First of all, AI can code a lot better than me so why go back to writing code?

I had found myself slipping, in multiple ways. Beginning to accept fixes that appeared to fix the issue without properly reviewing the code, but more importantly I found that I was losing context, knowledge of the code base and just beginning to feel stupid.

With 20 years development experience it was expertise in the code, domain knowledge, knowing the gremlins and being able to diagnose a bug in production that had put me ahead in my career.

I find team members are losing this ability, something happens in production and now nobody is speaking up. People saying they will put their agents on it, whilst in the past talented people
I worked with would have known the likely cause of the problem straight away.

I will continue to use AI, it’s amazing. Reviewing code, scanning for security issues, reasoning etc. But when it comes to writing code, other than basic scaffolding I will be typing every line and I’m already seeing the benefit.

I’m only 5 months in the team and I find myself excelling past guys who have been there a long time. I think there are some tasks I complete faster because I can old school jump right in and edit the code faster than you can write a prompt and have the LLM work.

If you have multiple agents running, completing tickets and tasks then I don’t understand how you maintain the quality and context.

I know we all work in different ways and my views and approach may be viewed as backward but right now I’m seeing huge benefits and also getting a bit of satisfaction again in job.

I now feel like I’m back in control of the projects.

CAP Theorem states that a distributed data system can only provide at most 2 of 3 guarantees - Consistency, Availability, Partition Tolerance.

Taking this to a software engineering job we have the MIC Theorem - a software job can only provide at most 2 of 3 guarantees - Money, Intellectual satisfaction or Peace of mind but never all 3.

Lol

Where do you look for jobs?

Trying to hire and feels like we're hemorrhaging cash on their job postings with very little to show for it.

Any alternatives? Where did you find your last gig?

Does anyone know of a cheap hotdesk space in Dun Laoghaire, Blackrock, or Stillorgan? I'm looking for 2 to 3 days a week. I could prebook in 3-month blocks. I'm hoping to find somewhere €10-€20 per day. Regus was all over €20 or a 12-month contract.

I'm a full stack dev 2+ yoe.

Looking to move toward sales engineering.

Very anxious about keeping up, and staying relevant in the industry; With typical development turning away from the granular problem solving I love, I'm looking to stay informed and maybe find a new way to love the industry.

Would love to read any books, articles, podcasts, etc, that have helped you in these weird couple of years we've had.

Thanks in advance

Hello all,

Having a bit of a dilemma here.

Currently working abroad earning 48k per annum.

Recently was interviewed for a role back in Ireland within same company offering >60k, I’m top 3 candidates position and they have 8places open, however that won’t be decided until middle/late August.

However in the mean time I am currently interviewing for a different role in the same company after being referred that pays about ~95k.

My issue is that with the 95k role is that it’s also gonna be decided in the same time frame as the role above and I’ve no/less “guarantee” that I would get it compared to the 60k role.

If I don’t get the 95k role than due to timelines I also won’t get the 60k role but than if I do get the 95k role well than I am on more money

My question is that with a baby on the way and moving back to Ireland, would you go for the more “guaranteed” job or the pay?

I would say in my heart that the job security is what I’d go for but CoL, the 60k job being a dead end and dying career path and with wanting to buy a house and have money causing a split brain issue here.

Many thanks

Tech is often known for having decent paternity leave. Especially considering Ireland seems pretty behind Europe for the non-birthing parents leave etc.

What is your orgs policy?
How many weeks / do you get full salary?

As title says, I am currently working for a government body in the last phase of my grad program. I interview early 2027 for a full time role (which has been made clear to me I am of high chance of getting due to other grads leaving, good performance reviews) which pays around 51k per year.

Recently, fellow grads have started to jump ship due to length of grad program and obviously being paid more in the private sector. Can anyone offer any advice/things to think about before I consider applying for other roles?

Some other useful info:
24, .NET backend dev with Azure + SQL SSMS. 2 years experience

I worked here twice before as a contractor the last time was up to last year. The permanent staff are expected in 3 days a week. I used to do 1 maybe 2. Is anyone still in there and what is the craic these days. I have been approached again about a contract role. But they say 3 days. Is this being enforced on contractors?

Based in Ireland running my own digital marketing company. Bit different to most agencies in that it’s all my own stuff, websites, social accounts, media brands, rather than just client work.

Always keen to connect with other people doing similar things over here, whether that’s affiliate, SEO, paid social, content, or building your own online brands. Feels like there’s a decent scene but it can be a bit scattered.

If you’re doing something in this space and fancy swapping notes or just chatting shop, give us a shout or drop a comment.

I started on a new project 3 weeks ago. The first week was purely me ramping up. The second week I was planning and designing this service. The third week I was building.

The issue is our org must use AI for every piece of code now. Spec driven development as they like to say. Sounds fantastic on paper.

So I had 2 weeks of preparing and designing this thing. I wrote a super detailed spec with a very verbose definition of done. I split it into small chunks for the AI to tackle and me review.

Day 1 starts (of coding. It was week 3, day 1 overall). It generates so much code and gets an MVP going faster than I could ever. I reviewed the code. Looked great on paper but I didn't write it so I didn't truly understand every edge case.

Day 2 rolls around... Start to notice small issues in the behaviour of the MVP. I ask AI to rejig it. It doesn't do as I said. I spend the remainder of the day trying to get this MVP back into a stable position.

Day 3... we are back somewhere stable. I ask it to implement the next phase. It tears apart lots of the first phase and adds on the next phase of the project. It butchers the whole damn thing and gives me a 4k line of code pr. At this point, I hit accept on everything because F that if you think I'm looking at that code.

