Brain Becoming Obsolete

When you ask an AI to fix your CSS z-index issue and wake up to find your entire website has vanished into the void. Classic sledgehammer approach to fixing a thumbtack problem! The z-index is technically no longer causing issues if there's nothing left to display. Zero elements = zero stacking context conflicts. Task failed successfully! For the uninitiated: z-index controls the stacking order of elements on a webpage (which appears on top of what). Fixing it usually requires a small CSS tweak, not nuclear annihilation of the entire UI.

The iceberg metaphor is painfully accurate. After 15 years in the industry, I can confirm that typing out the actual code is the easy 10% that everyone sees. The other 90%? That's the soul-crushing existential void of figuring out what to code in the first place. AI can generate syntax all day long, but good luck getting it to understand the business logic buried in 47 conflicting Slack messages, 3 outdated Jira tickets, and that one crucial requirement your PM mentioned offhandedly during a coffee break last Tuesday.

Nothing says "career optimization" quite like spending your entire youth mastering skills that become obsolete the moment ChatGPT learns to write a for-loop. The education system really nailed that return on investment. Somewhere, a CS professor is updating their syllabus to include "How to Convince AI You're Still Useful 101."

The AI assistant lifecycle in six painful acts. First, AI screams it has the "BEST SOLUTION TO YOUR PROBLEM!" Then you explain "IT IS NOT WORKING." The AI pivots: "OKAY, TRY THIS APPROACH INSTEAD!" But it's "NOT EVEN CLOSE TO WHAT I NEED." The AI proudly declares it "WORKS ON MY DATASET!" before you finally storm off muttering "WILL DO IT MYSELF." It's the modern version of "works on my machine" except now we're gaslighted by a model trained on StackOverflow instead of a coworker who refuses to admit their code is broken. The circle of tech life continues...

The duality of modern developers: initially impressed by shiny new AI features, followed immediately by the desperate search for the "off" button. GitHub Copilot might finish your code, but it also finishes your patience when it confidently suggests the wrong solution for the fifth time in a row. The real 10x developer move isn't using AI—it's knowing exactly when to turn it off.

That's not a white dot, that's Cursor AI sharing your plaintext password file with every hacker on the planet. Nothing says "security professional" like storing credentials in a CSV file named "passwords.csv" and then asking about UI elements while exposing it. Somewhere, a security engineer just felt a disturbance in the force and doesn't know why.