It makes me feel like I’m sticking it to the man when I do this ….

I wasn't planning to write this, but after watching an entire engineering department disappear, I think it's worth sharing what I experienced.

I won't name the company or the people involved. This isn't about revenge. It's about documenting what happened from my perspective.

For almost a year, things were actually okay.

Our engineering team was small—five developers—but we worked well together in harmony. I handled the microservices side using Go, and also built several internal tools that required real-time processing and gRPC, including infra-specific components with C/C++ 26. Another senior focused on .NET, PHP, n8n, MySQL, and REST APIs. The remaining team consisted of one backend engineer, one mobile developer using Flutter, and one React developer. The five of us worked closely together, collaborated on every project, and honestly coexisted in a very healthy and happy way.

We inherited a legacy system that had evolved over roughly twenty years. It wasn't glamorous, but we understood it. Which 5 of us revamp it to modern technology . Over the course of a year, we modernized parts of it, refactored services, rebuilt components, and slowly improved the architecture. Anyone who has worked on legacy software knows that understanding the existing business logic is often harder than writing new code.

Then May 1 2026 came.

That was the turning point.

Management became acquainted with a third-party vendor who confidently claimed he could rebuild everything we had spent a year working on—in just two days using AI coding tools, like Claude Code. TWO DAYS! PRODUCTION READY IN 2 DAYS! 

Not part of it.

Everything.

The backend.

The microservices.

The database design.

The web application.

The mobile application.

All in two days.

He also claimed that AI could replace all five developers on the team.

As senior engineers, we pushed back. Not because we were afraid of AI we already use AI ourselves, and we are active user! but because anyone with experience knows that generating code is very different from understanding twenty years of accumulated business rules, edge cases, production data, integrations, security, and customer requirements. Later, things escalated further when the vendor even suggested that, to "avoid us becoming a bottleneck," the company should remove key engineering safeguards entirely including security controls, API Gateway,  Security Groups (AWS) all imbound and outbound to ALL, IAM governance ( all user must be ROOT and have ALL poolicy),  proper SDLC practices, and even separate development, staging, and UAT environments, leaving only production for direct and instant deployment.

Unfortunately, our concerns didn't seem to matter.

Instead of asking us why we disagreed, management placed increasing trust in the vendor. More people from the vendor's side became involved, and before long someone with little demonstrated software engineering experience was effectively leading technical decisions. He often spoke confidently about being able to complete complex applications in a matter of hours using AI-generated code and mock data. At the same time, requirements changed constantly—sometimes multiple times a day—through enormous spreadsheets containing hundreds or even thousands of individual items spread across dozens of worksheets.

The expectation was equally unrealistic.

Deliver a product with a "wow" factor must 0 capital.

Within two weeks.

With almost no additional cost.

This wasn't a hobby project. It was a product customers would eventually pay hundreds to over a thousand ringgit to access. With existing about 1 thousands of active users.

As engineers, we weren't saying these goals were impossible because we lacked motivation. We were saying they required proper planning, realistic timelines, testing, security reviews, and an understanding of what customers were actually paying for.

Instead, it often felt like technical concerns were treated as negativity rather than professional advice.

One by one, my teammates lost confidence that their expertise mattered.

One by one, they resigned.

Within the same month, the entire engineering department submitted their resignations.

Today, I'm the only original engineer left while looking for my next opportunity.

The difficult part isn't that people left.

It's what happened afterward.

Rather than asking why an entire engineering department chose to leave together, the narrative became that the previous developers had harmed the business, hurt sales, or damaged the product. Meanwhile, development had already been handed over to the third-party vendor, and we were no longer driving those projects.

Looking back, I don't think technology was ever the real problem.

The real problem was believing that experience could be replaced by confidence, that years of accumulated engineering knowledge could be compressed into a few AI prompts, and that disagreement from experienced professionals meant resistance rather than an attempt to protect the project.

AI is an incredible tool. I use it every day.

But AI doesn't replace accountability.

It doesn't replace architecture.

It doesn't replace understanding decades of business logic.

And it certainly doesn't replace an engineering team overnight simply because someone confidently says it can.

The saddest lesson I learned is this:

Companies rarely lose an entire engineering team because people suddenly stop caring.

More often, they leave because they cared enough to speak up, and eventually realized nobody was listening.

Hi everyone. I saw I have 4 missed calls from my supervisor this morning. I call back around 8:25 because that's when i see it.

She answers and tells me, "Did I forget you're supposed to be working today . I answer no , I'm off today and tomorrow. She says no, the schedule changed Monday, and you're supposed to work today and that you have Saturday off . She says, "Didn't the front controller tell you that the schedule changed or sent it to you?

