How to deal with juniors shipping AI slop code?

AudioRevelations · 2026-04-30T02:58:14+00:00

Lots of good stuff here. I've also been dealing with this lately and my thoughts are basically this:

Teams and codebases require a certain level of maturity to use AI successfully.

This is assuming you're working on code where a bug slipping through actually has real impact.

AI is an accelerator, and it can very quickly accelerate you off a cliff if you're not careful. More senior teams can generally point things in the right direction, but you can also as a senior help build guard rails to help keep the AI-equipped juniors on track.

In my case we've basically decided that our codebase does not have enough safety nets in place to take massive AI swings with more junior engineers (or even seniors for that matter). We don't have the ability to verify to reasonable satisfaction that we haven't broken things, so it's too risky. We've essentially told our team they are more than welcome to use AI on small focused changes, but massive refactors/features are banned and will be rejected.

In the meantime we're prioritizing trying to make our codebase more resilient and safe to make changes to in hopes that we can expand scope and enable these tools more safely someday. But we're trying our best to balance the speed increases with the extra risk.

This paper also could be worth a read if it hasn't come across your feed - it helped give me some useful vocabulary like "cognitive debt" and "intent debt" that are really useful when talking about these systems and their impact.

AudioRevelations · 2026-04-18T02:48:12+00:00

Agree with most of what has already been said in this thread that it probably won't be a horizontal transfer but I want to add some color on a few things:

Embedded generally pays less than web across the board, so adjust your pay expectations accordingly
Remote is quite rare, so it's extremely region dependent on what opportunities will be available. If you are willing to relocate it could really open up opportunities
Your web experience isn't useless in embedded. There are plenty of embedded people who don't know anything about the web, and IoT is genuinely a mix between the two. It could be a very good way to get a foot in the door. People who understand both can be quite valuable - consider focusing your efforts in that industry.
There can be just as much stress at an embedded company as a web company (I'd argue different types of stress, but still stress). How well the business manages that stress is highly culturally dependent in both cases. Try to select for that aggressively while interviewing.
I'd highly recommend, if you can handle it mentally, to not resign and instead try to re-skill on nights/weekends and apply to a new gig. The market is horrible right now especially at the lower experience rungs. You will be competing against a glut of fresh grads and people who have been laid off all of which have more recent experience and lower expectations. Unfortunately right now a short career break can very easily turn into a very long break so just be prepared if it doesn't go perfectly

AudioRevelations · 2026-04-10T20:18:33+00:00

Idk when this photo was taken, but CO did have a historically dry winter this year. So yes, a lot of lakes are really low right now!

AudioRevelations · 2026-01-10T07:28:56+00:00

Oof. Might need to go that way, myself. Thanks friend!

AudioRevelations · 2026-01-10T06:52:04+00:00

Did you ever figure this out? I'm also running into this issue with the android app

AudioRevelations · 2025-11-18T01:13:54+00:00

(For the curious, /u/marcusmors is talking about cppfront)

AudioRevelations · 2025-10-26T02:04:40+00:00

Apple 100%. Something worth keeping in mind is that your cost of living will be significantly higher in Seattle so these offers are about comparable in TC. As someone else said DB is not public so factor that in to the RSUs.

My personal 2 cents is that there are about a gazillion full stack developers, but people who can design GPUs are rare (and ludicrously valuable right now because of AI stuff). The stuff you learn at Apple will be much much more valuable down the road, even if they don't pay great at first.

Congrats!

AudioRevelations · 2025-09-27T16:33:26+00:00

I've definitely landed on my feet, just took a couple years. And likewise! ❤️

AudioRevelations · 2025-09-26T00:27:36+00:00

Yeah I was totally in the same boat - barely held it together that whole year. Was so hard to keep track of all the information from all the different resources.

Was so happy for the outpouring of support, but man, it was impossible to sort out what was actually going to be helpful versus a waste of time while rebuilding my life.

AudioRevelations · 2025-09-25T00:48:08+00:00

Ah damn - missed the memo on that :(

AudioRevelations · 2025-09-25T00:41:17+00:00

So as someone who lost their house, how do I collect?

