u/ThomasHawl

I was using Venice on my PC, in Edge. Had made around 6/7 sessions in Image (Venice Studio), and some Edits. I had about 2.5k credits left. Then all of a sudden, the tab I was in (Image) got a "Connection interrupted We're having trouble reaching the server. This is usually a network issue. We're retrying automatically, so this screen should clear on its own.". I reloaded, and in Settings I got the error "Failed to fetch (outerface.venice.ai)".

On my PC, I see still 0 credits, and I can't access Studio because all I see is the Venice logo looping infinitely. I tried accessing on mobile (tablet using Chrome) and I can see the credits, and I bet I can use everything, but all my sessions and edits are gone.

What is happening? Have I lost everything? Any advice?

I already contacted support, was wondering if someone had the same/similar problem.

I’m trying to understand what meaningfully differentiates the major LLMs currently being developed by companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, DeepSeek, and Moonshot AI.

Is model performance still primarily a matter of scale (more parameters, more training data, and more compute) or are there substantial algorithmic differences between these models?

For example, do different companies use meaningfully different:

• model architectures or Mixture-of-Experts designs;
• data selection, filtering, deduplication, or curriculum strategies;
• tokenizers and context-training methods;
• pre-training objectives or loss functions;
• optimizers and training schedules;
• synthetic-data generation techniques;
• supervised fine-tuning methods;
• reinforcement learning or other post-training algorithms;
• inference-time reasoning and test-time compute strategies?

In other words, assuming two companies had approximately the same amount of compute, would the company with the better training pipeline and algorithms be able to produce a significantly stronger model? Or have modern LLMs become relatively standardized, with most performance differences ultimately coming from scale, data quality, and engineering execution? Are there any model that are fundamentally different from everyone else?

I understand that many frontier-model details are proprietary, so I’m also interested in what can reasonably be inferred from technical reports and open-weight models.

I have struggled with anxiety, possible depression (though I have never been formally diagnosed) and other mental health issues for years. I have been seeing a therapist for about a year, and therapy has honestly helped me a lot.

My therapist often asks me: “How would you judge another person in the same situation?”

For many of my fears, this works. I know that if I saw someone struggling with anxiety, fear of vomiting in public, or fear of being somewhere without a phone, I would not think badly of them. I would understand that they were scared.

But there is one situation where I cannot apply the same compassion.

Less than a year ago, I received an opportunity to move from Europe to Asia. It was closely aligned with the career I wanted and felt like a potentially life-changing opportunity.

After weeks of literally sleepless nights, constant anxiety and indecision, I turned it down.

There were several reasons. My family had debt connected to our home, partly because my father has a gambling problem, and I was helping with the monthly payments. I was afraid of leaving and later returning to find that the house had been sold and that I had nothing to come back to.

I had almost no savings, partly because I was helping with those debts. I could barely afford the move or even suitable clothes for a very different climate.

I also have food allergies and intolerances, so moving to a country with an unfamiliar food culture scared me. I would have needed to accept a temporary pay cut, even though the long-term career prospects were much better.

My mother had also died not long before, so I was already emotionally unstable. I had very low self-esteem and was afraid that I was not capable of doing the work.

During those weeks, my father repeatedly told me things like: “Why would you go? You are not capable of doing it anyway.”

Eventually, I declined.

Months later, I still feel intense regret. I also feel anger and resentment toward my father for the financial and emotional situation he created, like literally every time I look at him, which is a lot since we live in the same apartment complex, I only see the person who prevented me from doing anything. I know that I was ultimately the person who said no, but I also feel that I was grieving, financially trapped, unsupported, sleep-deprived and overwhelmed by anxiety. In particular, the reason I put so much guilt on my father is that every time I asked him (since I was 12) to go see a therapist to deal with my anxiety issues, he always told me "no, never". And then those issues grew to what they are now.

This morning I realized something.

When I imagine another person turning down the same opportunity, I do not immediately feel compassion. I think: “You were an idiot. You threw away your chance. You are a failure. You do not deserve anything good.”

I think this is why I cannot move on.

I do not only believe that I made the wrong decision. I feel that the decision proved something terrible about me: that I was weak, cowardly and incapable of taking control of my life.