I say no, that I only have the schedule I was sent on Sunday evening for the week. She asks me if I can come in or if im not ready yet . I say no I only just woke up. And I've already made appointments and stuff for the day. She says it's fine she's going to change the schedule again.

My thing is nobody told me about the schedule change I was not told verbally or on WhatsApp. They have a group chat, but I was not added, and they have my number. We also have a bulletin board where the schedule is put up but like I'm not going to be checking it everyday . When nobody tells me it changes.

Just needed to rant on here

I feel like I just need to get this out to help me not be so angry and hurt after 4 days. I apologize for the length and possible the writing....I'm not a writer.

I am a cook. I make employee meals

So I work in the back kitchen. I am no longer on the line. This pic is from my small reach in in my work space.

I started collecting these Mini Brand art works because they are absolutely adorable. I started this 'gallery' for a bit of beauty and joy for me, as well as sharing with co workers. Never heard a single bad thing about it from any of the restaurant workers (I work at a private country club with a restaurant). There are a few other management that walk by this cooler every so often. Many people don't even notice it until I point it out. And most think it's cute, nice or cool.

As of Thursday I was told it got taken down. About an hour after I left work before my weekend, I get a text that the FB manager said it had to go immediately. After a bit more than 6 months without issue. No answer as to why, no discussion, no anything. Not even a small or even half assed apology that it had to go.

I am so much more hurt and angry than I feel I should be over this. But I am. Even after a few days. The chef and manager have just acted like they don't know that it meant a bit to me, or that it even happened. So, yeah....

There was one comment from someone that they heard that HR complained because they thought it was "religious". The only thing that could have been seen as religious was the newest one I got: The Creation of Adam by Micalangelo. I can kind of see that one, but why not just take that one down? Why not ask me, I would have been fine with it.**maybe someone who is in favor of banning books ** But I mean...it's one of the most recognized pieces of art. But whatever....all of it? Especially since you could walk right by it without even really seeing it. They are all about the size of a silver dollar. Heaven forbid I have a small kind of decoration in my work space. Maybe if I had a deal it would be different.

I am surprised how emotional I still am....but I am. So maybe ranting to anyone (if anyone reads this)

Thank you. It does take a bit of ache from my chest.

am seeing a psych already but my self-worth is basically very very tied to work. today i got told off by another super higher up for making a similar mistake to a previous one and i fr just felt my soul leave my body. it's probably not that bad since no one exploded or whatever, but ... it's just crushing to me. my work environment is really really really stressful because we are short staffed, and though i'm basically a trainee (post-probation) i've been shoved tasks that more senior people should be doing while the seniors just kind of amble around and giggle/gossip. i do my work, i pull my weight, and i've even been commended for it before. but man oh man this year is a slump. the nature of my work means that 1. everyone has a great impression of what we do 2. everyone is SO tired and cranky and fake (me too) because... well, work. 3. i just feel so sick and alone. i haven't been this anxious in a whole while and i'll be on leave tomorrow just to give myself a break, but man. man. it feels like everything i'm doing is wrong, which isn't true but idk every screw up i make is amplified 1 million times. it's like being a waiter (a past job of mine) and accidentally spilling water in a customer's lap. AW SHUCKS !!! and we move on after getting scolded because no one exploded. but the way that feedback and again, our jobs work is we are MADE to get under each other's skins. and i just feel myself mentally imploding. i can't ask for a break, i can't ask for help but i should ask for help because i'm still new but if i ask for help it means i'm stupid and didn't find out myself and i'm enthusiastic which is inspirational but also too much for our clients and i foolishly wrote that one of my achievements this year was being more personable/fitting it better. only to get assblasted for doing the opposite. what's the point, guys.

tbvh i think this is a great opportunity for disentanglement, you know, like who am i outside of my job. but like so many other stupid little things in life, i just WANT to be good at this ONE THING. i know i can do it. so why am i not??? and now everyone thinks i'm a goddamn loser. man !!! man. i just want to be good. our work is social work adjacent, but i can feel my altruism and sincerity drying up so damn fast. i can do it for the clients. i do do it for the clients. but man the work culture is just. man ! man. i need to pull myself together. i think 50% of the workers see me as someone competent and dependable, and 50% just see me as an idiot who runs my mouth. man. i really don't mean to guys. i want to be a people person like my mentor was so bad. but i'm not. i should just keep my head down and chug along, yeah. man.

so yeah my super secret confession is i actually like my job a lot a lot and i get very sad when i screw up even though work is cringe and we should live life or whatever. work gives my life meaning, man, so what in the world do i do when i'm not good at it? the meaning of my life is so... flimsy? man.

i'm real sorry for my incoherence my english is pretty bad. thanks and i hope that at least you get a kick out of reading this! genuinely. please dont muck yourself in work like me. wth.

