The CEO of a Billion-Dollar Vibe Coding Startup Says You Can Break Into Tech Without a Computer Science Degree Lovable CEO Anton Osika says that people can now build products and start companies without a computer science background.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Anton Osika is the CEO of Lovable AI, a vibe coding platform that enables users to build apps from text prompts.
- Osika said in a new interview that traits like curiosity and adaptability are more important than having a computer science degree.
- Some tech leaders suggest AI has removed the need to learn to code.
A computer science degree isn't necessary to land a job in tech, says an AI startup CEO.
Anton Osika, the 35-year-old CEO of the vibe coding platform Lovable AI, told Business Insider last week that a standard computer science degree "isn't useless" or "worthless" but its value has changed, and "the leverage has moved."
Osika said that AI removes the need for "technical know-how" and "years of training" because people now have the tools to turn ideas into working products, "without ever touching a formal CS [computer science] education," by vibe coding — using AI tech that does the work for you.
Related: Should High School Students Still Learn to Code? 'Absolutely,' Says OpenAI Engineer
"Vibe coding" is the practice of using AI coding assistants like Lovable, Cursor, and Replit to turn written prompts into code — and even Google CEO Sundar Pichai admitted in June to "vibe coding" his own website for fun.
Osika's company, Lovable AI, enables users to build functional web applications from a text prompt. This has removed the need to learn to code, according to some top tech leaders, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who reiterated this idea at London Tech Week in June.
Huang noted that since AI now enables non-technical users to write code by giving prompts in plain English, there's no longer a need to learn coding languages like Python and C++ to develop code.
How to Get Hired at Lovable AI
In his own hiring decisions, Osika says he focuses more on how quickly someone learns rather than on where they are currently in their careers. Employers are prioritizing the ability to deliver "high-quality products" quickly over degrees and other credentials, according to Osika.
"I care more about how fast someone learns and adapts than where they are today," Osika told BI.
"Curiosity, adaptability, and shipping high-quality products quickly can matter more than credentials," Osika added.
Lovable AI is currently hiring for 16 positions, mainly in Stockholm, and employs 45 full-time employees. The startup has more than 2.3 million active users and 180,000 paying subscribers, and became a centaur, a company with over $100 million in annual recurring revenue, as well as a unicorn, with over a billion-dollar valuation, last month.
