foo for thought

I’m sitting here at my software engineering remote job noticing a trend. Since AI replaced coding, I have no longer had to lock in. No hour long coding sessions, no rubber duck sessions with coworkers. I just divert my attention elsewhere while Claude figures out where the problem is and implement a fix.

Unfortunately, losing this impacts my job greatly. I’ve always been bad at focusing on things. I can’t play a strategic game like chess without forgetting a crucial line, I could never sit through a lecture in college and retain a single morsel of information. The only things I could ever focus on were things that I really had to focus on – like coding projects, tight deadlines, stuff that your brain sends you into panic for anyways. Of course I can focus on these because, well at that point I have no choice.

The other stuff, though? I’ve never been good at it, not even now. Even at my job – I get excited about coding, but revising my code over and over to meet quality standards almost feels like watching paint dry. It’s undoubtedly a prerequisite for creating quality software, I’m extremely aware of that. But, it seems like others on my team are way more passionate about this than myself. I’m more passionate about higher level things like product design, how customers see this on the other end, and really if what we’re making actually matters at all.

So those rubber duck sessions, those head-down coding hours I used to have – those were my times to lock in. Those were my times to be connected with the work I was doing, because those were the times I was forced to focus on one thing for a longer period of time. It didn’t happen a ton, but it happened enough to where I liked being a software engineer. I knew I was always going to get another project that not only excited me, but engrossed me into several long coding sessions to get the task done.

Now, I’m facing an extremely weird psychological block with the rise of AI. Claude can now code for me. The hours I’d usually spend on tough implementations, it just does for me in a couple minutes. The rubber duck sessions I used to have with coworkers I now have with a robot. The times where I was forced to lock in because it was a prerequisite of the job are now gone, I no longer am required to focus intensely on coding to complete a task.

This bothers me. I can’t quite put my finger on exactly why, I’ve seen people try – but I think it’s a bit more complex than “coding is a sacred art and I’m the modern Picasso” or whatever X bros are saying. For me, writing lines of code was what made me feel productive. It gave me the satisfaction at the end of the day that I positively contributed to my team. That satisfaction that lets you close your eyes at night and start the next day on a positive note.

Since Opus 4.6, I haven’t had that satisfaction. Despite still making PRs and pushing features, I don’t feel like I’m actually do anything. I feel like I’m just asking someone else to do something and then micromanaging them.

About me – I thrive much more as an individual contributor rather than a people manager. I know this because a project I worked on right after college wedged me into a leadership role, since I was the domain expert of the front-end code for it. I suddenly, stopped caring about the project. Not because I wasn’t doing anything – I still was – it just was a different form than I was used to. The work I did was helping other people do work, it wasn’t me doing anything technically. And that bugged the hell out of me. I remember talking to the professor at my university who was running this project, and he sternly told me that if I wanted to take on this role, then I had to own the manager position. If I wanted to be technical that was fine, but I couldn’t try to do both. So, I left that position quickly after (for context I don’t think I got paid anyways and I was starting my real job soon so partially timing). I realized that I liked coding too much to step away from it.

My job as a software engineer the past five years has been as an individual contributor. But, it has dramatically changed with AI. I am still technically an individual contributor, but I feel like I did at that post-college job where I’m wedged into a “manager” position – I now am the manager of Claude. I’m losing the satisfaction I used to get when making features, finding bugs across large domains.

And even when I do catch something that the AI doesn’t, it doesn’t matter to me. I can’t help but feel like the AI didn’t catch it because of a fluke. Because the models aren’t that advanced, but they will be eventually. If you would tell me right now that ChatGPT 5.4 is the most advanced AI will ever get, I would feel an immense wave of relief and comfort in my current role, because yeah, currently I don’t think AI replaces the full skill set of a software engineer. Everyone on my team has figured that out too. It’s insanely impressive, but it can’t quite do the super tricky problems yet.

But in my mind, it’s only a matter of time. I didn’t even think AI would be coding for me this early on in my career, there’s no way I’m ready for what’s going to come. There’s no way anyone is. That’s the scary part. I don’t like doing things for no reason. When a project gets cancelled at Microsoft and we still have to roll it out for telemetry temporarily (this is happening right now), this feels kind of awful, and I’ve told management this. Whether the feature building is valid or not is not really in my knowledge reserve, that’s up to people that know more about product than myself. But as an engineer who makes stuff that’s going to have the stuff get ripped apart in a month, yeah it feels pointless obviously.

And, it feels like all the work I do now “myself” outside the skill set of the AI will be replaced in just a few months, weeks, or even days. So to me, it feels pointless to feel pride in my work, because it won’t be mine for much longer. It will be up to Claude someday, I won’t even have a say in the stuff I do now. This is a very “pessimistic” outlook on the AI race I guess, but I just know that there are so many insane people developing at a velocity so inconceivably high because they’re now equipped with AI super-cannons – unless 100% of them fail, it’s not looking good I think.

Again though – there’s still merit in being a software engineer, for now. I can’t just lay back in my chair and watch AI do everything for me with perfect accuracy. Trust me, I’ve tried, and failed miserably. My team pretty much agrees on this despite using Claude Code as their main driver, and I respect my coworkers a ton – all super smart people.

I’m not sure how I’m going to regain focus without locking in anymore. But somehow, someway, I think we’ll figure it out. Might just take some time.