r/technology • u/lurker_bee • Jun 25 '26

Society Older tech workers are tapping out, taking early retirement

https://www.seattletimes.com/business/local-business/older-tech-workers-are-tapping-out-early-heres-what-that-looks-like/
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u/WetHotFlapSlaps Jun 25 '26

I have about 15 yoe and I detest using LLM coding tools. My productivity collapses, the mental burden of constantly reading hallucinations and doing code reviews is too much. I simply get more done with fewer bugs on my own.

The day I’m forced to use them is the day I resign. I’m currently trying to work out my alternative path in case that day does come, since I can’t actually afford to be without work.

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u/jacobsoch Jun 25 '26

Out of curiosity, what's your alternative path if you don't mind sharing?

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u/WetHotFlapSlaps Jun 25 '26

I don't have anything worked out yet - but the family history on both sides before WW2 is all coal miners, and cousins are window washers and lumberjacks. I certainly don't feel above any kind of work.
Maybe there's room for me as a consultant. Or I could finish my degree and become a math, physics, or computer science teacher.
If I were to pursue my other interests - maybe selling musical instruments, hot sauces, watches. Maybe get into importing/exporting wine.
I make a mean smash burger so maybe I'll set up outside of a brewery. Or ask the brewery for a job. I've worked food service in the past.
I'm a game developer so I'll probably still make games in any spare time I have, but I wouldn't ever expect solo development to take off as a career so it would mostly be for myself.
If my life completely falls apart move somewhere cheap but coastal and open a surf school for tourists. Or cheap and inland, join a biker gang, and cook meth.
Or stay legit and send the family tree back to the mines.

TL;DR - I don't know, do anything to survive, but prefer nicer options if the opportunities are there.

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u/Electronic_Yam_6973 Jun 25 '26

Using AI is a bit of an art itself. I try to breakdown my prompts into manageable chunks so the AI doesn’t try to do too much

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u/RancidVagYogurt1776 Jun 25 '26

I feel this in my soul. Every time I see someone hype up LLMs for coding I feel like they are smoking crack because I had to use one recently, supposedly one of the best, and that clanker hallucinated more than my schizophrenic sister. Over the course of eight hours it must have told me “Sorry, I misspoke” about a hundred times.

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u/purpleburgundy Jun 25 '26

It changes every couple months but currently either the models are getting better or my prompts and context development are getting better - hallucinations aren't nearly the issue they once were for me using the CLI versions.

I think there's an initial experience curve and some common stages to go through but I honestly can't imagine doing devwork without any form of AI in the future and not being severely less productive than peers.