My feelings on this topic are just super mixed, but to give context I've been doing fullstack/now mainly FE for 7~ years, and was super into programming growing up too. Pretty much all of it, I...
My feelings on this topic are just super mixed, but to give context I've been doing fullstack/now mainly FE for 7~ years, and was super into programming growing up too.
How has your work changed in the past year? How much of your daily work now involves LLM tools?
Pretty much all of it, I changed jobs recently because in my last role I could see the writing on the wall, they wanted us all to become "product engineers" and essentially stop thinking about the code at all, they even fired a few people who they didn't deem to be using AI enough. In my new role the approach to AI is far more engineer-led and I can actually keep doing things properly (for the most part), which is much more enjoyable. With that said a ticket that would've been given a 5 or 6 day scoring previously now will get like a 3 because the company expects the code to just appear even for big features, which it does, usually... so that adds a certain amount of pressure to deliver more.
Are you enjoying your work more, less, or the same? Has your relationship with work changed in general?
Definitely less, but to be honest it's hard to separate my enjoyment of work and AI with my growing general disinterest in tech. The last few years especially I've drifted away from enjoying coding for fun and it's become just a job, but I'm fortunate to work in this industry regardless. In general I think AI models are just morally wrong, they only really exist because of the millions of hours of free labour people uploaded to the internet. With that said using them is now unavoidable, there's one or two people at my company that refuse to use them and I don't see their careers lasting until retirement (which is a long way away for me unfortunately..), other companies may be different.
Do you feel like you’re working more or less now? The same?
The same really, but my output is definitely higher thanks to the LLMs.
Are you hopeful or fearful of the future (let’s say next 5 years) of SWE? Mixed?
The industry will go on, I wouldn't say either really. There's always going to be software that needs writing (and fixing). Now we're writing software faster we can also do things incorrectly faster. I do fear for the next generation as at the moment there is essentially no hiring whatsoever of junior engineers, but that could also be a wider economic thing as no industry is really hiring young people at the moment. I do think it will pick up again, but the roles might look quite different.
Have you found any useful tips or advice for thriving in the current landscape?
Don't ignore AI completely and try and block it out, unless you have other career options lined up anyway. I'd be surprised if there's a company left in a few years that isn't using AI at all.
Has your career trajectory changed? Do you plan on seeking out different types of roles?
I feel lucky to have already been working for quite a few years before AI became a thing so I don't feel completely insecure, but will software engineering exist as a career for 30+ years until I can retire? I really don't know, I wish I could predict the future. If I was 18 again and looking at the current state of the software industry, I wouldn't be going into it, I'd be learning something closer to the hardware like electrical engineering. I've been doing a ton of quite heavy DIY recently and really enjoying it, so a trade would be my backup but I can see that being tricky to get into too.
My feelings on this topic are just super mixed, but to give context I've been doing fullstack/now mainly FE for 7~ years, and was super into programming growing up too.
Pretty much all of it, I changed jobs recently because in my last role I could see the writing on the wall, they wanted us all to become "product engineers" and essentially stop thinking about the code at all, they even fired a few people who they didn't deem to be using AI enough. In my new role the approach to AI is far more engineer-led and I can actually keep doing things properly (for the most part), which is much more enjoyable. With that said a ticket that would've been given a 5 or 6 day scoring previously now will get like a 3 because the company expects the code to just appear even for big features, which it does, usually... so that adds a certain amount of pressure to deliver more.
Definitely less, but to be honest it's hard to separate my enjoyment of work and AI with my growing general disinterest in tech. The last few years especially I've drifted away from enjoying coding for fun and it's become just a job, but I'm fortunate to work in this industry regardless. In general I think AI models are just morally wrong, they only really exist because of the millions of hours of free labour people uploaded to the internet. With that said using them is now unavoidable, there's one or two people at my company that refuse to use them and I don't see their careers lasting until retirement (which is a long way away for me unfortunately..), other companies may be different.
The same really, but my output is definitely higher thanks to the LLMs.
The industry will go on, I wouldn't say either really. There's always going to be software that needs writing (and fixing). Now we're writing software faster we can also do things incorrectly faster. I do fear for the next generation as at the moment there is essentially no hiring whatsoever of junior engineers, but that could also be a wider economic thing as no industry is really hiring young people at the moment. I do think it will pick up again, but the roles might look quite different.
Don't ignore AI completely and try and block it out, unless you have other career options lined up anyway. I'd be surprised if there's a company left in a few years that isn't using AI at all.
I feel lucky to have already been working for quite a few years before AI became a thing so I don't feel completely insecure, but will software engineering exist as a career for 30+ years until I can retire? I really don't know, I wish I could predict the future. If I was 18 again and looking at the current state of the software industry, I wouldn't be going into it, I'd be learning something closer to the hardware like electrical engineering. I've been doing a ton of quite heavy DIY recently and really enjoying it, so a trade would be my backup but I can see that being tricky to get into too.