Rationally, I understand that I made the decision under extremely difficult circumstances. Emotionally, it feels like I failed the most important test of my life and lost the only opportunity I will ever have to build the career and life I wanted.

How do you forgive yourself when part of you still believes that you objectively made the wrong decision?

How do you separate “I made a mistake” from “I am a failure”?

I have struggled with anxiety, possible depression (though I have never been formally diagnosed) and other mental health issues for years. I have been seeing a therapist for about a year, and therapy has honestly helped me a lot.

My therapist often asks me: “How would you judge another person in the same situation?”

For many of my fears, this works. I know that if I saw someone struggling with anxiety, fear of vomiting in public, or fear of being somewhere without a phone, I would not think badly of them. I would understand that they were scared.

But there is one situation where I cannot apply the same compassion.

Less than a year ago, I received an opportunity to move from Europe to Asia. It was closely aligned with the career I wanted and felt like a potentially life-changing opportunity.

After weeks of literally sleepless nights, constant anxiety and indecision, I turned it down.

There were several reasons. My family had debt connected to our home, partly because my father has a gambling problem, and I was helping with the monthly payments. I was afraid of leaving and later returning to find that the house had been sold and that I had nothing to come back to.

I had almost no savings, partly because I was helping with those debts. I could barely afford the move or even suitable clothes for a very different climate.

I also have food allergies and intolerances, so moving to a country with an unfamiliar food culture scared me. I would have needed to accept a temporary pay cut, even though the long-term career prospects were much better.

My mother had also died not long before, so I was already emotionally unstable. I had very low self-esteem and was afraid that I was not capable of doing the work.

During those weeks, my father repeatedly told me things like: “Why would you go? You are not capable of doing it anyway.”

Eventually, I declined.

Months later, I still feel intense regret. I also feel anger and resentment toward my father for the financial and emotional situation he created, like literally every time I look at him, which is a lot since we live in the same apartment complex, I only see the person who prevented me from doing anything. I know that I was ultimately the person who said no, but I also feel that I was grieving, financially trapped, unsupported, sleep-deprived and overwhelmed by anxiety. In particular, the reason I put so much guilt on my father is that every time I asked him (since I was 12) to go see a therapist to deal with my anxiety issues, he always told me "no, never". And then those issues grew to what they are now.

This morning I realized something.

When I imagine another person turning down the same opportunity, I do not immediately feel compassion. I think: “You were an idiot. You threw away your chance. You are a failure. You do not deserve anything good.”

I think this is why I cannot move on.

I do not only believe that I made the wrong decision. I feel that the decision proved something terrible about me: that I was weak, cowardly and incapable of taking control of my life.

Rationally, I understand that I made the decision under extremely difficult circumstances. Emotionally, it feels like I failed the most important test of my life and lost the only opportunity I will ever have to build the career and life I wanted.

How do you forgive yourself when part of you still believes that you objectively made the wrong decision?

How do you separate “I made a mistake” from “I am a failure”?

Kinda wrong flair because I am neither a grad nor an experienced professional. I have been working for 2 years. First 6 months were in a consulting company, doing a mix of software engineering, data science, data engineer, I mean, they were putting me where there was a need.

For the past 1.5 years I have been working for a big software house in my country (not known to anyone outside my country, but pretty "big" here, still no where near big tech level).

I didn't even study pure CS, I studied math with a sprinkle of ML during the last year of my master. I thought I would have liked being a software/ML engineer, mainly because I have always liked tinkering with programming and ML, but these jobs I have/had are so... boring?

There is no creativity involved, no "new things", the problems are already solved, it is now a matter of "implementing the already done thing into this new thing, and sell it". It feels like only a couple of companies are doing "fun" stuff, like OpenAI, Google, Anthropic ecc, while everyone else is just doing "boring and trivial" things.

And even in those companies, I feel like only like 5/10% of people are actively doing fun things, while the rest are just "supporting". I don't know, maybe I am delusional and have watched too many videos,.

29, never had a car, never driven one (except for when I had to take my license). Now my office is asking me to limit my work from home to 1/week, so while I look for another job, I might as well buy a used car.

I have no experience at all with cars.

