Episode 506: I hate my job with AI and my team-mate thinks I suck
From Soft Skills Engineering by Jamison Dance and Dave Smith
March 30, 2026 · 41 min
About this episode
Dave and Jamison discuss job dissatisfaction in software engineering and team dynamics.
In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi Djavison, I’ve heard y’all say something along the lines of “this is the most exciting time to build software” in a few recent episodes. I’m glad that has been your experience and seems to be the experience of many others. But for me as someone 5 years into the career who is, thankfully, employed—I can’t help mourning a job that no longer exists. Obviously, there are still lots of us with the job title “software engineer” that create software. But, what I originally fell in love with doesn’t really seem like a thing you can get paid to do anymore. I now spend most of my development time reviewing code and making sure things work. Which feels way less rewarding and way more soul-sucking. Maybe I’m just nostalgic for being a more junior developer, but it’s obvious that our jobs have changed forever and will continue to evolve. So, my question is: How can I get excited and feel passionate about this new way of doing things? I am a senior team lead with 10+ years of experience. This is the first time I’ve had a team mate that clearly disrespects me. I have a Middle+ teammate who is technically perfectionistic and openly…
People in this episode
Hosts: Dave, Jamison
Topics covered
- job satisfaction
- software engineering
- team dynamics
- career evolution
- technical excellence
Keywords
- software engineer
- job satisfaction
- team lead
- technical excellence
- career change
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