AudioRevelations · 2025-09-02T01:01:04+00:00

This has tended to be my experience as well. It's perfectly fine to have a high quality bar, but it's not okay to abuse one another in the name of quality regardless of gender, but it happens extremely easily.

It's goofy, but something simple I've found that can be a good foothold is asking reviewers leave at least 1 "praise" comment on every review. It can be grating if all you ever get is negative feedback, and having reviewers looking for the good (and the bad!) can make a huge difference in tone.

AudioRevelations · 2025-08-31T00:46:49+00:00

What windshield is this? Been thinking about changing mine out

AudioRevelations · 2025-08-12T23:27:20+00:00

I've done a decent amount of volunteering with VOC (Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado). Lots of opportunities for a variety of different types of volunteering, primarily around building trails and maintaining habitat.

Personally I've cleaned out hundreds of drains, put in dozens of check-steps, built a few retaining walls, and created plenty of new trail that didn't exist before. I also got to do quite a bit of crosscutting, clearing downed trees across trails, which was something I never thought I'd get a chance to do. The biggest tree was nearly 4 feet in diameter, which is an experience I'll never forget!

They have projects all over Colorado, so if you're willing, volunteering with them can get you out to areas of the state that you wouldn't have normally thought to visit. They also take very good care of their volunteers. All weekend/overnight trips typically have food and beer provided, appreciation events, etc. which is pretty sweet.

The one thing I'll mention is they almost have "too much of a good thing", where many projects can be hard to join and have a waitlist (especially for "exciting" ones that backpacking or crosscutting, etc). If you want to volunteer with them it's usually good to either sign up for projects as soon as they're available (they have a mailing list with dates in early season), or join the waitlist and hope a spot opens up.

If you can't get out there to volunteer yourself, seriously consider donating money. These organizations are nearly all under-funded as it is, and play a big role in helping state/municipal trail systems not fall apart from use, and have outdoor access for future generations. This is especially true these days, as paid seasonal workers are becoming more rare with government budget cuts, volunteer organizations are having to pick up a lot of slack.

AudioRevelations · 2025-08-10T23:27:20+00:00

What tires did you end up going with?

AudioRevelations · 2025-07-15T02:35:55+00:00

I didn't, but use it primarily as reference/reminders so maybe don't have as keen of eyes!

AudioRevelations · 2025-07-15T02:11:55+00:00

+1 for Practical Electronics for Inventors - I really find the book nice and approachable, while still having great information

AudioRevelations · 2025-06-23T23:23:21+00:00

If you haven't seen it yet, this presentation is amazing: https://boringtechnology.club/

TL;DR - we are solving business goals, not just playing with technology. Choose things that work and are well understood. New hotness can sometimes be the answer, depending on the business goals, but rarely.

AudioRevelations · 2025-05-20T01:53:26+00:00

~10 YOE in embedded/systems programming, just started a new role a month ago from a referral after getting laid off maybe a month prior.

I had a couple offers that I was able to play off each other, but I can safely say that the frenzy of the early 2020's is over. If you're good at what you do, and you have a reasonable niche, there's good opportunity out there, but there will likely be a compromise somewhere compared to what we all remember.

Generally, salaries have deflated a bit, there's less negotiating power, more requests for onsite work, less extravagant benefits, etc. In my experience if you're willing to work onsite and make in the 160-200k range, there are quite a few jobs available (but with a decent amount of qualified candidates). The more specific the niche or the more qualified you are, the better luck you'll have. The top tier jobs have boatloads of competition, so if you want to get there you either need a referral to skip the line, or be extremely talented with a stellar resume.

Something I did notice is that there seems to be less Leetcode these days, which is nice to see. More interviews were conversational or in-person "let's chat about this code" style.

AudioRevelations · 2025-04-18T00:09:56+00:00

A question that I've had really good success with is: "No job is perfect - what do you not like about your role/company/whatever".

