Comment by dspillett | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dspillett | Hacker News Reader

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No idea. I'm doing the “running away, worrying about the to later” thing to an extent. I'm thoroughly burned out so the first thing I'll do is take a break to rest my head and sort a few personal things. The mortgage is paid, I have a small but useful chunk of savings, and no dependents apart from the cats, so I have the luxury of being able to seriously consider that.

I'm not qualified for anything else that isn't also remote, full of AI and getting more so, or both, so I may quite literally end up waiting tables, I have friends who can help me skip the queue there with an “he's a good bloke” recommendation. While I was in hospital recently (gallbladder trouble and liver infection) talking to one of the porters who was wheeling to & from the CT scanner, they apparently need more bodies ATM, I could certainly do that (other than the temporary issue I was in there for I'm fit & healthy) and might actually find some enjoyment in it. Both involve dealing with real people who are in the room with me. Anything I do once I leave here will be result in a massive pay cut, but if the change saves my sanity then that will have to be acceptable.

Yeah sincerely good luck. Thought of this a few times but so far I can still sincerely say I still love the game, grind, and hustle. Upper management and immediate TL has been pretty pushy when it comes to GenAI use tho; almost every 1:1 comes with the question of if and what I discovered about AI lately. I have no idea how to answer the question honestly and my stock phrases are starting to show signs of wear at least in my mind. Flat out saying no comes with a canned admonition about how it improves productivity.

I don't contest productivity benefits and there's a time and place for Claude in my workflow but I fear sooner or later they will start tracking if we fired up Claude for the day. Half joking. But it makes 1:1s even more awkward now when I have to put on a show for the GenAI parade.

> Yeah sincerely good luck.

Thanks. I might need it!

> sooner or later they will start tracking if we fired up Claude for the day

We track who uses what AI and how much. For billing/expense tracking purposes, as we've gone from “use it as much as you can” to “use it as much as you need to but don't waste it”, but there will be a table somewhere with my name in the bottom section next to a bit fat 0.

> has been pretty pushy when it comes to GenAI use tho … Flat out saying no comes with …

You'll have to deal with that or get out, eventually, how soon depends on your management. AI is not going away, even when/if the costs rise when all that investment capital starts being clawed back. If it is any help in choosing an exit strategy: under UK employment law (if you are elsewhere you'll have to verify how things work in your jurisdiction) they can't force you to use AI or punish/sack you for not as it can be argued to be a material change of role (as it is described as revolutionary, or in less breathy terms “like becoming a manager”, etc.) not just a different tool. But if you refuse then the same argument can be used to make you redundant (“we need more AI people and fewer traditional devs, traditional devs are being declared redundant, would you like to switch roles instead?” would be perfectly legal). As much as the payout for my long years in the same place would be nice, personally I don't think I can sit it out long enough for that to happen.

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