Right now tools like Cursor, Replit promise a lot but deliver next to zero value for non-technical people like myself.
I’m a non-technical person who ended up trying Cursor, Replit, OpenAI, Claude, and GitHub. I had a very specific goal in mind: stitching together various tools and applications into simple web interfaces that actually worked. Specifically, I was focused on creating two applications—a financial newsletter, and, given my extensive experience in HR Tech, a simple voice-based interviewer for first-round interviews for data labeling positions.
Let me start by saying I spent ~30 hours on both applications just trying to get a single working prototype with only one feature and one use case. Not two, three, or four—just one. My goal was to integrate existing APIs like EDGAR, Alphavantage, and OpenAI and wrap them neatly into a user-friendly interface. I wanted to stitch together existing tools, give specific prompts, and ensure a great UX.
Apart from creating a decent front end, nothing else worked, and by the end of the process, I was incredibly frustrated. I constantly ran into CSS and JavaScript errors. Even when vibe coding with my cousin, who is an engineer, we kept hitting roadblocks simply embedding the OpenAI 4o real-time API into a web app. Building the most basic backend turned into a nightmare of dependency issues.
Ultimately, it became clear to me that while creating front ends might be relatively straightforward, developing something truly functional demands significant help, deep technical knowledge, and considerable time. What’s the value for someone like me, who isn’t technical?
Am I really supposed to know when to edit venv, adjust gitignore, run npm commands, manage dependencies, or handle Git pushes and pulls? I tried all of this, begged for help wherever I could, and still couldn’t produce a fully functional prototype on my own.
I prompted, reprompted, and refined my queries to be extremely specific and narrow. While I made small bits of progress, in the end, I wasn’t able to build a fully working app. It was an extremely unpleasant experience!
Was I able to achieve things I couldn’t do before? Absolutely – I don’t think I could have ever created frontend screens, some working buttons with so much ease. But did I truly get value from these tools? Unfortunately, I have to say I got zero value out of them because it’s still incredibly hard for someone non-technical to create something genuinely useful.
I’m not going to stop trying, but my experience has been subpar, and I’d give a big fat zero to the value provided to me.
I understand building these companies and tools is hard, and I genuinely respect the effort people put in. However, when your marketing doesn’t align with your capabilities, it’s only fair to acknowledge that your product offers me no real value.
I’m not feeling the AGI run through my body right now but remain hopeful!
Rohan Manchanda 