Why do i feel unmotivated to do anything?
The story
I’ve been an IT engineer for 15 years. That’s not a flex, it’s just context. I used to be good at this job. Efficient, fast, annoying in the way people hate because you fix things before they finish explaining the problem. I liked digging into logs, writing scripts, cleaning up broken pipelines, arguing with stupid tickets, and feeling like I actually understood the machine. Then AI became the big shiny thing, and now I use Claude Code for almost everything. Even the simplier stuff. Rename a variable? Claude. Write a small bash command? Claude. Check a config? Claude. It feels pathetic, becuase I know I can do these things myself. I’ve done them for years. But now my first reflex is not thinking, it’s pasting.
And yeah, I know AI is useful. I’m not pretending it’s all evil. It saves time, catches dumb mistakes, and sometimes gives me a better approach than the one I had. Fine. Great. Wonderful. But it also sucked the fun out of my work like a cheap vacuum cleaner from hell. I don’t feel clever anymore. I feel like a guy supervising a tool that’s slowly making him lazy and useless. My brain waits now. That’s the ugly part. I used to get a problem and feel that little spark, like “okay, let’s beat this thing.” Now I feel tired before I even start. I ask Claude, skim the answer, run some tests, and move on. At standup I have no idea what to say without sounding like a fraud. “Yesterday I prompted a bot until it did the task” is not exactly inspiring. So I dress it up with corporate garbage ands pretend I had a deep technical journey.
The worst part is I don’t know where this leaves my career. Am I still an engineer, or am I just a guy babysitting autocomplete with a salary? Maybe that’s dramatic, but that’s how it feels. I’ve built systems, fixed outages at 3 a.m., had managers breathing down my neck while production was on fire, and somehow this is the thing making me feel useless. Not the stress. Not the meetings. Not the endless Jira bullshit. This weird quiet loss of motivation. Do you ever feel like convenience is ruining your ability to give a damn? I do. I use Claude Code alot, and I hate how much I like it. I dont want to go back to doing everything manually like some caveman, but I also don’t want to become a hollow button-pusher who can’t solve anything without asking permission from a chatbot. I’m biased because this is my job and my identity, but I’m also trying to be fair: maybe the industry is just changing and I’m being stubborn. Maybe I need to adapt instead of whining. Still, I miss being excited by the work. I miss feeling sharp. Right now I just feel bored, replaceable, and pissed off.
Stories in the same category
Points of view
man, i totally get where you’re coming from. it’s like we’ve evolved into co-pilots rather than the solo flyers we once were. i think a lot of us are wrestling with how much to lean on AI without losing that critical edge or essence that makes us feel competent and proud of our skills. there’s something so satisfying about cracking a problem with your own mental horsepower, right? back in the day, I had this moment fixing an old piece of machinery (no manuals or internet help...) and the satisfaction when it finally whirred to life was unmatched. maybe it's all about finding new ways to challenge ourselves beyond what the AI can handle or getting creative in other areas of life? it might just be another one of those phases where we need to rediscover our value amidst all the tech noise. hang in there!
it's intriguing how rapidly the field has shifted and, though perhaps reluctantly, many share your sentiment about AI's transformational impact; as an engineer myself, i'm reminded of the old adage "the right tool for the job," yet our reliance on ai feels less like a chosen tool and more akin to an unavoidable crutch that risks atrophying our core skills. i once took great pride in manually optimizing algorithms, a process akin to sculpting in marble rather than producing 3D prints; this new paradigm demands adaptation but also brings an existential quandary: are we evolving or devolving? notwithstanding, there may be merit in juxtaposing traditional methodologies with contemporary innovations to anchor ourselves amid this technological flux.