Here are some details that might help:
- I am estimating around 12k-15k km/year
- 50% in the city 50% on the highway
- I know how to drive manual, but I prefer automatic, also for resale value (I guess?)
- Ideally I would like a car that is VERY reliable, like I buy it now, and I do not have to worry about it breaking for like N years. Of course I am buying a used car, so I am guessing I want a car with "10y+ reliability" if that makes sense
- I do not care at all for aesthetics, I just want to go from A to B spending the least amount of € possible
- I can't buy fully electric, not enough "charging point" near me
- I do not need a big car, but since I plan to keep this car for as many years as possible, I guess should be big enough to go on trips, like 2 or 3 people max, with a trunk big enough, but this is not a hard constraint.

Budget around 15k (why cars are so expensive? damn).

I don't even know if these are enough informations. I am open to answer any other question.

Quest'anno per vari motivi non sono riuscito a prenotare delle vacanze in tempo, e ormai costa tutto troppo.

Dato che ho la "fortuna" di avere una casa libera (di famiglia, occupata solo da mia zia) a San Giorgio a Cremano, vicino Napoli, pensavo di andare giù verso il 10, e tornare verso il 17. Pensavo di affittare un auto e farmi un giro per napoli, per la costa, che non ho mai visto. Non ho mai guidato a Napoli, anzi in generale al sud non ho mai guidato.

Non ho grandi obbiettivi, magari vedere qualche spiaggia, mangiare bene, e comunque scappare da Milano per un po'.

Consigli? Sono "preoccupato" che durante quel periodo sia tutto chiuso, e quindi mi ritrovo con un nulla in mano.

A parte questo, consigli in generale su cosa poter fare di economico? Vivo a Monza, potrei affittare una macchina e girare un po' i laghi, ma in ogni caso vorrei evitare di spendere per dormire fuori, dato che comunque è quella la spesa più tosta delle vacanze.

I am not really a fan of the Transformers Saga, but every now and then I go back and watch the first and second movie, in particular the parts where there are battles between the "Army" and the aliens.

I want the same effect, for example the epic way in which there is the epic music, and you can see aircraft carriers, then the generals saying "operation firestorm, send everyone" or "ground team is requesting air support". then the battle.

I remember playing Chaos Theory and Double Agent in middle school, and I loved the gameplay. Are there modern (like 2020+) alternatives/spiritual sequels?

Contesto: M29. Laurea magistrale in ingegneria. Lavoro da software engineer in consulenza/software house, ho provato a cercare di meglio ma per N motivi (alcuni vedi sotto) non sono riuscito nè a trovare di meglio, nè ad andare all'estero, e ci sto continuamente provando. RAL 29k.

Contesto parte 2: non ho nessun tipo di rapporto con i miei genitori, anzi con mio padre, mai un aiuto sia economico che personale. Anzi no, l'unico aiuto è che alla morte di mia madre lei è stata abbastanza lungimirante da lasciare tutta la sua quota della casa a me e mio fratello, quindi per ora vivo ancora con mio padre (più un coinquilino che un padre), e fortunatamente non pago affitto, se non il 50% delle spese (c'è di mezzo un avvocato che gestisce i suoi soldi, lunga storia). Tutto questo perchè mio padre è ludopatico, ha zero soldi da parte, ha un sacco di debiti, e ora sono nella situazione che non so che c fare. Fino a 2 mesi fa ero riuscito a mettere da parte circa 15k, che poi sono stati tutti usati per ripagare una parte di debiti che non potevano aspettare. Ora sono rimasto con 2k.

Contesto parte 3: non ho una macchina, a malapena so guidare, ma molte offerte di lavoro che ricevo sono a 1.5/2h di mezzi (quindi il doppio ogni giorno), ma a 30/35 minuti di macchina, secondo google maps almeno, quindi è arrivato il momento di prendere un'auto, dato che potrei benissimo arrivare a 35/40k, e avere una vita sociale.

Detto questo, preferirei ricevere consigli (quasi) solo sulla parte economica, non sulla questione personale, "perchè non sei andato all'estero?" ecc.

Passiamo alla mia situazione.