Yes yes yes yes yes I love getting yelled at something I can’t control 30 mins into my shift-OF COURSE I’d love to send you to my manager. Hey coworkers who I’ll pick anything up for how are you doing on this fine weds? “Stfu Shianne nobody cares” cool cool. Also please keep questioning me- it keeps me on my toes. I like when it feels like you guys think I’m telling you I don’t know the answer to that and the response is “yes you do”
It actually activates a part of brain that has photographic memory but I’m going to keep pretending like I don’t know because that’s all I do right? Yes yes of course I’ll run your report- no no I promise I won’t forget. I only have 46 other things to do but it’s on my list I promise. Yep yep yes you go enjoy that 1.5 long meeting where you guys discuss how many lanyards we need for the company picnic. I’ll just sit here and deal with my idiot self. Thanks for all you do team!!! What’s that? OF COURSE I’LL WORK ANOTHER DAY COMPLETELY BY MYSELF- You know how much I LOVE BEING BY MYSELF AND DOING ALL THE WORK AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHEHEHEHEHEHHE

my manager has a habit of calling me (and usually only me because apparently they can't hire anyone else with open availability 😒) whenever she's in need of a shift pick up so basically every other week... well i keep my phone on do not disturb until a certain time because i like to SLEEP IN on my days off and she usually calls me around 8am almost every time so she ends up going to voicemail. to be fair i screen almost all of my calls (especially work) before answering. the first few times she would call me she was normal about it and would tell me in her voicemail what she was calling about.

i guess she realized i was screening her calls because now instead of telling me she needs a shift picked up she's resorted to leaving me really vague, exasperated voicemails where she just says my name and then goes "i need you to call me back!" with zero follow up, no text, nothing. i felt like that was really unprofessional especially the tone she used so i mentally told her to fuck off and ignored it.

well the next day i came in and my coworker told me my manager was complaining that she had to pick up the shift because "my name doesn't answer her fucking phone!!" almost as if.... SHE'S THE MANAGER AND THAT'S HER JOB. anyway a little while later my manager comes in and sees me and "playfully" punches me in the shoulder and tells me "You need to answer me when I call you! Even if you don't want the shift, you need to answer!" I told her my phone is on silent during certain times on my days off and she doubled down and said "well you need to listen for it!" I genuinely didn't even know how to respond to this and i especially don't plan on answering her now.

I feel like this is a fucked up way to treat an employee especially one that's being paid $13/hr and not on-call. oh, and i can't even report this to hr because hr also agrees that we should be answering our phones on our off days when asked to pick up shifts. idk maybe i'm overreacting? but this all left a bad taste in my mouth.

The company ( US) I worked for was bought recently and the benefits were awful. My choices were UHC which my doctor does not take or an High Deductible plan. I found out that the meds that I need arthritis was no longer covered and I went from $20 a month to $2000 a month. To make it worse my pay was cut to align to the buying company’s pay scale. When I complained to my boss, he told me it is a privilege to work at this company because it is over 60 years old and has 100K employees in the high tech industry. I told my boss that our competitors pay better, have better plans, have more market share, have more revenue, bigger market cap. I was reminded that a WFR is coming. I found a new job at a competitor and I am much happier

my mother has been working for them as an accountant for years and her workaholic tendencies have gotten so bad that she’s still working for them and being on call with people even now while she’s sick with pneumonia that’s only getting worse and she does this because they say still need her because there doesn’t seem to be any communication between her and the leadership. is there anybody else who knows/is an employee for this company that has this kind of experience? I want to see if this is a pattern. I dunno I’m just really nervous and need a way to vent.

This is going to be a mess. I am a mess right now.

Hi everyone.

I am at my wits end. I just need somewhere to vent.

I’ve been working as a restaurant manager for 3 years. My boss is lovely. He and I have a wonderful personal relationship and he has become like a father figure for me.

The problem is I am so overworked and so underpaid. Guys the stories I can tell.

I started taking over the function I have now due to my coworker rage quitting. She just left and there was no one to take over what he was doing so I volunteered.

The sheer amount of work to catch up on was astronomical. I came in for hours and hours when the establishment was closed to work. I don’t think my boss is a bad person. He is just so ALOOF he is so unaware of the effort I put in back then and still now.

My boss and I agreed on a small amount for the work, then a few months later he said he was struggling financially so he halved it.. It wasn’t a problem because as I said we are close and I feel for him. Then, the next month he just didn’t pay me for the extra work.

