> "Am I overthinking it?"

It feels like you answered your own questions and are also to bothered by what sloperators and assorted clout chasers think. Coding, especially "deep work", is your passion that you'll still do once you exit the rat race, vibe coding is the source of your intellectual understimulation.

To me, that solution would be simple... cut out the slop, make stuff that you'll be remembered for, that you and maybe some like-minded folks collaborate on. Who cares what some rando vibeclown thinks how long something takes? You did something you might be proud of (i. e. you didn't waste time on trivialities like so many others) and had fun along the way.

But then again my advice comes from a different corner. I don't do vibecoding. Never have, never will. I also count myself lucky that I never had to as all my professional creative endeavours happen(ed) in a freelance capacity, thereby circumventing the corporate slopmire. And I'll intend to keep it that way for control, time, and my mental health are much more important to me. I also enjoy the privilege that I don't have to live in the United States, or a country with a similar, or even worse, setup...

As for different industries... that depends on a lot factors.