ENTRATE mensili: 1780€ (più la famosa tredicesima ma stic)

USCITE mensili:
75€ pulizie (decide l'avvocato, non posso rifiutarmi di pagare)
22€ claude (potrei evitare, ma non credo farebbe una gran differenza, vediamo)
8€ telefono/internet
28.88€ internet fisso
35€ mezzi pubblici
12€ spotify
117.6€ psicologo (vorrei evitare di abbandonare questo percorso, nonostante mi rendo conto sia una spesa importante)
11€ revolut (presa solo perchè mi fa risparmiare 20€/mese con lo psicologo)
250€ cibo (oltre a 147€ di buoni pasto circa, quindi 400€/mese disponibili di cibo, anche se poi finisco per spendere meno, però è giusto per avere margine)
400€ SPESE VARIABILI (non troppo raramente capita che l'avvocato dica "servono X€ per una spesa improvvisa, fortunatamente mi verranno restituiti ma non so le tempistiche, diciamo che metto questa spesa perchè non posso farmi trovare senza)
---qua ci sono le spese teoriche per un auto, devo per forza fare un finanziamento, vorrei evitare di prendere un auto di 8 anni con 100k km, non mi interessa l'auto figa o altro, è solo un mezzo, ma vorrei non trovarmi con spese impreviste per un auto vecchia---
294.9€ rata mensile (potrei fare più mesi, ma perchè)
119€ assicurazione
70€ benzina
50€ bollo e tagliando annualizzati (stima)

SPESE TOTALI: 1493.38€
RESTO: 286.62€

questo ovviamente non comprende:
devo comprare delle medicine ogni tanto
devo comprare dei vestiti ogni tanto
non ho messo hobby, palestra, qualche giorno in piscina, è da viziati pensare che vorrei fare queste cose?
non ho messo l'AFFITTO, come faccio ad andare a vivere da solo? sono al nord, in una città costosa, con la macchina potrei andare più fuori, ma perderei di tempo e benzina.
mi arriva una spesa imprevista un mese, che c faccio?

Non so dove tagliare, ovviamente l'auto è la spesa più grossa, ma sento che è necessaria, sbaglio? boh.

Vivo in un vecchio appartamento. Anni fa abbiamo subito un grosso danno agli infissi e non isolano più molto bene. Non ho l'aria condizionata, solo un piccolo ventilatore che uso per far girare l'aria.

Condivido con un altro coinquilino. Nella mia stanza ci sono (ad oggi) circa 31 gradi (48% umidità), misurati con uno di quei termometri per ambienti che trovi su amazon. Anche nelle altre stanze non ce la passiamo meglio, siamo intorno ai 28, forse solo in bagno che è molto ventilato si sta bene, ma per via della corrente che si crea, non per la temperatura in se.

Voi che temperatura avete in casa?

Lavorando da casa molto spesso, sta diventando difficile sopportare il caldo, e non oso immaginare in pieno Agosto come sarà la situazione. Voi come sopportate il caldo? Consigli per migliorare la situazione nella mia stanza/ufficio? I condizionatori portatili senza tubo esterno funzionano davvero?

Alla soglia dei 29 anni mi sto accingendo a comprare la mia prima auto. Non sto qua a spiegare i motivi, sta di fatto che non ho un rapporto di nessun genere con i miei genitori.

Guadagno circa 1800 netti al mese, ho la fortuna di avere casa di proprietà (eredità di una zia che ha lasciato solo a me), ma onestamente vorrei cambiare zona (veramente poco collegata e lontano dal lavoro) e oltretutto vorrei andare all'estero.

Mi sono sempre mosso con bici, mezzi e a piedi, ma mi sto rendendo conto che un auto mi serve, banalmente ho ricevuto offerte di lavoro in posti più lontani da ora, con una RAL migliore, ma che avrebbe voluto dire smettere di vivere, per tutto il tempo trascorso nel viaggio. Con un auto ovviamente sarebbe molto più gestibile.

Qui il problema. Non ho nessuno con cui confrontarmi, o meglio diciamo che tutti i miei coetanei con cui ho occasione di confrontarmi hanno avuto la fortuna di avere la macchina dei genitori, oppure un aiuto economico nel comprarla.

Sto ovviamente valutando soprattutto l'usato, ma anche auto nuove con offerte del tipo "tasso zero, niente anticipo".

