Challenge Is Gone
A software engineer reflects on his loss of interest in traditional engineering challenges now that artificial intelligence can automate complex coding tasks. He notes that his previous drive to build products from scratch has diminished as AI agents handle the heavy lifting.
Why it matters
This perspective illustrates the profound psychological and professional shift developers are experiencing as generative AI changes the nature of software creation.
All my life I have consciously and unconsciously strived for different things. Consciously, I pursued the goals society set for me: make money, be useful, have children, and so on.
My unconscious goal was always the same: to challenge myself and try to succeed. It might seem that my conscious and unconscious goals complement each other perfectly, and in part that's true. The only question is which challenges I chose for myself.
I spent a lot of resources (money, time, and possibly health) building my own businesses, none of which became successful. Only by the age of 35 did I begin to understand why. (Yes, I'm not a very fast thinker.)
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