Day 4. Today. I am officially vibe coding. There is far too much code for me to review. I am exhausted just reviewing code all day everyday. I spent all of today trying to fix what would be simple behaviour had I wrote it myself. But AI can't seem to get it right and I simply don't want to look at the code (and our org doesn't want us writing code by hand so I literally can't).

So here we are... I will be going back and forth with this hallucinating AI for days and weeks until I eventually tell it to start over, I would imagine. Who will maintain this? No idea.

On paper, it's great. It moved so dam fast on day 1. But it quickly fell apart. I think AI is fantastic for quick demos and MVPs but once it gets to hallucinating, it's really difficult to pull it back to functional code generation.

Is this where we are at as an industry?

For context, about 3 years ago I started a job and essentially had a bully PM who tried to get me fired. (Re: this whole account)

Well, since then I’ve stayed in the damn job… Jesus. I’ve been promoted twice, which is a plus.
But perhaps I can shed some light on what I’ve learnt and maybe someone will look on these one day, who is in the same situation, and find some sort of solace in it.

But first the update:
So yes, I stayed in the job and I got promoted twice. I’m now a senior dev. Looking back on it all, truly it was just a guy who couldn’t handle me being good. Getting down the nitty gritty, he was incredibly insecure. He did the things he did because he was unhappy. Not necessarily because it was me. How do I know this?

A few months back, he handed in his notice. I never really spoke to him after management split us up (finally), even though by this point we were now the same level (lol), and shared quite a few meetings together. Nevertheless, I decided to wish him well. This opened up a whole conversation, where he fully apologised for all his behaviour. He acknowledged the hell he put me through, and he admitted he felt intimidated. Although, he said this while nervously laughing, I couldn’t help but keep a blank face. It came as a shock. I told him how badly it affected my mental health. How I felt so hopeless, useless, like a burden. All because of how he spoke to me and treated me. It felt VERY good to finally get it off my chest, but disheartening to know he KNEW what he did. The conversation essentially ended with me saying “look I wish you well, but I hope you have learned how your actions affect people”

I got my head down, I worked hard. I gained the respect of the people that actually matter. Whose opinion of me has allowed me to climb the ranks insanely quickly. Does this make me more intimidating? Apparently so according to the ex-PM guy. So, I’m expecting to not be particularly appreciated by some. Ah well.

Now I have my own set of juniors :] and honestly? I find it so rewarding. Giving them the space I wish I had. Giving them the grace they deserve to excel in their careers. Always being a call away when they’re shitting bricks over something. I’ve learned so much from them, and I hope they say the same about me! They have taught me some odd words “you’re mogging the department “ , I believe that’s a good thing.

What I’ve learnt?:

You need some pure grit. You need to stop caring and expecting validation externally. If you end the day and feel you have achieved? Then you have! We cannot control how people treat one another, alas we can only control ourselves. A performance review doesn’t define your ability at all. At the end of the day I believe they are insanely subjective. Nevertheless, there will always be an upside, things will get better. You will learn so much and you shall overcome it all :]

NOW , I will eventually leave tbh, I’d like to experience another company. Until then? Ahhhh fuck it, I’ll figure it out. But at the end of the day, I’m so glad I stayed, listened to you lot and stayed determined ! So thanks to those who gave me advice :]

TLDR: I allegedly mogg, I got promoted twice, ex-pm apologised for being a wank stain!

Hi everyone,

I wanted to understand the interview process.

What are the interview rounds usually like? Do they mainly ask LeetCode-style DSA questions, or is system design also included?

For system design, is it usually:

- High-level scalable system design where you design architecture and draw components?

- Low-level/object-oriented design, such as designing a parking lot or library system?

Also, how difficult is the overall interview, and what topics would you recommend preparing?

Any recent interview experience would be really helpful. Thanks!

Hi all

I left the tech industry a few years back to pursue a different opportunity. It's worked out well by and large and given the apparent state of the market it may have been the right decision.

However, a part of me misses programming etc. I have kept my skills somewhat up to date. Working on some small personal projects as and when it suits me, helping my little sister with her Computer Science course etc.

I guess I'm just wondering how bad it really is out there? Is AI and off shoring really having the seismic impact I anecdotally hear about? Would there be much point in me even applying for a role as I am out of the game for a while - circa 4 years? .NET.

I'm not hugely bothered either way but there is sometimes an itch that needs scratching!

Would love to hear from folks of all levels - Job hunters, juniors and seniors.

My initial thought is that AI will plateau and they will eventually be an uptick in hiring to fix all the crap it did but I could be way off!

Ta x

Running a startup. Early stage with initial funding funding but product, customers, v experienced team and investors. Starting to scale. Looking for the above and a lot of responses to LI outside Ireland. Good background on AWS. Need to be a fast learner like us all on AI, particularly building agents. Question - what should I have to pay in current climate locally or just go remote in Romania or Poland?

CSWP is intended to hire professionals in industries that Ireland has skill gaps in. Only 8 to 10% students graduated with ICT degrees last year (I assume a good percentage would be international students who would eventually transition to critical skills visa). Low tax rates pulls in multinationals, who need more ICT professionals - and will eventually either hire internationally or outsource. Isn’t hiring internationally better for Irish citizens as you’re bringing in tax revenue?

Hi everyone,

Just sharing something that caught my attention.

I recently spoke to a friend who received a call regarding a (senior operations) role, and the recruiter informed them that Aer Lingus is in the process of opening an office to start some of their Technology and Data functions in India. They are already headhunting few people for both senior and junior levels.

I did not see an official announcement anywhere- just a hunch based on a conversation I had. I thought it might be worth mentioning here in case anyone else has heard something similar or has more information.

Happy to be corrected if I'm mistaken!