I filtri con cui sto selezionando l'auto sono del tipo "max 50k km, dal 2021 in poi, massimo 15k di budget". Farei un finanziamento con la mia banca, che offre tassi nettamente migliori dei rivenditori, del tipo 15k per 17.694€. Quindi il prezzo totale che spenderei sarebbe comunque di circa 18k. Alcune offerte per auto nuove, niente anticipo e tasso quasi zero, arrivano a circa 20k. A me sembra banale pensare che il nuovo sia migliore, ma magari sbaglio.

Non so inoltre quanto senso possa avere prendere un auto da magari 8/9k, ma di 9/10 anni fa e con 80/90k km. Ma ovviamente sono proprio ignorante in questo ambito.

I consumi non li sto considerando perchè anche per i casi "limite", con uso uguale pagherei circa 35/40€ in più al mese.

Come forse si capisce da questo post, ho le idee molto confuse, nessuno con cui parlarne, e non voglio entrare in concessionaria e farmi abbindolare.

Alla soglia dei 29 anni, mi sto accingendo a comprare la mia prima auto. Un po' di contesto, perchè a volte ci vuole.

Non ho nessun rapporto con i miei genitori, nessuna esperienza di guida (escludendo la scuola guida quando ho preso la patente, circa 1.5 anni fa), nessuno che possa consigliarmi in questo ambito. Ho sempre vissuto girando con bici, mezzi pubblici e a piedi, ma mi sto rendendo conto che la macchina mi serve.

Sto iniziando a guardarmi intorno per una macchina usata. Ho zero interesse in qualcosa di figo, "tamarro", i miei usi principali saranno:

Casa-Lavoro, circa 15+15km, 3 volte a settimana
Uso comune in città/provincia (spesa, palestra, uscite ecc)
Qualche viaggio
Vorrei qualcosa che mi durasse abbastanza, che sia "piacevole" alla guida (l'unica volta che mi sono messo alla guida con i miei genitori è stata su una ford focus del 2008 credo. Esperienza veramente brutta, avendo solo guidato l'auto della scuola guida), e che non sia troppo grande ma neanche troppo piccola.

I filtri che sto mettendo sui vari siti di auto usate, parlando con amici vari, sono:

Benzina
Prima immatricolazione >= 2022
Fino a 50.000km
da 90CV
Classe emissioni >= euro 6d
Budget fino a 15.000€

Avete qualche modello da consigliare? Vedo che ci sono moltissime "Peugeot 208" nell'usato, con i miei filtri, e mi sembra buona (da profano assoluto).

Guardavo anche autoh3ro, è affidabile?

A questa domanda vorrei aggiungere una discussione. Molti, anzi quasi, tutti gli annunci che trovo sono "13k, ma solo con finanziamento a tassi assurdi, altrimenti 16k". Per questo mi sto orientando più verso il sito sopra, con un pagamento unico (chiederei un prestito in banca a tasso molto migliore). Ci sono pro a fare finanziamenti con la concessionaria direttamente?

Lavoro da circa un anno come software engineer in un’azienda che sviluppa software per il settore difesa.

Per semplificare: una grande azienda della difesa chiede alla mia azienda un software per una certa funzionalità/display/aereo, e noi lo sviluppiamo. Siamo probabilmente una via di mezzo tra consulenza e prodotto.

C’è una cosa che però non riesco a spiegarmi, e onestamente sta iniziando a farmi odiare questo lavoro.

Da un anno lavoro sempre sullo stesso progetto. In pratica stiamo sviluppando da zero due componenti software importanti per un nuovo velivolo. Il team è composto da:

• persone che parlano con i clienti/utilizzatori finali (piloti ecc.)
• persone che scrivono i requisiti
• persone che si occupano della grafica/UI
• e poi il mio team, che sviluppa il software vero e proprio

Il problema è che non ci sono praticamente senior engineer.

A parte un manager che coordina il progetto, siamo tutti junior. La maggior parte delle persone ha tra i 6 mesi e 1 anno e mezzo di esperienza, massimo 2. E onestamente ho la sensazione di non stare imparando come funziona davvero lo sviluppo software “serio”.

