u/Present-Mistake5639

There's been this blissful and blessed period of time between when AI suddenly reached decent productivity advantages and cost-effectiveness, and was still too scary and unknown for the public at large.

We could leverage it and be even more productive and OE with more grace and latitude than during earlier years.

Now I feel like this is coming to and end... Everybody is picking it up, for now with sometimes lackluster results, but I'm sure they'll get there and the margin will slim. I even have some customers where I specifically tasked to get everybody onboard and get more productive with AI. I can't sabotage that, obviously, as that wouldn't be right, but it feels so weird that now I'm pushing people to adopt stuff I've been leveraging for a good while already. Feels like shooting oneself in the foot. And watching chickens discovering there's a new door to their coop when it's always been there.

Anyone else in that situation ? Tips to keep your edge (although personally I'm not sure I'd share them if I were you!)

Thankfully, people are getting on the AI train but mostly have still missed the good ol' automation train. And while they can rely on agents for it, the fact they're using a giant hammer for all the tiny things that look like nails but aren't means we still have some cool stuff in our arsenal to keep ahead.

Still, it's a pain to see and to be in a position where I have to share (or push people to discover) all the stuff that could make me faster (aside from my skills, but i won't pretend that my skills are above average in every domain, Denning-Krueger and all that...)

I was just re-reading old posts and doing tax season prep here, thinking about what I could se up as a long term goal.

This led me to realize that all of us posting about their TC here got it wrong: TC is only interesting if we know your spending. Net worth isn't very useful to know.

Savings rate, though, while also impacted by local markers, is a more interest measure of the efficiency of an OE, I'd argue. It's more interesting to know "I put X USD aside per month, and it's Y % of my total monthly income after tax" than knowing how much you got.

Because at least that tracks towards goals.

I'd be glad to see more people sharing these MS and MSR rather than a TC...

I don't know about all of you, but there are days where things are fine, and others where it's a struggle...

Obviously there's an ebb and flow, and I've been going at it for long enough to know and experience that... but lately (maybe because I've taken on more than I can chew *), I've been feeling like I go in every day to survive that day, with the next pay cycle on the horizon.

Sometimes the hours are rough, but mostly often it's just the ambiance, and getting a bit too close my "uncomfortable" zone. Which for me is when I can't be active in anything else than the mandatory, so colleagues definitely see the drop from when things are easier and I'm in a more "intrapreneurial" mindset and help change/improve things. I'm usually arrive in communities and drive continuous improvement, but when it gets too tense with all the Js, obviously I can't do that anymore.

(I know, that means I shouldn't have done that at all and raised expectations, but as stated in comments I do enjoy my jobs, mostly.)

Anyways. Sometimes, a good day makes you think "oh that's not so bad after all!" And the next one brings you back slamming down to Earth like the whale in H2G2 and you're just waiting for the day to end. And for the next one, and the next one...

I guess it's my way of asking without asking if that's a sign i need to drop something... And what's your limit on how long you let that feeling linger before you pull the trigger on a job? This time it's been a good month and a half, and i guess it's a bit of a stronger ebb, and i think i might let go. The paycheck on the horizon does look good, though, but there's a shit-ton to deal with.

Should have re-read and shortened that, but that was my "office commute" rant.

* Reminder from other comments: 3.5j, have always had 2 to 3.5j the past few years and all are hybrid.