Software developers are not okay

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Software developers are not okay

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Overview and references #

People in the software industry don’t seem to be doing too well at the moment. There has been a spate of “I’m leaving my tech job” videos – some because they’ve been laid off, some leaving preemptively – but the interesting action has been taking place in the comment sections, replies, and discussion forums. The replies are where it’s at. The videos themselves vary in quality.

Software Engineer: I’m Tired of Pretending. (Over 3000 comments!)

Software engineer driven to insanity from 2026 Job Market. (Almost 10 000 comments!)

I’m out. Leaving tech behind forever. (1683 comments.)

It was more fun before AI (1803 comments.)

I was replaced by AI (1312 comments.)

YouTube: AI has sucked all the fun out of programming (2132 comments.)

Reddit: AI has sucked all the fun out of programming. (571 comments.)

Reddit: I am done with this shit. (1100 comments.)

I lost my UX career to AI (I’m done).

Why I Quit my Job as a Software Engineer at Amazon

Life As a Software Engineer Is Depressing In 2026.

I Don’t Think I’ll Ever Enjoy “AI” Coding

Are ALL Software Engineers Burning Out? Thanks to AI…

Facebook’s aborted “AI coder” transition: Mark Zuckerberg had a bold plan to replace Meta staff with AI. Here’s how it imploded.

The drop in new students in Computer Science in Iceland. (The drop was 30%, not 40% as I said in the video/podcast.) Nýnemum í tölvunarfræði og tengdum greinum fækkaði um þriðjung milli ára

Software developers are not doing well #

We’re not doing well in the software industry.

We’ve all sensed it. Things are a bit off.

It’s not just the “AI” financial bubble, or the debates that have been taking place – arguments, more properly – or the ongoing shift in public sentiment regarding the software industry.

I’m talking the fact that people who work in software – specifically developers and user experience designers – are not doing great.

I keep coming across videos of people talking about burning out, being unable to work, and in some cases fairly serious mental health issues. And, obviously, people are getting fired. But often in these videos, those who are doing videos and announcing they’ve been laid off mention that they were thinking about quitting anyway and are now planning on leaving tech entirely.

It’s not just senior people who might have memories and a fondness for how things used to be – stress mixed with nostalgia. It’s also students. I’ve found several videos of students who announced that they had switched majors, had been studying user experience design, but now decided to switch to something else.

With a few notable exceptions, these generally aren’t people who are against “AI” – or, at least, they weren’t against “AI” until very recently.

These aren’t people who disliked the technology from the start, who have had very severe criticisms about the way it’s made, the way it’s forced on people, or have severe doubts about the long-term benefits of applying this technology to our industry.

They seem to have all embraced “AI” at some point and assumed that what they were told was true, that this was the future. “This is where things are going.” This is what software development will be like, now and forever.

After all that, one of the reasons why quite a few of them are leaving, is that they believe this promise. When they’re told that this is the future of the industry, they accept that statement as true. They’ve tried it; understand it and think to themselves: “I see your point, but this isn’t fun any more. This isn’t enjoyable. This is bad for me.”

And decide to leave.

There are a number of system