Great, if painful, post. One of the casualties of this AI trench warfare is the human aspect of our craft. As a manager (whose initials are Jeff Bogdan) one sagely told me: "we hire employees for their brains, but the whole person shows up for work." We're told the unending stream of RIFs/VRPs/what-have-you is to fund the AI buildout. So it's not about productivity per se. I can accept that. But this all reminds me of a foolish decision I made as a kid - when I sold the trumpet I had inherited from my father, and which we both played, for its scrap brass value. Assets must be liquidated and/or liabilities cut to fund capex adventures. But the attendant sacrifices here - the institutional knowledge, the collegial atmosphere, the mentor/apprenticeship relationships, the honorable endings - have left many of us feeling that the craft is gone, replaced with pure utilitarian optimization.
That's a good quote to remember, Scott! Credit goes to Chester Barnard (https://www.uplevel.pro/p/you-are-a-grand-synthesis). It has been tough to watch what's falling by the wayside amidst this mammoth "AI race"
I hate to "heart" this because I dont love what's happened, but I support your wisdom and observations.
Great, if painful, post. One of the casualties of this AI trench warfare is the human aspect of our craft. As a manager (whose initials are Jeff Bogdan) one sagely told me: "we hire employees for their brains, but the whole person shows up for work." We're told the unending stream of RIFs/VRPs/what-have-you is to fund the AI buildout. So it's not about productivity per se. I can accept that. But this all reminds me of a foolish decision I made as a kid - when I sold the trumpet I had inherited from my father, and which we both played, for its scrap brass value. Assets must be liquidated and/or liabilities cut to fund capex adventures. But the attendant sacrifices here - the institutional knowledge, the collegial atmosphere, the mentor/apprenticeship relationships, the honorable endings - have left many of us feeling that the craft is gone, replaced with pure utilitarian optimization.
That's a good quote to remember, Scott! Credit goes to Chester Barnard (https://www.uplevel.pro/p/you-are-a-grand-synthesis). It has been tough to watch what's falling by the wayside amidst this mammoth "AI race"