She finds a cheaper and more attentive rubber duck to replace the need for a live human being to discuss code with. How cost effective!
Clever, too, as a short term fix and focus, and it helped her to appreciate her real live coworkers when she returned from her "two month sabbatical of sorts".
Glancing over at his office and observing his day-old beard, I'm going to go way out on a limb here and suggest that Tyler is, in fact, male.