In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

1. Hey Dave & Jamison,

   Long time listener. Love the podcast.

   I recently rejoined a remote team that I worked with in the past. I was super stoked to rejoin this team because they were collectively one of the most competent and technically excellent teams I’ve ever worked with. And they’re all genuinely nice people as well.

   I left the team before AI coding had really caught on, but coming back to the team has been a huge shock to me. Almost everyone now exclusively writes code with AI. PR descriptions are all AI generated, and code review has become copy-pasting AI-generated comments into GitHub.

   Being a remote team it was already hard to connect, but now it feels like almost all interactions are their AI assistant talking to my AI assistant.

   I’m not anti-AI, and I get that writing code with AI can be much quicker. But I’m struggling with the loss of what made the team feel good to work on, specifically the craftsmanship, level of engagement, and the learning from eachother. The product itself is still high quality (even if the codebase is less-so), but the process itself is a lot less enjoyable now.

   I don’t want to be the person who shows up after being away and immediately makes it everyone else’s problem that I miss the old way of doing things. But I’m having doubts if I want to be a part of this team.

   Is this just what software engineering looks like in remote organisations now? And should I expect most teams are now operating like this?

2. Hi Jamison and Dave,

   Love your podcast.

   I was recently hired as a mid-level full-stack developer with the promise of leading a new squad. On day one, I discovered management scrapped the squad idea and promoted an existing developer to sole lead instead.

   The team consists of this new lead, two 20-year VB6 veterans, and me. The codebase is lawless: direct DB access, fat controllers, 1-2K+ LOC classes everywhere (copy/pasted boilerplate) and severe Broken Access Control (OWASP #1) where authenticated users can extract anyone’s PII (full name, home address, phone number) via a simple email query string.

   My coworkers rely heavily on generative AI but do not review the output. They constantly commit “AI slop” that barely functions and introduces endless bugs. I used to clean it up, but I recently realized they care so little about the codebase that no one even notices if I stop. Add in a “Senior Product Manager” whose entire UX background is a three-month internship, who invents customer requirements to defend her inconsistent designs.

   I am already applying elsewhere.

   My questions:

   How do you handle a bait-and-switch of this magnitude?

   When the team cares so little that no one notices if you stop cleaning up their AI-generated bugs, how do you stay sane and professionally sharp while riding out the clock?

Show Notes

• https://tombedor.dev/human-attention-and-human-effort/

In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

1. Hi D&J! Question from Sweden!

   I’m a senior dev that have seen a lot of orgs without tech lead and/or staff engineer roles. I know some companies have them, but mostly newer more techy companies. Bigger older less techy companies usually have non-coding “architects”. Though that’s one title I have no good experience of, just neutral ones or worse :)

   In particular I’ve been in many teams without a tech lead (all developers are equal, no tiebreaker vote). It’s often successful due to a leader and/or consensus emerging organically and peacefully. I loathe the failure modes however: consensus abuse through veto (we can’t move discussion forward because someone explicitly actively disagrees, a “keeping the meeting hostage” situation), disagreement on technical priorities and choices (lowest common denominator it is…) or that the team is bickering and bikeshedding during technical discussions.

   Is this just a regional/cultural thing, or is it more about the type of org? Also would you say it’s to the detriment of these orgs to not have these “technical leadership hierarchies”?

   Thanks!

2. Hey Dave and Jameson, love the show. I’m a Software Engineer at a major tech company. The org is non technical. I consider myself pretty well rounded. I consistently hit my sprint goals, crush my story points, and even put in weekend commits when needed as well as talk but I dont look for conversations into work im too far away involved in. My direct manager thinks my output is good. He told me to work on communication, but the work and my drive is good.

   I have a relaxed demeanor in a high stress environment. Recently, I learned there are concerns that my “vibe” seems lazy and unengaged, and those concerns may have been shared with my skip-level manager. When my friend literally pulled up my raw metrics and story points to defend me, the friend had no answer, but just reiterated that it’s a “vibe thing.”

   It feels like a political target has been placed on my back by business people who don’t understand my work but hold corporate influence. I told my manager and he says im doing fine, and people will say what they say. Everyone talks, etc, and just to focus on his feedback.

   My question is: How do I fight a “vibe” complaint when the data says I’m crushing it? Should I cave and alter my lifestyle to play the corporate theater game, or do I double down on my metrics, lean on my manager, or dare them to try and figure out how valuable I am?

   Thanks, An Engineer Who Refuses to Look Bored

In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

1. I have been at a small startup company for 5 years now. It’s a very small technical team, 4 devs and a tech lead that contributes code & architecture. I am getting a small raise this week for my 5 years but it’s a smaller raise than I was expecting. We’re an all remote team across the globe but I had a dev co worker in the same city as me just leave the company. This has put more pressure on me as I’m the only dev in the primary time zone we operate in, everyone else is east coast or opposite side of the world. With the added pressure and some forward comments from me in one on ones with my tech lead I expected much more that I’m being offered.

   I think I’m supposed to quit my job but I’m terrified of that idea. This is my first job in the field and I love the work. The full stack startup experience is fun and I’ve learned so much, and I like my team a lot. I’ve never even applied to another position in tech yet, I got this one with the first application I sent out. That’s not even considering the current state of the field rapidly changing with AI and the general lack of jobs I am constantly hearing about in tech.

   Is there a world where I should tell my boss I’m thinking about leaving? I’ve become an integral part of the team I think that would result in movement upwards, but that sounds so risky if I haven’t even put in an application anywhere else. Should I take the old quit your job advice even when the field is so shaky?

   Thanks guys! And you reading the patreon names is the best part of my week too.

2. Hi there, I’m about 4 years into my career. I’m at my second job after leaving university. The first was at a firm under 50 employees and the current is at a firm with a global footprint and several thousand employees. Both are in Europe.

   I moved to Europe on a work visa as a pathway to citizenship. I’ve never felt like either my past or current employer has taken advantage of my situation, but it’s important that I keep my job.

   At both employers, I generally work one weekend day a week to meet expectations and keep on the promotion train. I’m not the only one; several of my colleagues do the same.

   For now I have the time to work late, as my significant other is back home. Soon they’ll be moving over, however, and they have made clear they will not be okay with me going into work every Saturday.

   Maybe I’m paranoid. Maybe the expectations at work aren’t clear. Maybe this is part of software. But basically, how do I get to a point where I can checkout on weekends and not feel guilty or like I’m falling behind?

   Do I need to work longer weekdays? Do I need to sacrifice promotions? Do I need to get better at saying no?