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I am retiring from tech to live offline

openpath.quest

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Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#251

Post by 43fg »

swiftcoder wrote: post #194
pipes wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The battling ai bit you mentioned. This is my life right. Ai is both amazing and shit. I feel like everyone else is running dark factories and producing millions of lines of code and having amazing lives. Meanwhile I am going insane with stress because I've burnt so much time trying to wrangle it on a team I've just joined. My productivity has not been good. I half feel like I am being gas lit by YouTubers and half f…

> I feel like everyone else is running dark factories and producing millions of lines of code If they are, they aren't producing anything useful with it. Just look around - do you see a sudden increase in actually useful software alongside the AI boom? What they are mostly doing is a snake-eating-it-own-tail million lines of code LLM harness to burn tokens faster to write more code... to write a 10 million lines of c…

My strong feeling is that the firms who get too deep into this and have lost the ability to engage deeply with their minds (necessary requirement for imagination) are long term fooked and will get destroyed by those who preserved the ability to imagine and create and recognise the subtleties, nuances etc of product development.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#252

Post by [deleted] »

chrisweekly wrote: post #124
aurareturn wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best position anyone can be in 2026 is having financial freedom so you can leverage AI to build whatever you want. The worst position is working in a company with non-technical and AI psychosis management.

Figuring out what you want to build isn't necessarily easy.

[deleted]

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#253

Post by gdulli »

moralestapia wrote: post #95

Very nice performative piece. The reason he, and others, are "retiring" from tech now is because they have the wealth to do it, in big part due to being at the right place at the right time in life. That’s it. AI has nothing to do with it, they just want a small ego stroke.

I retired due to not only AI, but other reasons this industry has become something I don't like.

I'm fortunate with regards to the timing and being able to do it, but if I could have a job like the one I had ten years ago I'd still be working.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#254

Post by tclancy »

karmakurtisaani wrote: post #6
mrmarket wrote: post #2

thank you for this. what a sacred journey you're embarking on. i hope to follow you - talking with a close friend now about becoming an elevator mechanic. my wife is pregnant so i have to find a profession that comes reasonably close to tech salaries. i've been writing poetry by hand. i think the world you envision is possible, and closer.

> my wife is pregnant You're just about to become much more dependent on a stable income. > i have to find a profession that comes reasonably close to tech salaries. i've been writing poetry by hand. These two sentences are completely independent of each other. Sorry to be a downer, but once you have kids shit gets real and room for idealism shrinks fast.

>once you have kids shit gets real and room for idealism shrinks fast

I get what you mean, but if there's any part of me I want to pass onto my daughter, it's my idealism. What would be the point? "Hey, I would like to get involved in this 'Next Generation of Humanity' project because I love people and think we are wonderful and can do anything. Before I go having a kid though, let me actively forget all that!"

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#255

Post by dude250711 »

pjc50 wrote: post #162
pipes wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The battling ai bit you mentioned. This is my life right. Ai is both amazing and shit. I feel like everyone else is running dark factories and producing millions of lines of code and having amazing lives. Meanwhile I am going insane with stress because I've burnt so much time trying to wrangle it on a team I've just joined. My productivity has not been good. I half feel like I am being gas lit by YouTubers and half f…

I am not convinced that the "dark factory" / "gas town" people are actually shipping anything that isn't also part of the AI ecosystem. At least the noise/ship ratio is incredibly high.

What about shipping tweets and blog posts? Also team demos "how to use AI for basic imaginary hello-world scenarios".

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#256

Post by qingcharles »

kamaitachi wrote: post #7

I just retired after 40 years writing code. The last year or so wasn’t fun - battling with AI, trying to get it do what I wanted. For a long time, I thought I’d do a lot of hobby or open source coding when I retired. I haven’t even tried. I’m not burned out, but find I’ve lost the passion for coding I once had. Is that AI? Or is it me? Maybe as my retirement progresses, I can rekindle that passion, but as of now, I d…

After 40+ years of coding, I couldn't be more happy about how AI has changed what I do. It got rid of the boring drudgery and grind and let me concentrate on the problem-solving, idea-generating parts.

Never been more productive and happy in my work than I am right now.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#257

Post by bregma »

I have 3 weeks left, but outside of work I've already been divorced from anything technological invented this century. I've been living in a log cabin in the woods for over a quarter century. This essay does hit home.

21 days left. I don't plan to look back.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#258

Post by dreamcompiler »

xp84 wrote: post #173
hylaride wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've rekindled by passion by working for a startup again. My previous employer (which I also joined as a startup) ended up in a situation where the head product manager became VP of engineering (it's a complicated story - don't ask). We also had a yes-man director of Eng and together they went all-in on very orthodox scrum, where they sat in the sprint planning/point meeting and overrode every decision of what to tak…

Good for you. It’s so exhausting dealing with these people who are constantly chasing a fantasy that through some process, or through sheer force of will, we can achieve a system where all the feature work gets done super quickly and we never have to pause or slow down to handle engineering concerns because they simply don’t exist.

The only thing worse is when they expect you to do all the above after they cut your budget in half. I'm so sick of hearing "Do more with less."

"Yes we want you to build a faster-than-light spaceship. Your energy budget is this candle."

Why do we give managerial control to insane people?

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#259

Post by GaryBluto »

tclancy wrote: post #245
GaryBluto wrote: post #189

While I admire his commitment to his ideals, I find some of this veers into an uncomfortable fanaticism, especially the remarks praising the savage acts of violence committed by the Sentinelese (which I find particularly odd considering the author's professed religion). I doubt the Amish (who apply technology selectively and intelligently) would appreciate being compared to them either; the Sentinelese are not preser…

>praising the savage acts of violence committed by the Sentinelese (which I find particularly odd considering the author's professed religion). I doubt the Amish (who apply technology selectively and intelligently) would appreciate being compared to them either This feels like a purposeful misreading. The author is using hyperbole to vent about their feelings on where we are right now in tech. The idea being there wi…

> Camping isn't building a sustainable human community. Trust me.

My point is that if the Sentinelese were gone, the primitive lifestyle would not forever be lost to time. If somebody finds enough people willing to join them, it would be possible to found an off-grid commune somewhere.

> We go camping in the White Mountains every summer and I can tell you based on the campground bathrooms alone that is not a society.

I doubt anybody going camping in the White Mountains intends to found a society.

Re: I am retiring from tech to live offline

#260

Post by buildsjets »

mrmarket wrote: post #47
doug_durham wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it a sacred journey? They are quitting a job at Sentry and taking one a Home Depot. As much as I value the role that Home Depot plays in society I'd never use the word "sacred" to describe the work, nor the work at any other job.

I guess it depends on what sacred means to you. i'm not a religious person, so my definition is entirely personal, but i consider honoring yourself even when it looks like a failure to others, or even when it doesnt give you money/power etc. to be a holy act.

I am reminded of the lesson "Some say he is a holy man. Others say he is a shithead.", from the Principia Discordia.

https://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/12.php

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