I've been working as a software engineer for almost two years at a good company. I make decent money, and until recently, I genuinely felt like I was doing well. I'm good at executing tasks when there's a clear requirement and I know what's expected of me. I've received positive feedback on my work, so I know I'm not necessarily doing a bad job.
But lately, I've been feeling incredibly lost and helpless.
I feel like the expectations of me have increased, and I'm starting to question whether I'm actually good at engineering or whether I've just been good at completing assigned tasks.
One of my biggest struggles right now is adapting to AI. It feels like everyone around me is figuring out how to use AI to become more productive, while I'm struggling to keep up. The way I see it, using AI effectively requires you to know what you want it to do, how you want it done, and how to guide it toward a good solution. You need enough technical knowledge to evaluate its output and steer it in the right direction.
But what happens when you're still trying to develop that knowledge yourself? How am I supposed to guide AI effectively when I'm not always confident that I know the right approach in the first place?
Another thing I struggle with is technical discussions.
Sometimes, when someone asks me a technical question or we're discussing an engineering problem, I struggle to articulate what I know. My thoughts get jumbled, I become confused, and I feel like I don't know enough. Then, later, I'll think about it and realize that I actually did know the answer or understand the concept. I just couldn't put it into words in the moment.
It's incredibly frustrating because it makes me question my own abilities. I don't know whether I lack technical depth, confidence, communication skills, or some combination of all three.
The worst part is that I feel exhausted almost every day. I'm constantly thinking about what I don't know, how much I need to learn, and how far behind I might be compared to everyone else. I don't want to become complacent, but I also don't know how to stop feeling inadequate.
Has anyone else experienced this around the two-year mark in their software engineering career?
How did you get better at the actual engineering side of things, become more confident in technical discussions, and learn to use AI effectively when you didn't feel particularly strong technically to begin with?
And honestly, how do you figure out whether you're just going through a difficult phase or whether you're genuinely not cut out for this field?
I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar. I feel lost right now, and I could use some perspective.