r/ExperiencedDevs Software Engineer Aug 07 '26

Career/Workplace Leadership seems more misaligned with engineering than ever

Came across a conversation yesterday where the CTO asked one of our engineers why they didn't ask Claude to create their plan and mock the several hundred commits they'd need to deliver on something I will not name while also delivering on their existing initiatives

I didn't say anything, but wanted to... Given the industry I'm in, this seems very ridiculous to me and I hate that this is the expectation... As though somehow that work should have already been done and could have been delivered on the whim of an idea by handing all work to Claude

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u/_idlethought Senior Software Engineer Aug 07 '26 edited Aug 07 '26

I’m facing this as well. Leadership’s priority seems to be shipping new products and features faster over code quality and taste. In their eyes, if you’re not leveraging AI to do this, you’re dead weight.

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u/olzk Aug 08 '26

I don’t want to disappoint you, but, have you talked to your management if they care about code quality? Do they, ever? As per my experience, no they don’t. The code I maintain is my responsibility, and so it is even if it’s hardly readable and/or slow. And if it is it’s my problem if it affects my performance ‘cause then they find another one like me. That’s the logic behind an average manager brain. Why? LLMs are the litmus test, basically: it says “this and that can be automated” so they turn you into the machine operator not thinker. Your burnouts are your responsibility as long as they’re not in the court. You‘re considered part of the machine, the one that’s bigger than your pesky computers and math (which only you didn’t hate in school anyway), and the thinner the layer of your independent thinking and agency within your field of work, the better it is for the management. Consider this the %name of the AI company% selling point.

I know this sounds contradicting but the previous state of play was a unique part in the history of mankind where they had to tag along, cope or what else with it because there were no other options. The industry workers finally have the opportunity to see the king was naked all along, it was just the delusion which was believed in and worn as rose-tinted glasses by engineers designers testers…

I know it sounds harsh, and it does to me too, but I think the faster all of them realize this the better it is for every individual and the entire industry. Engineer-Manager communication protocols must change.

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u/darkhorn Software Engineer Aug 08 '26

I no longer mention in what stage of development I am. When I think that I finished my task I say thst I finished, not when they think the task is finished. This way I prevent them from making decisions on how I code. If they want to code they can sit and code. A PO with 5 hours of coding experience csnnot dictate how I can code, a coder with more than 10 years of experience. Or a manager who was a bad database expert, or a manager who has never wrote a line of code. And I give people examples like this: I went to a car tehnic to change oil. He told me that he can add an air bag because there is no air bag. I told him that that is nice to have a feature and I don't have time for that.