No offense, but great software engineers will not agree with you that code is just mechanical. It has a mechanical component, but building great software is not the same as being a great ux designer plus mechanical code. Those are just the edges. There's much more in between that you are leaving out, and that's where great programmers live.

This vibecoding craze is just the same delusion that JavaScript has been inflicting for a long time on steroids—deluding people playing with ui tinker toys and application frameworks into thinking they are engineers.

Not saying that's you, but don't fall into that trap. The only way to become a great software engineer is to learn the machines, networks, data structures, algorithms, patterns and practices deeply while writing lots and lots of interesting programs.

Your not going to get that vibing.

Software engineering and architecture are an art that must be practiced to be learned