"Job Seekers Out, Office Workers In"... How Vibe Coding Has Transformed the Education Scene [Broken Coding Barrier] ③

"The coding education industry is dying out."

Sangwan Yeon (36, male), CEO of the coding education company Startup Code, who has been running the business since 2021 when companies were actively hiring software developers, said that the introduction of "vibe coding"-programming via conversations with AI-has dealt a major blow to the coding education industry. Back in 2021, when he started the business, everyone wanted to become a developer due to the promise of high salaries, and coding education companies sprang up everywhere. Slogans like "Even if you know nothing about coding, you can get a job as a developer after just a few months of bootcamp" could be seen everywhere.

Sangwan Yeon (36, Male), CEO of coding education company Startup Code, is being interviewed at the office located in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd. Photo by Eunseo Lee

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Even just a year ago, the performance of AI for vibe coding was not considered impressive. While there was hope that actual implementation would aid the development field, it was beyond imagination that a time would come when developers would no longer need to write code themselves. Yeon said, "Hiring of developers continues to decline, and when companies do hire, they tend to prefer experienced professionals over newcomers," adding, "It's clear that the coding education industry is dying out."

The demand for information technology (IT) developers has weakened. The number of people employed in the "information and communications industry" peaked at 1,161,000 in February of last year and has been declining since then. According to microdata from the Ministry of Data and Statistics on the economically active population, the number of people employed in the sector fell by 21,000 and 42,000, respectively, in January and February this year compared to the same months last year. This coincides with the period when AI models capable of successful vibe coding-such as OpenAI's generative AI models "ChatGPT 4.5" and "o3," as well as Anthropic's "Claude Opus 4" and "Claude Sonnet 4"-were being released in succession.

On June 5th, job seekers visiting the Gangnam-gu Job Fair held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are checking the job posting board. 2025.06.05 Photo by Dongju Yoon

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Coding education companies are looking for ways to survive. CodeStates, an IT education company known as a "first-generation bootcamp," saw rapid growth, recording sales of 36 billion won in 2022. However, as the developer job market cooled and a controversy over unqualified instructors arose, the company began to decline. The number of executives and staff, which once reached 274, fell to 38 after restructuring. Another IT education company, TeamSparta, entered what has been called "coding erasure" last October by changing the name of its education program from "Sparta Coding Club" to "Sparta Club."

Yeon is also pivoting the focus of education from coding to AI, seeking a new direction. He observed that vibe coding has sparked interest in software development, such as applications, among people from non-programming backgrounds, and is now turning to AI-related education programs-including vibe coding-targeted at non-majors.

Over the past three years, Yeon and his two staff members have also been updating content in their teaching materials that had never been revised before. This is to reflect rapidly evolving AI-related concepts. To do this, they ask developers around them about the AI tools they commonly use and industry trends, then revise the curriculum accordingly. Last September, Yeon even visited a manufacturing company in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, to provide AI-related training to its employees. The main audience for education has shifted from "job seekers preparing to become developers" to "working professionals." Yeon commented, "While the number of aspiring developers has decreased compared to the past, working professionals or entrepreneurs interested in AI are now seeking out educational programs," and added, "Both the private and public sectors are quickly developing AI-utilization education products to keep pace with fast-changing technologies."

Government support is also shifting from "coding education" to "AI education." According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of participants in the "K-Digital Training" program reached 47,699 last year. Starting with 10,263 participants in 2021, the program had 22,394 in 2022, 31,922 in 2023, and 37,628 in 2024, showing that participation is not decreasing. An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "It is true that the focus is now more on AI utilization than basic coding education," adding, "The government is actively seeking to increase the number of workers skilled in AI utilization."

Employees of the coding education company StartupCode are working on tasks such as creating teaching materials in a small office. Photo by Lee Eunseo

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What is the outlook for the coding and IT education industry going forward? Yeon frankly admitted, "It's honestly hard to predict."

"Technology changes so quickly that something highlighted just half a year ago can become obsolete now. We've never seen such a period of technological transition. Once AI matures and its pace of development stabilizes, won't the direction of the education industry also become clearer?"

Related article: ①"This Is How Developer Meetings Have Changed"... The Golden Age of Vibe Coding

②Vibe Coding for Two Hours... Even a Reporter Can Build an Investment Tendency Analysis Site

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