AI Made Me Hate My Job… Then I Found New Joy

A few weeks ago, we had a regular company meeting. Nothing dramatic, until my boss said: “We should use way more AI for software development. We need to speed up.”

It makes sense. I get it.

Still, I felt this heavy drop in my stomach. I was afraid that AI would replace the part of me that loved this job.

Because I absolutely love to write the code myself! I love the struggles, thinking the solution through, finding all the places I have to consider, and then, at the end, feeling like Einstein himself when it’s finally working.

Also, AI does so many stupid things: It forgets to update related files. It “helpfully” invents patterns inconsistent with the codebase. It tries to complete the task, but it doesn’t realize when the task itself doesn’t make sense. It writes plausible tests that assert the wrong behavior. The ways AI can mess up are infinite!

People Don’t Pay for Code. They Pay for Outcomes.

And yet… on a good day, it saves me hours, and honestly, people do not pay me for being someone who codes or for having fun at work. The customer pays me for solving their needs. Management pays me for building a product that sells.

I started to notice a subtle resentment building up. I could see the direction clearly: less time for careful thinking, less pride in the craft, more pressure to “just ship,” and my role drifting from builder to operator.

For the first time in years, I caught myself thinking: If this is the future of my work, will I still want to do it?

Onto a journey to find Joy

I was recently on vacation and had time to step back and think. I realized that if AI is going to handle most of the actual coding, then there must be other things that can be fun, I mean my colleagues who do not code at all seem to enjoy their work. So I decided to look for the things that make me enjoy my work besides coding, and I found plenty!

Joy #1: Solving Real Problems for Real People

Taking ownership in not just the code, but the product you are building puts you right back at the driver’s seat. Helping someone, clarifying what they truly need, and shipping something that makes their day easier still feels deeply satisfying. And it’s meaningful to challenge assumptions, because it actually makes a difference to build the right thing, even if you are not building it by hand.

Joy #2: AI Craftsmanship

I always thought that using AI means my own acquired knowledge and craftsmanship just was replaced, but in actuality it also is real craftsmanship to use AI well. Instead of trying to be better at my original craft, I can instead try to become better at producing with AI. I can gain knowledge and experience in setting constraints, feeding it the right context and giving it the right tools. If AI is going to stay, then I better become one of the best at using it.

Joy #3: Ensuring Quality

AI can write a lot of wrong code really fast. It can make wrong architecture decisions or write something in a thousand lines when it shouldn’t be more than a hundred. That’s why I’ve started finding joy in quality ownership. One way to do that is going through a proper research and planning phase with the AI, asking it for solution proposals and then making an implementation plan together. Another is to do proper code reviews, catching issues early before the customer has to. As a German, I’ve always resonated with the craftsmanship mindset: precision, reliability, and doing things right even when nobody is watching.

Conclusion

AI increased my throughput, but it also changed what feels meaningful and enjoyable about my work. I’m learning to shift my identity from “writer of code” to “builder of product outcomes” and this can also be a lot of fun.

The joy didn’t disappear. It changed its location.

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