It seems to me that the dissenting voices from software engineers burned out after having the AI hype shoved down their throats have been growing louder lately. Just this week I read several posts both here (e.g. [1], [2]) and on Reddit (e.g. [3], [4]) with hundreds of comments from devs who have long moved past skepticism and ambivalence into one or more of the five stages of grief.

That's not to say they're the majority by any means: the "I am 100x more productive with AI," "I haven't hand-coded in months and love it," "adapt or become irrelevant" posts by True Believers haven't slowed down and still make up the lion's share, especially on places like LinkedIn, where voicing dissent can have real-world consequences for your job and future employability (I may have learned this the hard way after being laid off for nebulous "misalignment" reasons). But still, the non-believers, from mild skeptics to full-on haters, do seem more vocal than, say, six months or a year ago.

Questions:

1. Have you noticed this shift too, or is it just my social media algorithm surfacing these more?

2. What can we (devs) realistically do before accepting this as the new normal? Early retirement is one option, and some have already taken it ([5]) or plan to in the coming years.

I'm seriously considering early retirement too (at least from tech) but I was recently contacted by a recruiter for a role that, among other things, mentions "zero AI-assisted coding." My eyes lit up, but it also got me thinking: are there more companies like this just keeping a low profile? Could a critical mass of vocal, defiant devs proclaiming "I will not be bullied, shamed, or forced into agentic coding" actually shift the narrative that AI coding is inevitable? Could contrarian companies and founders start advertising "organic, human-written" code as a quality signal and a perk for attracting experienced craftsmen who refuse to bow to AI mandates? Maybe I'm just daydreaming and the answer to all of the above is no but I'm still early in the grieving process, somewhere between denial and anger rather than depression, let alone acceptance.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48668199

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48651675

[3] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1ueidyv/software_engineers_are_facing_an_identity_crisis/

[4] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1ufed4k/software_engineers_are_facing_an_existential/

[5] https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/1uew891/older_tech_workers_are_tapping_out_taking_early/