In a social media post, the techie lamented that he didn’t want to live this way, where he was subjected to endless meetings and unrealistic deadlines. A software engineer with seven years of experience said he was considering leaving the industry due to the constant pressure to upscale with the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) tools.
A software engineer with seven years experience considers quitting IT due to AI-driven pressure and anxiety.
“I want to just leave IT and do something else. I am tired of constantly upskilling and keeping up with the pace how technology is growing and since AI has come into picture the management and people have no idea what realistic timelines look like. The lines of roles are almost blur one person is expected to do everyone’s job,” the techie wrote. “Every day I wake up with fast heartbeat and feel like I should run away from work. I feel my entire life is just going in work and nothing is outside it. On weekends I just end up resting to recover and don’t feel like going out and the day I take leave, I just feel weird that what should I even do? I can’t even think of doing something else apart from work. Having decided to get out of this ‘suffocating’ lifestyle, the techie sought help from the internet regarding alternative career paths he could pursue to lead a tension-free life.
“The working hours are almost 12 in real and 9 on paper.
The techie said the rise of AI may have made coding easier, but it has also given the companies an unrealistic view of how much productive work can actually be produced by an individual. Highlighting that he was under duress the entirety of the week, the techie said it was ‘weird’ that he could not think of doing something else beyond the work in his downtime. The meetings, scrum calls, updates, deadlines and status calls give me anxiety and this is an everyday occurrence,” he said.
As the post gained traction, social media users were divided, with a section advising the techie to stay put, while others telling him to look for management opportunities. “Feeling the same bro. Once you are into the salary trap, it’s not easy to escape. Constant upskilling is needed in any industry. Be it your own or someone else’s. If not yet done. In case you have dependents, cover them and yourself with proper health insurance before pivoting. But there are many alternate career paths with this much experience. You can try and look for options like management-oriented or business-oriented, where companies do need people with technical experience.”
A third commented: “Brother, stay in IT for 2-3 years till you accumulate your Rs 1 crore. A fourth said: “7 years of experience is quite a lot dude, and you have invested so much in this industry.
Every day, anxiety levels are reaching the next level, increase in the frequency of scrums and 1:1s with the manager is also adding to it,” said one user, while another added: “There is no such thing as easy money, unfortunately.
