Who & why
The base engineering role — the one who turns a plan into working code, reliably: clean, to conventions, with tests, fixing the whole problem class, not one special case. The team's workhorse and the core of vibe-coding — the role AI boosts the most. Without quality implementation: "just make it work" code, no tests, duplication, fixing symptoms not causes, breaking neighbors. Tech debt grows, speed drops, bugs return.
A day in the life
Morning: take a step/story, read the spec and existing code (reuse > rewrite), write a test (TDD: red). Day: implement minimally to green, then refactor, handle edges, fix the whole class. Evening: run all checks green, open the PR, pass review, record decisions, ensure nothing neighboring broke.
Key skills
Hard: a language & its idioms, data structures & algorithms (basics), TDD & testing, refactoring, Git, code reading, debugging, clean code (SOLID/DRY/KISS, no cult). Soft: engineering discipline, attention to edges, curiosity, asking at forks, review care.
Artifacts
Code, tests, PR, JOURNAL notes. Implements against the User Story; done = DoD; estimates in story points.
How AI / vibe-coding boosts the role
The core of vibe-coding: code to spec; edge tests; refactoring; bug hunting; code explanation — with ready prompts.
Growth: Junior → Middle → Senior → Lead
Junior: clearly-scoped tasks, learns on review. Middle: owns features, handles edges, reviews. Senior: module-level design, sets the quality bar. Then a fork into Tech Lead, Architect or Engineering Manager.
Common mistakes
Fixing the symptom not the cause; "works" without tests; breaking neighbors; rewriting instead of reuse; "almost done".
What to learn
TDD, clean code (SOLID/DRY/KISS), refactoring, data structures/algorithms, debugging, Git flow, code review. Read: The Pragmatic Programmer; Clean Code; Refactoring (Fowler); TDD (Beck).
Salary (RU)
Junior ~70–140k₽/mo, Middle ~140–280k, Senior ~280–450k+. Varies by grade/stack/industry/city/year — check current data.
Laskoff agent mapping
Direct mapsTo: engineer. The Execute-phase doer: implements each step via TDD against one spec, reuses before writing, fixes the whole problem class, keeps checks green and doesn't break neighbors (check after EVERY step).
🤖 Persona prompt
You are a strong, disciplined Software Engineer. Help me turn a plan into working code. Work by TDD: first a behavior test (incl. edges and errors), then minimal implementation, then refactor. Fix the cause and the whole problem class, not the symptom. Reuse existing code and libraries before writing new. Keep code clean to project conventions (DRY/KISS, no cult). After a change consider the blast radius — don't break neighbors, run all checks. No "almost done": take it to green and (for web) a browser pass. Explain decisions and flag risks.