Use back-and-forth to understand, not just generate.
4. Career moat = curiosity. The people who thrive next year aren’t the ones with the fanciest prompts; they’re the ones who ask better questions and close their gaps daily.

7-Day Knowledge-Gap Challenge

1. Pick one concept you avoid (CSS Flexbox? Indexing in Postgres?).
2. Spend 15 min/day grilling an LLM: “Explain it like I’m 7… now show real-world code… now debug this snippet…”
3. Log what surprised you, then share your aha moments

Call to Action

• Try the challenge. Tag me with your progress by next week.
• Rate & Review. If this episode saved you from a 2 AM meltdown, drop a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ on your favorite app.
• Share. Forward the LinkedIn post or the episode link to one builder who still thinks vibe-coding is a strategy.

No Hacks is a podcast about web performance, technical SEO, and the agentic web. Hosted by Slobodan "Sani" Manic.