Intranets Today

I Tried Vibe Coding Jobs for 30 Days — Here’s the Feel, the Flaws, and the Little Wins

I’m Kayla, a dev who reviews tools the way I debug: hands on, a bit fussy, and very honest. I used Vibe Coding Jobs for a full month. Detailed day-by-day notes live in this 30-day log.

Let me explain.

What Vibe Coding Jobs Is (and how it feels)

This app says it matches you with dev roles by tech stack and team “vibe.” It sounds silly, right? But you know what? It sort of works. You set your stack (mine: React, TypeScript, Node), pick your work style (pair or solo, sync or async), and set pay and location. There’s a short vibe quiz too—things like “Do you like fast fixes or slow polish?” Cute, but not fluff.

I used it on my iPhone and my old ThinkPad. Dark mode looks clean. The haptic taps feel soft. The feed scrolls fast, like a chill version of LinkedIn Jobs. No ads yelling at you. Nice.

Side note: the swipe-style interface almost feels like a dating app for devs. If you’ve ever experimented with lightning-fast, photo-first chat platforms that emphasize instant matching—SnapSext—you’ll recognize how minimal friction and playful design can keep users engaged, and studying those flows can spark ideas for building stickier onboarding in your own products. Likewise, a classifieds-style service such as Doublelist Quincy shows in real time how dead-simple list layouts, strict geographic scope, and a no-frills post-reply loop keep engagement high—observing that flow can give you fresh UX cues for refining any matching product.

For a bigger-picture primer on what “vibe-coding” means (and how it’s being applied outside job boards), you can skim this succinct explainer on the concept from DataCamp’s blog.

Real examples from my month

I didn’t just browse. I went for it and kept notes.

  • LumenFox — Frontend Engineer (React/TypeScript)

    • Range showed: $140k–$165k. Remote. No on-call. Pairing twice a week.
    • I sent my profile on a Tuesday morning.
    • Recruiter reply: 3 hours later. That was quick.
    • Phone screen: 25 minutes. No fluff. We talked state management, accessibility, and how I handle flaky tests.
    • Code task: a small React todo app with filters and keyboard nav. Took me 90 minutes. I built it with React Testing Library and kept it simple—no hooks gymnastics.
    • Result: Offer prep after round 2, then budget freeze. Ouch. They sent a kind note and even shared feedback on my test. I kept that. It helps.

  • HarborCart — Backend Engineer (Node/Postgres)

    • Range showed: $135k–$150k. Hybrid, 1 day a week in office. This part was not clear at first.
    • I asked if remote was okay. They said “maybe later.” So I passed.
    • Vibe tag said “Calm mornings.” Slack screenshot showed long-thread culture. I like that. Still, the hybrid thing threw me off.

  • North Harbor Games — Mobile (React Native)

    • Range showed: $120k–$140k. Fully remote. On-call every 8 weeks.
    • I sent a short intro clip (30 seconds). I just said, “Hey, I ship clean code and care about app start time.”
    • First round was pair coding. We built a little swipe deck with a spring animation. Fun, but the time was tight—45 minutes is rough.
    • Result: Rejection with feedback. They wanted more native module experience. Fair.

  • Bonus: Two quick “nope” moments

    • One listing flagged me “Great Match,” but it was a heavy PHP monolith. I don’t mind PHP, but the vibe quiz knew I wanted Node. That felt off.
    • A fintech post had a pay range that looked high. During chat, they said the top number was only for SF. The app didn’t say that. Not cool.

Curious about the exact code and screenshots I shared during these rounds? I broke them down in this hands-on vibe-coding guide with real snippets.

Across the month, I sent 6 real applications. I got 3 screens, 2 code tasks, 1 second round, and one near-offer that got iced. Not bad, not magic.

The clever bits I liked

  • Culture clips: Some teams posted 15–30 second clips. Little desk tours, standup vibes, code review style. One team showed their “no meetings Wednesday.” That sold me.
  • Clear filters: I tapped “No on-call,” “Async-heavy,” and “Greenfield or refactor, not both.” It narrowed the feed fast.
  • Tech stack tags: “Monorepo,” “Storybook,” “GraphQL,” “REST.” Simple, but useful. I dodged a few traps here.
  • Response time stat: A tiny badge shows “Usually replies in 1–2 days.” It’s not perfect, yet it saved me from dead zones.
  • Built-in note box: After each call, I typed quick notes: “Loves tests,” “Prod on Fridays? nope,” “CI 12 min build.” I needed that.

Interested in how internal platforms influence culture beyond hiring apps, IntranetsToday breaks down best practices that echo many of these “clever bits.”

The stuff that bugged me

  • Pushy alerts: I turned on notifications, and the app kept nudging me at odd hours. “New role you’ll love!” Not always true. I had to dig into settings and quiet it down.
  • Location filter is fuzzy: I set “Remote, US-only.” A few Canada-only roles still slid in. Some hybrid roles didn’t say “hybrid” up front. Waste of clicks.
  • Pay range off by region: Twice the top range was not for my area. This needs a clear label. I don’t like mystery math.
  • Resume upload crash: My PDF had an emoji in my name. The app crashed. I removed the emoji, and it worked. Still funny. Still annoying.
  • Vibe labels are thin at times: “We’re fun!” is not a vibe. Tell me sprint length. Tell me what “done” looks like. Some teams did. Some did not.

Tiny digression: my work style matters

I like calm mornings, focused time, and short pushes. I don’t chase hero moments. I care about tests, CI times, and clear naming. Vibe Coding Jobs let me say that. And when a team matched that, I could feel it. You know that click? I got it twice.

Even AI luminaries such as Andrew Ng have weighed in on the promise (and pitfalls) of vibe-coding-style tools—his take is summarized here if you’re curious about the broader debate: Google Brain founder Andrew Ng thinks everyone should learn programming with vibe-coding tools, but industry experts say that’s probably a bad idea.

How it stacks up to the usual suspects

  • LinkedIn Jobs: way more volume, less signal. Lots of “Easy Apply,” not much soul. Vibe feels warmer.
  • Hired: very clean, strong pay info, but fewer roles in my niche this month. The chat flow there is great though.
  • Wellfound: scrappy and fun for startups. Vibe wins on team clips and culture tags. Wellfound wins on founder access.

I still used all three. No one app is enough. But Vibe filled a gap: the human part.

Tips that actually helped me

  • Keep your stack tight: I only picked what I’d ship with today. Not “maybe someday.” My matches got better.
  • Record a short intro: 20–30 seconds. Clear mic. One line on your superpower. Mine was “I cut bundle size and ship on time.”
  • Ask for structure: I sent a quick note before a task: “How long should this take? What does good look like?” I got clearer tasks back.
  • Use the questions tool: There’s a tab with suggested questions. I tweaked a few:
    • “How long are sprints?”
    • “Who owns on-call?”
    • “What breaks most and why?”
    • “How do you handle messy legacy code?”

For a broader look at the tools and rituals that actually keep me in flow while using Vibe, check out my deeper take.

What surprised me

The teams that replied fastest weren’t the loud ones. They were the small, steady ones. A 12-person tooling team wrote me a kind note even when they passed. That nudged me to keep going. I know, it’s small. But it matters.

Also, the vibe quiz made me rethink my own habits. I said I love async, then missed a fast

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