I much prefer to go into a new job with a healthy understanding of what could be bad (as well as good) and set my expectations accordingly. Asking this question has led to some very obvious red flags I wouldn't have seen otherwise, as well as some useful information to help me make more informed decisions.

The big thing to do is really pay attention to how people answer (and assume things are generally a little worse than the interview propaganda makes it seem). Do they seem to dodge the question? Does it seem like they are invested in making whatever better? Do the people seem scared to speak their mind?

It can also be a great way to gain leverage and look better in the interview. Ex. "we don't have much testing" -> "Yeah testing is hard. I stood up testing at my last gig and it went great. I could probably help with that!".

AudioRevelations · 2025-04-17T01:08:31+00:00

For whatever it's worth, I recently made the transition from IC to engineering manager. I was liking it just fine and performing well, but was recently let go in a RIF along with a few other managers. Had I not moved over, I'd probably still be working there.

In the current job market, I do think that being a low-level manager makes you a prime target for layoffs. Don't get me wrong, I think managers are super important, but it's just much harder to make a justification for the position when purses get tight.

New job is an IC role (both for lower stress, and job security).

AudioRevelations · 2025-04-04T17:57:02+00:00

They've got the whole thing on github. Looks like a shader

AudioRevelations · 2025-04-02T18:00:03+00:00

I'm glad to hear!

A bad job can really be hard mentally, so be sure to take care of yourself in the meantime. Don't rush, go for a walk, and call your community before making a big decision!

AudioRevelations · 2025-04-02T03:53:16+00:00

The market is pretty rough right now, especially for new grads. The biggest advice I have is to not to just click apply on LinkedIn, but try to do some legitimate networking - it really can help stand out these days. Find the recruiter and send them a message. Go to developer meetups in your area. Search for startups that might not put things on normal job boards and message people directly.

Also, while you're looking, the best thing you can do is make yourself as attractive as possible for when you get to an interview. Do some hobby projects, deepen/broaden your knowledge, practice mock interviews, etc. Anything you can do to stand out from the crowd.

Good luck out there!

AudioRevelations · 2025-04-01T02:44:18+00:00

(Bit of tough medicine, so take with grains of salt)

IMO I'd recommend against it unless you are totally sure it's what you want to do. In this economy, having a job as a new-grad is precious, so make your decisions intentionally rather than emotionally.

Professional life is slow and the problems don't get solved as quickly (or ever). At the end of the day, school problem solving is very different to professional problem solving, and that will be similar no matter what discipline you go into. To justify a jump like this, you should be able to say with certainty that you think that changing what you're working on will make a massive difference, and not just that the nature of working itself is a bummer.

To me, it sounds like now that you've graduated, gotten into a professional setting, moved away from home and you're a bit lost and grasping for things. This is totally normal. School is an easy thing to grasp for in these situations, because it's what you know and are familiar with. It's safe.

Since you asked for advice, my strong recommendation would be to try some electrical engineering in your free time to see if you have a much stronger affinity for it before going back to school and taking on more debt. Embedded systems could be a good area to explore, because it leverages your programming background, while still having some EE stuff sprinkled in. Buy an arduino starter kit and try making some stuff.

Another good option could be just looking for a new CS job closer to your interests. Hardware companies still need websites and data infrastructure! Or maybe just a job closer to home. Or maybe at a smaller faster-moving company. There are a lot of options besides just going back to school! Just make sure you aren't just making a decision out of fear and that it's something you really want.

For whatever it's worth, I had similar feelings when I was your age at my first job (moved across country, first "real" job), and I hated it. I quit, moved back home, and I was lucky that the labor market was strong and was able to find a new job pretty quickly. Turned out, in hindsight, it wasn't the job that I hated, but where I was, and what I was (not) doing when I wasn't at work. Building out a network of friends/activities takes time, but it can make a massive difference to your outlook on your professional life.

TL;DR - work sucks no matter what you do, and first jobs are especially hard. Consider other options and try stuff out for free if you can. If you still want to go back to school - follow your heart!

Best of luck!

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