I started my IT career in 2011, I have enjoyed it, I have got to do a lot of interesting stuff and meet interesting people, I will treasure those memories forever.
But, starting with crypto turing general computing from being:
“Wow, this machine can run so many apps at the same time!” or “Holy shit, those graphics look epic!” or “Amazing, this computer has really sped up that annoying task!”
To being:
Yo! Look at how many numbers I can generate!
That brought down my enthusiasm severely, but hey, figuring out solutions to problems was still fun.
Then came AI/LLMs.
And with it, a mountain of slop.
Finding help about an issue has gone from googling and reading help articles written by something with an actual brain to mostly being rephrased manuals that only provide working answers to semi standard answers.
Add to that a general push to us AI in anything and everything, no matter how little relevance it holds for the task at hand.
I also remember how AI was sold to the us at first, we were promised to do away with boring paperwork, so we could get on with our actual job.
What did we get? An AI that takes the fun and creative parts, leaving the paperwork for the workers.
We got an AI that we need to expect to be stealing our work and data at every point, giving us shit work back, while being told that we should applaude it and be grateful for it.
And the worst thing, the worst thing is that people seem happy with it. I keep getting requests to buy another Copilot license or asking for another AI service to be added to our tenant, I am sick of it!
We got an AI that somehow has slithered onto the golden throne and can’t be questioned.
I am not able to leave the tech market at this time, but I will focus on more tangible hobbies going forward.
This year, I have given myself a project, I will try to build a model railway in a suitcase. That will be a Z-scale tiny world in a suitcase.
I have never done anything remotely like it, but I feel like I need something physical to take my mind off tech.
Sorry for the rant, but I just came off of a high from realizing and putting words to my feelings.
I relate hard to this. Same general trend as you but I’m in web dev.
When I started, we built sites in tables before Ajax was a thing. Then there was the golden age of standards and jQuery before the JavaScript framework wars. Recently it’s just been absolute new tech overload turning keeping up with latest developments into its own full time job.
Then came along ai, being the new IoT and getting shoved into things it has no right being in. Combine that with pressure on using it to ship faster and ‘reduce costs’ has soured me a fair bit.
It does produce more code but I’ve no real confidence in its output and quickly lose track of the codebase because I’m not making the granular detailed decisions that build up a project. Combine that with it hallucinating functions that don’t exist, making up requirements and generally just being fairly mediocre at best is making the job not what I signed up to do. But, the powers that be have bought into the hype and usage must continue until morale (and profits) improves.
Like you, I’ve no real alternatives so have to stick with it for the time being.
I was finding that at nights I would make dinner and park myself on the couch watching YouTube for 3-4 hours. Nothing specific, just whatever the algorithm was feeding me. It was not a good time and I think it added to the general sense of being burned out. Combine that with general world events over the last few years and it’s just a mental shit show waiting to happen.
Like you, I decided to try something physical and I took up watercolour painting recently just to have some sort of non screen related hobby I could do at nights. I was never good at art in school so figured the abstract nature of it might be a good fit and I’ve been really enjoying it. Yes, I’m still watching bits of YouTube but in a more targeted way.
I would highly recommend something creative and analogue to anyone reading and relating to your post or mine.
There’s a nice feeling of seeing your skills improve and having something tangible to show for the time spent rather than the distant memory of consuming some random digital media you weren’t actively seeking out.
Good luck with the railway!
Yeah, I feel you, I live alone an watch a shit tonne of YT, luckily I have been curating my watch history for many years now, and my recommendations are quite well tuned.
I have a few channels that have helpt me stay sane.
Clabretro - a guy my age homelabbing with 90s/00s IT gear, really fun.
All the gear - Jack and Ethan from Car Throttle going on small adventures and setting cheap challenges. Really fun.
Philip Thompson - Real life spy stories, well made and interesting.
Code Bullet - chaotic programming.
James Channel - gaming, angle grinders duct tape and super glue.
Aviation Republic - Well made long form documentaries about military aircraft.
Keeping_a_lighthouse - amazing footage, interesting insight into a very special work.
Our own devices - interesting video about interesting things by a lovely Canadian man.
Other than YT, I love driving, and I mostly listen to podcasts, but have recently got into audiobooks, with a main focus on sci-fi.
Brilliant stuff.
Oh and I just found out my favourite lens has been repaired, so soon I’ll get to head out with my amazing 24-105mm f4 Lumix lens again.