I got dinged on my latest review for not participating enough in the team channels, and I feel like I’m back in middle school. Apparently, shipping clean, bug-free code ahead of schedule takes a backseat to not dropping enough memes in the #random channel. My manager literally told me that social presence is a core metric for our remote culture this year. Is this normal? I’m so grumpy about it.

Do you think AI will ultimately make society more equal or more unequal? Why?

Is there an ethical limit to how much wealth one individual should be allowed to accumulate, even if it was earned legally and through innovation?

My company strongly encourages us to use copilot for coding. I have two “vibe coders” in my team. Sometimes they do funny things (like writing a separate java class with getters for two constants, complete with a test class - all AI generated and absolute BS), but most days, it’s taking a toll on the rest of us. The most annoying part is that the management praises the “creative duo” while we struggle, trying to put out their fires and keep the code quality decent.

I feel like the tech industry has completely warped my perception of money. I find myself getting jealous of people making $250k on Reddit, while completely forgetting that my current salary puts me in the top percentage of earners in my own zip code. My non-tech friends are struggling with groceries, and here I am complaining that my RSU refresher wasn't high enough this quarter. How do you ground yourself?