Episode 509: I hate AI software dev, so should I become a manager and leading, not doing

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1. 

   11 May 2026 · 43 min

   Episode 512: Can non-engineers really contribute code with AI and not sharing

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Should I declare my struggle with this AI world we live in here? Nah. I mean, I’d like the hype to die down, a lot, but we keep getting new tools and I get to experiment, so here we are. My real struggle, and this podcast is implicated in it, is around non-technical people contributing to production systems. Why are we so obsessed with this idea? COBOL tried it. Low-code and no-code tried it. BDD and Gherkin aspire to it. Yet time and again the field demonstrates that you need people who know their stuff. To “democratize” software…

2. 

   4 May 2026 · 35 min

   Episode 511: Should I take a temporary management position and performance-based bonuses

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I’m approaching 15 years of experience with the last 7 years at fang. About a year ago I was promoted to staff engineer (thanks to the podcast) and switched to an adjacent team under the same director. I have never actively pursued a management role but I’ve been starting to think about it more. A colleague of mine just announced they need to take extended medical leave (1-2 months) and I was asked to fill in as a temporary manager while they are out. How do I go about managing a team if everyone knows it’s short lived? Should I just…

3. 

   27 Apr 2026 · 34 min

   Episode 510: Old and behind and how do I hang on for the last few years until retirement?

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: I work at a large remote company. We meet up once or twice a year. I don’t really know much about my engineering coworkers aside from the 5 people on my team, so the in person meet ups seem like a good place for me to get to know people from the other teams. I am a career switcher, and am currently a mid level IC (borderline junior) in my late 30s and a youthful appearance. At these meetups, my position and appearance (and honestly, possibly my demeanour) makes me feel like I am expected to socialize with other ICs in their 20s.…

4. 

   13 Apr 2026 · 33 min

   Episode 508: My company is an unethical spammer and my coworkers take so much sick time

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: How can I get our company to follow the law and stop sending SPAM without being regarded as negative? We’re sending out emails that don’t comply with CAN-SPAM, and I think we should comply due to the risks, but I don’t want to risk any blowback! People want the emails to look more ‘human’ sent, and putting your mailing address at the end of an email is not very human, so we’re not doing that… It’s a medium startup (500 people), but I’m close enough to the marketing work that they might know it was me! Should I send an email to our…

5. 

   6 Apr 2026 · 33 min

   Episode 507: I got fired unexpectedly and breadth and depth

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey there, I started a new job in August at a large European retailer. There were ups & downs, but long story short, my weekly one-on-ones with my manager was either positive or neutral. This was my second job after graduating, so the firm factored in, I’d like to think, when setting expectations this was my first time switching codebases and tech stacks. On January 3rd, I was fired in the last month of my 6 month probation. This was a total surprise. My tech lead told me I required too much assistance from others to finish my tasks.…

6. 

   30 Mar 2026 · 41 min

   Episode 506: I hate my job with AI and my team-mate thinks I suck

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi Djavison, I’ve heard y’all say something along the lines of “this is the most exciting time to build software” in a few recent episodes. I’m glad that has been your experience and seems to be the experience of many others. But for me as someone 5 years into the career who is, thankfully, employed—I can’t help mourning a job that no longer exists. Obviously, there are still lots of us with the job title “software engineer” that create software. But, what I originally fell in love with doesn’t really seem like a thing you can get…

7. 

   5 Oct 2026 · 33 min

   Episode 533: I'm drowning in AI slop from lazy coworkers

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hey Dave and Jamison. I don’t know what to do with the amount of the AI slop I have to review and I’m getting close to burnout. I have a lot of context on my project, so my colleagues see me as a point of reference. Additionally, at a past job, I was a tech lead and could easily cover for TL if I wanted to (which I don’t) and I feel like the TL of my project and some of my teammates are taking advantage of this. Every day I receive a lot of low quality documents to review. For example, our TL creates sloppy project planning documents…

8. 

   28 Sep 2026 · 31 min

   Episode 532: My new company is an absolute mess and should I get an English-speaking job as a Japanese engineer?

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Hi Dave and Jamison, I’ve been a Java backend dev for over 10 years. After getting laid off from a job I loved, I spent 3 tough months job hunting. I eventually landed a full-stack role at a non-tech company where I am the entire front-end department. The team is a mess: A CTO who hasn’t coded in years and calls me directly to assign tasks, all labeled “highest priority.” When I asked the CTO and CEO if we had QA, they literally laughed at me. Prod releases are “tested” by the CTO before telling me to push immediately. I’m at a…

9. 

   21 Sep 2026 · 34 min

   Episode 531: Shallow feedback and my coworker is a huge sloperator

   In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Jame ain’t no dance asks,! Hey Space Therapists, I am a consultant that helps big companies to fix all kind of stuff. It’s ridiculous how many different hats I wear. One day I’m the interim PM, the other day I am telling SAP devs how to use a coding agent, next day I gather stakeholder requirements for a customer self service portal. I do all of these tasks on a fairly shallow level and all of that work is happening without much coordination from my company. I think I do a good, but it’s hard gathering feedback on my work,…

10. 

    14 Sep 2026 · 36 min

    Episode 530: Product engineering and why does my team never challenge my ideas?

    In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions: Listener Myamax myamax says, I just listened to episode 527 and could really use some advice on being good at interviews. I was recently laid off with a decent severance package, so I have some breathing space. I’ve had several interviews, and I usually get past the initial screenings, but I don’t shine in technical rounds. I’m a career switcher, and most of my tech career has been in analytics at a big company. I’m good at distilling things, very good at debugging and navigating mazes of corporate legacy, but I haven’t really built…

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