Ask HN: Losing motivation to work in the IT field, need advice

5•trowa159•1h ago

Hello folks,

I am a senior Software Engineer working in the IT field for close to 16 years.

Before AI coding tools became prevalent, I enjoyed writing code, architecting software systems, and speaking to the stakeholders. These past 2 - 3 years, since companies have been using AI tools heavily, I noticed most of the work has been delegated to AI. It's just prompting it to do work while I monitor its inputs and outputs, then redefining the prompts.

This work flow really took away my passion and joy of writing and building software systems. I don't know where I am heading next... most of my friends either move on to work on their solopreneur journey or switch careers completely. I can say my passion for building software is definitely diminished due to heavy AI usage

Has anyone experienced this? How do you cope with it? Did you end up switching careers?

thanks for your comments :)

Comments

onion2k•1h ago

People who write code with AI are mostly just moving their time from coding to reviewing the output of AI. If you just keep coding you won't be seen as going any slower, and if your peers are bad at reviewing you'll look better than them because your output won't fail testing as much.

diamondap•20m ago

I feel the same way. I miss the joy of creative flow that came with architecting and solving problems. I also feel the entire computer tech industry is headed in the wrong direction. We're creating systems that are too complex to understand, that lack human discretion when it's most needed, and then we're turning over control of whole organizations to those systems.

onion2k has a point. You can still write a lot of code by hand, or at least write the interesting code by hand, but your output may fall behind your peers.

After 27 years in the industry, I've cut down to part-time software dev work, and I've enjoyed learning and doing more hands-on work, including bicycle and motorcycle repair. It's actually really nice to get away from the screen and the constant reading of internet garbage during those down times when I'm waiting for tests to run or an AI bot to come back with a response. My mind feels less polluted. But I'm not making money at my new hobbies.

My answer to your question is I don't know. But often, if you can free up some time and mental space, you'll find you start to drift toward other things that interest you.

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