Vibe coding was, remarkably, named word of the year by the Collins English Dictionary at the start of November 2025 — pretty good going for a term that was only coined in February. We first discussed it on the Technology Podcast back in April, and, given its prominence in the collective lexicon this year, thought we should revisit and reflect on the topic as 2025 draws to a close.

Lots has certainly happened in the intervening months: MCP adoption, the evolution of agentic coding tools and practices like context engineering have had a significant impact on the way the world is thinking about and using AI.

To talk about it all and reflect on the implications, Thoughtworkers and regular podcast hosts Prem Chandrasekaran, Lilly Ryan and Neal Ford reconvened for a follow up to our April conversation. Taking in everything from the term's semantic slipperiness, its security risks and the challenges of maintenance, this is a discussion that, despite going deep into vibe coding, also touches on a huge range of issues in the technology industry today.

Before we enter 2026, looking back on the good, bad, the ugly of the last 12 months of experimentation are essential to building better software for the world in the future; this episode aims to be a guide through that process.

Listen to our April episode on vibe coding: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/podcasts/technology-podcasts/vibe-coding

Read Ken Mugrage's blog post exploring the shift from vibe coding to context engineering in 2025: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/machine-learning-and-ai/vibe-coding-context-engineering-2025-software-development

One of the biggest stories in software engineering in 2025 is the impact of generative AI on the software development lifecycle. From advances in coding assistance to the emergence of so-called agentic coding, there's undoubtedly a lot for software developers to process, learn and experiment with — not to mention rapid change to contend with.

On this episode of the Technology Podcast, host Ken Mugrage is joined by Brandon Cook to discuss not only how AI has been shaping the way software developers work but how developers can play an active role in ensuring the technology is leveraged safely and successfully. Taking in everything from sensible defaults and best practices to evaluating how much autonomy you should give up to an agent in any given problem, this episode offers both a snapshot of where we are today and the role we all have to play in deciding what the future will look like.

Explore the Thoughtworks Technology Radar: thoughtworks.com/radar

Listen to Brandon's last appearance on the Technology Podcast from July 2024: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/podcasts/technology-podcasts/sensible-defaults-way-think-technology-practices

In every Thoughtworks Technology Radar we feature three to five themes that represent the core issues and topics that emerged from the conversations we had when putting the publication together. This time (Fall 2025) they're all united by AI. They are: infrastructure automation arriving for AI, the rise of agents elevated by MCP, AI coding workflows and emerging AI antipatterns.

On this episode of the Technology Podcast, Bryan Oliver joins Neal Ford and Ken Mugrage to discuss all four of volume 33's themes. They dive into what they mean, how the team arrived at them and what they tell us about the state of software engineering and AI in 2025.

Read the latest Thoughtworks Technology Radar: thoughtworks.com/radar

Volume 33 will be published November 5, 2025.