Vibe Coding Finland: April meetup with Antilooppi at VERK

Welcome to our April meetup in Helsinki, arranged together with Antilooppi (https://antilooppi.fi/).

Schedule:
17:00 Doors open!

17:30 Welcome words by organizers and Antilooppi

17:40 "From Layoff to $9K/Month: Lessons from Building and Selling Mobile Apps"
by Steven Phuc, indie developer

In today’s tech industry, job security feels increasingly uncertain. Whether unemployed or still employed, many people are facing layoffs or constant pressure to adapt.

After being laid off as a React web developer, Steven spent months trying different paths — web projects, SaaS ideas, and experiments that didn’t gain traction.

Eventually, he shifted focus to building consumer mobile apps, learning everything from product direction to distribution through trial and error.

Within about a year, his apps reached around $9,000 in monthly revenue.

This talk shares a practical and honest roadmap from uncertainty to sustainable product income — covering key lessons, failures, and what actually mattered.

If you’re curious about turning ideas into real products and interested in this path, this talk is for you.

*5 min break*

18:15 "Vibe Coding Without Losing Your Edge", Johanna Wäänänen, Founder, Systemic, PhD Researcher

At the same time as AI rushed into our everyday work, I started my PhD research on how human physiology shapes cognitive performance.

That overlap made me notice, that AI is not just changing how we work or code. It’s changing how we think and feel.

We’ll explore a question especially relevant for coding:

• Why can coding with AI make your brain feel… a bit like mush?
• And more importantly: What can we do about it?

My hope is that by exploring this together, we can share practical ways to maintain clear, high-quality thinking while working with AI.
We’ll look at how to:

• stay sharp to move fast
• use AI to extend your thinking and not replace it
• keep your edge in a world where AI is everywhere

This is a phenomenon worth understanding to k