Time off

Software industry comes through difficult time. Mostly due to usage of AI and its consequences on software and organization as a whole. I decided to take some time off the industry to think of my next steps.

I got into programming around 2015 when JS was at its prime when it comes to reinventing the wheel and introducing a new framework every 3 months. It was wild time but also quite interesting due to the amount of variety on the market. In the context of Poland more so as the economy was booming and cities were changing substantially. I was feeling changes and embraced them. Read through every tech portal worth reading.

People were still present in the offices. I remember vividly being junior and spam all my colleagues questions about basically anything which they patiently handled. Working in 25 square meter room with 5 people whom you know inside out after 2 years together. I have not imagined how much things will change. And how much I would miss it in 10 years.

Intention

I think there’s something really powerful in learning straight from other people who gained experience through sweat and long debugging sessions. The passion and intention. I think the intention is lacking in what industry is going through due to AI bubble. Half baked products with loads of bugs to fix and not a single line properly understood by the team that is supposed to maintain it.

Covid

I guess covid hit everyone equally. It was brutal. But also, office felt like a distraction due to open space approach. Everyone welcomed work from home as a great thing. I did too. But we still talked a lot, shared knowledge, asked how it should have been done.

Sloppy progress

Last 3 years were a blur. All my work colleagues got super hyped over AI. Installing cursor, deepseek, windsurf and what not. At the same time being amazed by my short 3 line bash script to find what you need in 3GB log file. And something subtle started happening. Tests that assert nothing valuable started popping. PRs so big its hard to read through them.

All I cared about is to get better at programming which got less and less understood. Cult of delivery took over companies. My passion faded away due to new realities I got myself in. I sleeped less my mental state got bad. Hence, I started to plan my way out. Decompress. Just do it in the old way for fun.

I miss people

For past 5 years I worked remotely with clients from United States and Sweden. And I loved it. Until I locked myself into my room for days, weeks, even months.

First year or two were lovely, I had a blast! But over time it got less fun. I do realize I have autism and tendency for such behavior. Routine of going to some place for work and going back was clearing the mind. Separated work from life.

Break

Most sane decission at the moment is to hit a break pedal and reorganize my life. Reconnect with old friends and have some fun. I am not sure what future brings. I have some savings and gonna live off them for now.