Okay, so being a developer is not easy.

And yes, vibe-coding exists, but I don’t want to watch people sufferring debugging their software at 3 AM.

This guide will provide you with the necessary things to start being a developer without the fatigue of vibe coding nor manually coding everything

Prerequisites

1. A decent computer

  • Make sure that your CPU at least is a quad-core, dual-core nowadays is not enough for compiling large C/C++ projects

  • Have at least 8 GB of RAM, this is enough for some various project types.

  • Have at least 256 GB of storage, 128 GB is not enough.

  • A good monitor, or built-in display, must be at least 13 inches for laptops, or 22 inches for desktop monitors, 16:9 is the standard.

2. Knowledge on how systems work

Like me, you need some knowledge on systems, don’t blindly trust random code from StackOverflow, LLMs or anyone else, check it before you proceed.

3. Your chosen scripting, or programming language

Don’t choose wrong, there are many scripting and programming languages there, I could recommend you some good starters:

  • Python: Simple syntaxes, but slow.

  • JavaScript: Made mainly for websites and backend for web apps

  • HTML: Writing websites, webpages and frontend for web apps

  • PHP: More flexible than HTML and JS alone, can be used for database jobs and/or web apps.

  • C: Flexible, yet simple, but deal with memory leaks

  • Rust: Very hard to learn, but more memory-safe

4. Tools

Tools are important, and you’ll need it for creating your projects, plan for features, fix bugs, review code, push to codebase, …etc

I would recommend for starters:

  • Zed: a minimal code editor crafted for speed and collaboration with humans and AI.

  • VSCodium: a fork of Code:OSS with telemetry removed and some extras

  • Neovim, Vim, and Emacs: for keyboard enthusiasts

  • OpenCode: Agentic LLM coding, useful for assisting with your ideas, is BYOK. Combine this with good free LLM APIs and you’ll get a good broke developer setup

  • Trello and other Kanban boards: Define your scope, plan your features, and track your project progress

  • Git: Version control, useful if you have a Git provider such as GitHub, GitLab, or a Git server.

5. Commit to your work

Whether if it’s a vibed project as an experiment, or a large project, always commit to your codebase, it’s gonna make your ambitions shine.