It is often said about AI that it will make people’s work easier and save time, but everyone’s experience is not like this. A software developer, while sharing his experience on social media, said that instead of reducing his work, AI has increased it. He says that now companies have started expecting more work than before, while there has not been any significant change in the salary.
This developer posted on Reddit’s r/developersIndia forum Anyone else feel we’re having to work more due to AI? Wrote your point through the title. Within no time his post went viral. The developer said that the pace of software projects between 2021 and 2024 was quite different. At that time, even creating a simple CRUD API went through many stages. First the requirements were understood, then technical specifications were prepared, they were reviewed, and then coding started. Then testing, pull request review and finally deployment on production.
Why has AI become difficult from easy?
Many days were spent in all these stages and this was considered a normal process. He also told that during that time he used to manage a team of four interns. In which guiding them, correcting their mistakes and explaining them used to take a major part of his time. For this reason, he did not get a chance to write much code himself, but at that time no one had any problem with it because the timeline of the entire project was made accordingly. The developer says that the situation changed rapidly after 2025.
After the advent of AI tools, tasks which earlier took several days are now expected to be completed in a day or two. Companies believe that when AI is available, developers must work faster than ever before. He wrote that now even junior developers and interns can create code very fast with the help of AI. This sounds like a good thing, but a new challenge has also emerged with it. Where earlier junior developers used to take time to complete work, now they submit code quickly. In such a situation, senior developers have to spend more time than ever before in reviewing their work. This means that now the responsibilities have increased instead of decreasing. On one hand, the work of other team members has to be checked and on the other hand, one has to write more code than before. Overall, work pressure has increased, but the salary received in return is almost the same.
The developer humorously wrote that AI has ended the comfortable slow processes of the tech industry, which earlier used to make the work a little easier. Now everything has become so fast that it seems as if we are in a race all the time. Many people felt his story like their own story. Many developers commenting on the post said that they too have experienced the same change in the recent past. According to him, AI has definitely made the work easier, but the companies have also reduced the deadlines in the same proportion.
Some people said that AI definitely helps in writing code, but the responsibility for the quality, safety and reliability of that code ultimately rests with humans. If there is any mistake in the code generated by AI, it can affect the entire project. Therefore it is still important to check every line. Many developers also said that now the work environment has become more tiring than before. As soon as one project ends, another comes up. It feels like one has to work continuously without stopping and there is almost no chance to rest.
This whole discussion has raised a big question. Is AI really making the lives of employees easier, or has it merely increased the pace of work and increased expectations manifold? At present, the experience of many people working in the tech industry shows that AI has not only changed the way of working, but has also increased the work pressure more than ever.
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