I resigned.

My last company, which worked in regulated industries (e.g. Defense) projects, became AI-first late December. Regular readers know my tiredness for genAI, its ethical failings, and how I think those tools are more destructive to the brain than the positive form. In that end, it was a terrible fit for me, as my values clashed with the company’s new direction.

At first, I was skeptical.
The shift was bizarre, sudden, and announced with no associated data or metrics, to prove the company actually needs that big shift.

Then, I was disappointed.
We learned the decision was not based on improving performances or productivity, but based on external noise about how famous companies are handling the AI shift.
There was also a gentle, underlying hypocrisy to the whole transition. Leadership continued to preach our commitment to quality and reliable engineering, while simultaneously mandating a pivot that actively undermined those very pillars in favor of unpredictability…
We discussed with the management about that, especially as introducing noise into projects in regulated industries is very scary. Despite discussions, meetings, fights, and internal alerts from the engineering and management teams, I felt decisions still lacked transparency.

And finally, I was furious.
The cool environment became unsustainable for me.
“Roles are merging” became an internal trend, good engineering practices grew increasingly poor, leading to a strong accumulation of technical debt, deadlines were reduced but ambitions doubled, decisions changed on a daily basis, and the team’s focus shifted from really good engineering to taking shortcuts everywhere.

It was time for me to think again about my job: what I am ready to accept, who I am ready to work with, who I am ready to work for, and if I could embrace other values than mine.
But this shift is not only touching my company, but most of software engineering companies. This forced me to confront a hard truth: I no longer fit in the modern software industry. As an INTJ, I would fit more in environments where quality and creativity matter more over hype, such as small research labs or indie game studios. And, of course, I want to work with engineers who share that mindset.

Despite everything, I’ll carry forward some good relationships I gained there.
However, the rest wasn’t worth the cost at all.

I am actually happier to belong to the JOMO (Joy Of Missing Out) group than the FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) one.

The next chapter won’t be defined by what I’m leaving behind, but by the values I refuse to compromise for any price. For now, I’m embracing the uncertainty.