Just out of curiosity, do you have a specific objections to using the technology? I totally understand the burnout however (I'm rapidly approaching 50 myself).

TBH I consider myself a senior in name only, or because I've been around a long time! I've done my best to avoid anything that looks like managing or leading people (or things!). When I was first given such a title I think people were somewhat offended that I wasn't overjoyed (“you can call me what you want”)! I want to do things, tinker with details, etc, not manage people/stuff.

> Just out of curiosity, do you have a specific objections to using the technology?

I want to do things, tinker with details, etc, not manage people/stuff.

I also don't like how the tech came to be, in part via rampant piracy, and how it continues to grow by sucking resources out of everything else, so in at least small part there are principles involved. I know some SRs who railed against generative AI when it was taking jobs of their designer friends, but now they can do the same work with less JRs it is all fine and dandy.

My biggest problem before the Great Displacement was upon us was that I'm one of those people who really don't get on with remote work. While it was a lovely convenience to use occasionally (for instance when I need to work from elsewhere while looking after ill relatives, or when people were getting on my tits and I needed to get away to concentrate) doing it the majority of the time does not work for my mental health. I actually go into the office still, but when the people I'm working most directly with don't I'm still effectively working remote (thought at least I have the work/home separation, I suppose). Teams/equiv doesn't work for me: people on there are just names and faces on a screen and don't register in my head the same as someone in the same room does unless I specifically concentrate on that, especially those I've never met and likely never will. Since the family got its first landline I've not liked talking on phones, I've always been an “in person or in writing” type, so this isn't a new sensation for me. If agentic development continues along its current path, I see a not-too-distant future where I'd just be sat with nothing but 'king Claude for company day-in-day-out, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to do anything to help that come to pass.

Honestly, I've never been happier — that might technically say more about how far from happy I was before, rather than the extent to which I am happy now. But the main point is that I am not less happy.

I still work on side-projects but it's strictly for leisure or occasionally some freelance stuff for long-standing relationships — just pocket money and nothing I'd lament being rid of.