Quello che sento mancare è qualcuno che definisca l’architettura del progetto e che spacchetti i problemi in modo corretto.

I task sono tecnicamente divisi, ma più nel senso:
“Tu occupati di questa feature enorme.”

Solo che quella “feature” magari contiene 10+ sottofunzionalità e una complessità interna notevole.

Quindi sì, alla fine produco codice che compila e funziona, ma ho continuamente la sensazione di stare mettendo pezze su pezze senza una direzione chiara o una visione di lungo periodo.

Quello che mi sembra mancare è qualcuno che dica:

• “Per questo problema usiamo questa architettura.”
• “Questi componenti comunicano in questo modo.”
• “Questo è il flusso dei dati.”
• “Qui ha senso usare questo algoritmo/questa struttura dati.”
• “Queste saranno le interfacce/API.”
• “Organizziamo il software in questo modo.”

Un’altra cosa che mi pesa è che mancano proprio figure tecniche senior a cui fare domande.

Se mi blocco su un bug complicato, un problema di design o di implementazione, non c’è davvero un engineer esperto con cui confrontarsi. Certo, posso debuggare da solo, usare Claude/Codex, leggere documentazione e alla fine trovare una soluzione, ma mi urta comunque il fatto che non esista una vera guida tecnica interna al team.

Le uniche figure senior sono i manager, ma fanno più da collegamento tra noi developer e i clienti/executive. Facciamo circa una call a settimana sugli avanzamenti del progetto, ma le discussioni sono più del tipo:
“Quella funzionalità sta andando?”
“Bene, continua così.”

Non vere discussioni tecniche o di engineering.

Forse avevo aspettative sbagliate, ma mi ero sempre immaginato che in uno sviluppo software “serio” ci fossero:

• un software architect/system architect che definisce la struttura generale (c'è una figura simile, ma più lato sistema, cioè definisce "cosa vogliono", ma non come farlo)
• senior engineer che prendono in carico macro-funzionalità e le suddividono in task più piccoli
• junior che implementano componenti più isolati imparando dai senior

Invece qui sembra più un gruppo di junior che cerca collettivamente di capire cosa fare man mano che il progetto procede.

E sinceramente, dato che vorrei davvero costruirmi una carriera in questo mondo e arrivare un giorno a ruoli come staff engineer, lead engineer o architect, inizio a sentirmi perso. Non capisco se questo ambiente mi stia davvero facendo crescere oppure se mi stia mancando quel tipo di mentorship e struttura tecnica che normalmente si dovrebbe avere all’inizio della carriera.

È una situazione normale nell’industria?
È un problema della mia azienda/team?
Oppure sono io ad avere aspettative sbagliate su come funziona davvero lo sviluppo software professionale?

I’ve been working for about a year as a software engineer in a company that develops software for the defense industry.

To simplify it a bit: a defense company asks us for some software for a specific aircraft/display/feature, and we develop it. We’re probably somewhere between a consulting company and a product company.

There’s one thing I really can’t understand, and honestly it’s starting to make me hate this job.

For the past year, I’ve been working on the same project. We’re basically developing two major software components for a new aircraft from scratch. The overall team includes:

• people talking with the customers/users (pilots, etc.)
• people writing requirements
• graphics/UI people
• and then my team, which develops the software itself

The problem is: there are basically no senior engineers.

Other than one manager coordinating the project, everyone is junior. Most people have between 6 months and 1.5 years of experience. And honestly, I feel like I’m not learning how real software engineering is supposed to work.

What I feel is missing is someone who defines the architecture of the project and breaks problems down properly.

Tasks are technically divided, but it’s more like:
“You handle this huge feature.”

But that “feature” may contain 10+ subfeatures and a lot of internal complexity.

So yes, in the end I produce code that compiles and works, but it constantly feels like I’m patching things together without any real direction or long-term design.

What’s missing, in my opinion, is someone saying:

• “For this problem we’ll use this architecture.”
• “These components communicate this way.”
• “This is the data flow.”
• “This is the right algorithm/data structure here.”
• “These are the interfaces/APIs.”
• “This is how we organize responsibilities.”

Another thing that bothers me is that there are basically no technical senior figures to ask questions to.

