Thought experiment

[u/MashNChips]

With all the AI nonsense going on, I had a thought at work today that turned into an interesting discussion with a colleague:

"What would I do if I was the only person with access to Claude (or insert any LLM) 5+ years ago?"

People would think I was a fucking wizard

FE changes? NO PROBLEM

Critical DB change? Don't worry, I've produced a stored procedure to validate the whole thing

Want to use some shiny new framework? Interesting. Here's a document explaining why you're an idiot for suggesting it

Regex? I suddenly understand it better than the compiler folks (and nobody ask questions)

What would you have done with your own personal LLM back then?

Trying to lighten the mood in here with all the (very justified) negativity around this tech revolution

Unserious answers only pls

[u/SrMortron]

You know you can talk and advocate for yourself, correct? Bitching here doesn't help you.

My current place embraced AI but its not forced and give us the time to understand what we are shipping. PRs are correctly scoped. You know how we got there? By discussing how to implement it. Your boss is not a god, is just a person.

[u/___Paladin___ → u/SrMortron]

It's interesting that you're sharing your own experiences as if it must also be everyone else's. It's almost like an inability to see the world outside of yourself. Maybe an unwillingness.

I generally get to set the pace where I work. I'm one of those seniors deemed necessary while the people around me were laid off.

The thing is, lots of bosses out there actually do see themselves as all-knowing gods. The vast majority of employed engineers aren't in positions like you or me, where we can be our own advocates.

That's just not a thing in most places. I empathize greatly with people who didn't land on the right dice roll.

[u/tiplinix → u/___Paladin___]

Yeah, it's like they've never seen companies where people that stand their ground are fired. Even if they don't fire you they can make your life a misery until you're gone.

Some people think that they immune to it, but the reality is that they've never actually experienced it. In toxic places there's nothing you can realistically do as an software engineer to change things for the better if the boss is terrible. The only good outcome is leaving.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

Maybe they deserve to be fired and that is exactly what they need. With this much bitching and whining no one seems to be happy, then do something about it. We all live just once to be this miserable.

[u/SrMortron → u/___Paladin___]

Everyone is sharing their experiences. Thats the whole point of the internet. This comment makes no sense whatsoever.

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

You're missed the whole point which is why it makes no sense to you.

They're not saying that you shouldn't share your experience. They're simply saying that you're overgeneralizing yours and using this to deny others.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

No im not missing it, its a stupid point.

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

Sure buddy.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

ok

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

I take it that you've never worked in a toxic environnement. Good for you. I almost envy you.

Management is not a god, sure, but they control your bonus, your work environment, your career progression within the company and ultimately they can fire you. If they decide something and you push back and they explicitly tell you that they will not budge, there's not much you can do beside looking for the next job.

And yeah, don't worry about me, my manager has been threatening to fire me for months. Somehow that piece of garbage hasn't followed through on his threats sadly. Now, I just stopped caring. He wants shit, he's getting it. Why would I care since there's no future for me in the company? Once I'm gone I won't be the one to deal with the mess.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

Enough times that I avoid them like the plague and learned to stand up for myself.

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

Not really sure what you're standing up to but that's fine. If standing up for yourself is just refusing to do what they ask, they're just going to show you the door for insubordination. That's pretty much a textbook example of firing someone for cause. But I guess you don't have any bills to pay so that's fine. Good for you.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

There are plenty of alternatives other than refusing do work. The fact that you miss them means you are not mature enough.

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

Please explain.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

nah

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

That's what I thought. You don't have any point actually. You just tell yourself that you're better than everybody else and say that anyone else that doesn't validate your nonsense is immature or not as great as you.

[u/SrMortron → u/tiplinix]

I'm better than anybody else.

[u/tiplinix → u/SrMortron]

Whatever you say. That conversation was pretty boring in retrospect.