I haven't updated this website in a long time. I return to it weary and hungry for sanctuary. I started this blog several years ago during a four month career break, a brief respite before boarding a new ship that took me on a three year journey that has concluded with another sabbatical. I don't know how long this break will last, and I am in the process of making peace with the prospect of leaving the software industry indefinitely.
I've always found the corporate way of life to be a tribulation, but the accelerated consumer viability of LLMs has transformed it into a kind of hell that I'm no longer certain I can tolerate. The startup space, of which I've been a part of for the past 5 years of my career, has been particularly devastated.
The week of Christmas, I was handed a 50+ page Claude generated feature set proposal, teeming with invalid system assumptions and nonsensical mockups. I was tasked with providing implementation estimates on behalf of my team. This was the beginning of the end. Over the next several months, I became increasingly buried in an avalanche of drivel. Design drivel. Code drivel. Communication drivel. Bad ideas were given wings. "This is the way it is now". "If we don't increase our usage of these tools we will be left behind".
I did my best to lead by example. I continued to review code, designs, and proposals thoughtfully; despite knowing that they were not created with a comparable level of care. This asymmetry eventually started to chip away at me. I began to question why I cared so much about quality. After all, I'm paid the same regardless of my level of passion.
But, passion is what had originally made this career worthwhile to me. No matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to force myself to stop caring. I am not, apparently, able to "quiet quit". I am also not willing to offload my cognition to a language model. I will allow Copilot to complete thoughts already in motion, if I must, but I will not spend what remains of my short life babysitting "agents".
Towards the middle of the year, I resigned. I'm not sure that I'll return to software, and I'm not sure what I'll do next. The thought of a career change in my early 30s is harrowing, and I am bitter that I have expended so much time and energy aboard a sinking ship. But, I am adaptable and I will prevail. I know that I am not alone in this journey and I look forward to connecting with more people in the community who are facing similar trials.
Onwards 🚢