You’re right to be cautious. Relying solely on “vibe coding” and LLM-generated code can accelerate prototyping, but usually at the cost of long-term maintainability and deep technical understanding. If leadership is actively discouraging best practices like manual testing and code review, that is a red flag, especially for a senior engineer invested in quality and growth.

Personally, I had try to have a candid discussion with your CTO/CEO about your concerns and see if there’s room for a more balanced approach. If it’s clear they’re not interested and you start feeling your skills are stagnating, it’s reasonable to look for a company whose engineering values align better with yours.

Ultimately, AI tools are “just tools.”