If I get stuck on some complicated bug, design issue, or implementation problem, there isn’t really an experienced engineer I can go to and discuss it with. Of course I can debug things myself, use tools like Claude/Codex, read documentation, and eventually solve problems, but it still feels wrong that there’s no actual technical mentorship inside the team.

The only senior people are managers, but they mostly act as coordinators between us developers and the executives/clients. We usually have one weekly call about project progress, but the conversations are more along the lines of:
“Is that feature progressing?”
“Looks good, keep going.”

Not really deep technical discussions or engineering guidance.

Maybe I had unrealistic expectations, but I always imagined that in a “serious” software project there would be:

• some kind of software architect/system architect defining the high-level structure (there are figures like these, but they are mostly on the system side, defining what the software should do, not the architecture itself, I hope I am explaining myself clearly)
• senior engineers owning major areas and decomposing them into smaller tasks
• juniors implementing more isolated features/components while learning from seniors

Instead, it feels like a group of juniors trying to collectively figure everything out as we go.

And honestly, since I really want to build a long-term career in software engineering and eventually become something like a staff engineer, lead engineer, or architect, I’m starting to feel lost. I don’t know if this environment is helping me grow, or if I’m missing the kind of mentorship and technical structure that people normally get earlier in their careers.

Is this normal in the industry?
Is this just a problem with my company/team?
Or did I have the wrong expectations about professional software development?

I’ve been working for about a year as a software engineer in a company that develops software for the defense industry.

To simplify it a bit: a defense company asks us for some software for a specific aircraft/display/feature, and we develop it. We’re probably somewhere between a consulting company and a product company.

There’s one thing I really can’t understand, and honestly it’s starting to make me hate this job.

For the past year, I’ve been working on the same project. We’re basically developing two major software components for a new aircraft from scratch. The overall team includes:

• people talking with the customers/users (pilots, etc.)
• people writing requirements
• graphics/UI people
• and then my team, which develops the software itself

The problem is: there are basically no senior engineers.

Other than one manager coordinating the project, everyone is junior. Most people have between 6 months and 1.5 years of experience. And honestly, I feel like I’m not learning how real software engineering is supposed to work.

What I feel is missing is someone who defines the architecture of the project and breaks problems down properly.

Tasks are technically divided, but it’s more like:
“You handle this huge feature.”

But that “feature” may contain 10+ subfeatures and a lot of internal complexity.

So yes, in the end I produce code that compiles and works, but it constantly feels like I’m patching things together without any real direction or long-term design.

What’s missing, in my opinion, is someone saying:

• “For this problem we’ll use this architecture.”
• “These components communicate this way.”
• “This is the data flow.”
• “This is the right algorithm/data structure here.”
• “These are the interfaces/APIs.”
• “This is how we organize responsibilities.”

Another thing that bothers me is that there are basically no technical senior figures to ask questions to.

If I get stuck on some complicated bug, design issue, or implementation problem, there isn’t really an experienced engineer I can go to and discuss it with. Of course I can debug things myself, use tools like Claude/Codex, read documentation, and eventually solve problems, but it still feels wrong that there’s no actual technical mentorship inside the team.

The only senior people are managers, but they mostly act as coordinators between us developers and the executives/clients. We usually have one weekly call about project progress, but the conversations are more along the lines of:
“Is that feature progressing?”
“Looks good, keep going.”

Not really deep technical discussions or engineering guidance.

Maybe I had unrealistic expectations, but I always imagined that in a “serious” software project there would be:

• some kind of software architect/system architect defining the high-level structure (there are figures like these, but they are mostly on the system side, defining what the software should do, not the architecture itself, I hope I am explaining myself clearly)
• senior engineers owning major areas and decomposing them into smaller tasks
• juniors implementing more isolated features/components while learning from seniors

Instead, it feels like a group of juniors trying to collectively figure everything out as we go.

And honestly, since I really want to build a long-term career in software engineering and eventually become something like a staff engineer, lead engineer, or architect, I’m starting to feel lost. I don’t know if this environment is helping me grow, or if I’m missing the kind of mentorship and technical structure that people normally get earlier in their careers.

Is this normal in the industry?
Is this just a problem with my company/team?
Or did I have the wrong expectations about professional software development?