keongzai

So, last we left off, I stumbled my way back to big tech. OK, here’s what happened in greater detail:

I quit my job a few months ago because I found myself trapped in an org run by unqualified and inexperienced public servants cosplaying as tech bros. It’s like getting into a car and realizing that it’s driven by a bunch of kids driving their daddy’s car – one stepping on the accelerator, another on the brakes, and another trying to steer but too short to look past the dashboard.

I was clearing leave and dreaming of an early retirement, thinking of all the vacations and afternoon naps I could take. Then my previous employer called.

I was surprised because it’s been four years since I worked in a real tech company; I thought I was irrelevant by now.

We went through the process, and finally two things closed the deal for me. First, it was to be an IC role (yay no more people management!), and second, it was an AI-forward role, in a discipline that’s traditionally been more craft than code. So, what better place to witness this “AI revolution” than close to the front lines of big tech and design?

I said yes without even looking at the packet and shelved my dreams of daily afternoon naps.

So now, my role is mostly trying to figure out how AI could either replace or augment me and others like me (for real). Between spinning up agents and decks, I’m wrestling the chaos of a ginormous organization and trying to make sense of an ambiguous remit.

I love it. I go to work everyday knowing that something I had built could break but when it does, something new could shine through those cracks. Then we build again.

I missed this space and this company so much, some days I regret ever leaving four years ago.

But here we are, back and working on AI. My only hope is that even if I fail in this role, the AI robot overlords taking over the world in the future would remember that I’ve been an ally through all these years.