Episode 502: Management keeps leaving and I hate using AI to code

Mar 2, 2026

Panels about sudden leadership exits and what might be happening in management meetings. A senior developer's struggle with using AI in day-to-day coding and the mixed feelings it creates. Discussion of how AI shifts work toward verification, architecture, and durable patterns. Practical suggestions about investigating departures and adapting to AI-driven workflows.

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INSIGHT

Departures May Signal An Information Hazard

Dave Smith calls this pattern an info hazard where learning certain internal realities can 'infect' your willingness to participate.
The hosts suggest direct conversations with people who left because they can speak more freely than current managers.

ADVICE

Ask Former Managers Directly For Honest Answers

Do ask the people who left or the recently demoted skip level because they are likeliest to share honest reasons for quitting.
The hosts recommend direct, informal outreach rather than confronting current leadership publicly.

INSIGHT

Ethics Or Background Issues Can Drive Quick Exits

Jameson Dance and Dave Smith propose ethical or legal red flags could make people refuse management roles quickly.
They speculate auditors or background checks might reveal issues prompting resignations or silent exits.

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In this episode, Dave and Jamison answer these questions:

Hi, thank you for the podcast, I am long time listener, first time asker. Something weird is going on at my company. A colleague of my always wanted to get promoted to management, he got the opportunity, but after multiple preparatory meeting for this new promotion, HE QUIT! He did not tell what happened there, only that “it was time for something new”. Now several months later my skip level declared that he wants to be a developer again. Another manager was offered his position, which is a significant promotion (basically head of engineering), which he accepted, but after being included into high level meetings he declared that he is also QUITTING! We now have an interim Head of engineering, who declared that he is only doing this until a replacement is found. Why does no one wants to be in the management? What is happening at these meetings that people leave? Btw. the financial state of the company is not great, but not horrible, the CEO even declared that there won’t be layoffs this year. So what’s going on? I really like working at this company, but I can’t shake the feeling after these events that I am up for a big surprise soon.
Hi,

I’m a senior dev at a megacorp. I’m struggling with AI. We’ve got a lot of initiatives around it and are expected to be using it with our work. The problem is every time I try to use it I get really frustrated. It feels like working with a junior dev who doesn’t know the codebase well but knows lots of language/framework trivia. I also feel displeasure in my work turning into just reviewing some generated code and fixing it up. Especially, when you have to be very thorough because we all know that a single line of code can cause an outage. I just find no joy in this kind of work and am starting to have an aversion to it even when I just try to learn more about it.

I’m also having a hard time teasing apart the hype from the reality. I’m either hearing that “the models are so great, this is the future, coding isn’t a career anymore” or “this is hype, the bubble will burst soon and ruin everything.” Both of these outcomes seem kinda catastrophic but I have no idea which one to believe in (or maybe there’s a 3rd option?).

So, how do I overcome this aversion? How do I make sense of the hype vs. reality? How do I learn to stop worrying and love the slop?

Thanks, Dr. Strangecode