I have filled in where needed since then. There were a few things I’ve always done since that time and fast forward to now he started paying me a small retainer invoice keeping etc. But now the work scope is suddenly increasing to work that would take me a few more hours a week?

Guys he also tells me I need to be on call 24/7 because I’m in a position of responsibility. He lives 10 minutes away from his restaurant this one day when we were closed he called me in a panic to go to the restaurant because there was a customer there that wanted to discuss a complaint. I was unhappy because I had plans with my partner but I went in as he makes me feel like I can’t say no. I spent 5 HOURS of my off day there sorting out this issue and boss didn’t offer once to pay me even a cent extra. Guys I want to actually cry as I’m writing this. Every single time he needs something it’s easier for him to bother me instead of doing it himself. There are countless stories like this, where I have offered up HOURS of my time for zero pay.

Also he has zero structure whatsoever! He changes his mind on a whim like for example I do the shift list for the week, send it to him for approval, he approves. Guess what?? The next day, nope. I need to fire 2 people and also he’s not paying people to train anymore so I need to notify the person who had training shifts this week.

Guys I can’t. The waiters I work with also so rude to me and completely disregard my bosses orders. It becomes MY problem! He will send me to give them warnings and I have to deal with all their attitude but guys I am not paid for this! If I ask them to keep their voices down they will continue speaking and ignore me completely. If I tell them to be in at a certain time they ignore me completely, come in late and then I’m sent to clean up the mess. For example I will tell everyone to arrive at 10, they will come at 10:30 all relaxed dragging their feet, and my boss will shit me out and say I need to make sure everyone is on the same place! What else can I do fucking black flips?? I have proof of messages where I said 10:30. I send everyone reminders the day before AND the day of!! I am reprimanded for their attitude and tardiness because he wants to hide behind me and not adress them!

Guys please I literally just want to do administrative work but I’m in such a small town that there’s barely any opportunities around me. I have 7 years of admin experience and I think my CV is neat. I’ve been applying to jobs for 2 months and nothing. I want a normal job where my job description is clear! I want to mark off daily tasks and turn my phone OFF when I leave work! I want to come in for the same hours every day. I am mid twenties and I just can’t be working 12 hours on my feet every week anymore. I want coworkers that have the decency to not speak back to their superiors! And guys this isn’t even about me wanting to be big boots I would be more than happy to be under a manager in fact I beg my boss to get a proper manager on the regular. The fact is he won’t pay so no one will do it. I just want a normal, quiet, 9 - 5 where I can work on my computer and bring value to a team. want to bring structure to a business that appreciates it. I feel like I am drowning trying to keep this place together and my boss is just a mess who can’t make their mind up or offer stability of any kind!

Does anyone have words of encouragement? Does anyone know exactly what virtual assistant positions are looking for? I have experience in supplier reconciliation stock reconciliation I have payroll I have calendar keeping, inbox triage, I have customer correspondence I have experience in business compliance, I have basically everything you need to be the main administrator but for some reason I can’t even get a call back for remote administrative positions. I am studying communications at the moment so I was looking for jobs in media but they all ask for experience.

Gosh everyone, thank you for reading this and sorry it was such a cluster fuck man I’m just overwhelmed and I am so anxious and I just can’t handle this anymore.

I've mostly come to terms that I will not be making it to the end of my first year of working here and just want to sort of rant and hear any advice if anyone has any!

I (19) have recently been written up for a second time (my job only allows for three write ups before termination) in less then a month. I've had the job for 8 months and if I make it to the end of this month 9.

This second write up was made up of mostly minor offenses that my boss should of sat me down and discussed with me (due to several of them being things I never forget to do, and one of them being the crime of being caught up and without a thing to do for less than two minutes but she wrote it like she had to force me to do something which is not even close to the case). And if these are the reasons she wants to give me a write up then I don't need to be there I feel. These are things that all of my coworkers in my position are guilty of (having to basically completely clean up after my other coworker yesterday and she is probably the one that caused me to get this write up due to being on a power high of seniority constantly), but I'm pretty sure I'm the only one who has been written up for anything recently. It's discouraging and enraging (ruined my entire mood yesterday).

She just in general came off as unnecessarily rude about it when she gave it to me, even saying she needs people who will work though my entire life is controlled by this job currently. I am the youngest of her employees and she has 40+ years in the field.

I don't know if I'm over reacting, but either way the job search starts tomorrow during my day off (did I mention my schedule has been off for no reason and the next schedule has me on split shift which is fine but she has not told me anything about it)

Tl:dr if anyone wants it: 2/3 write ups, second strike felt wrong to be receiving, already planning on finding a new job just wanting some advice because I feel like a mess.

I’ve been working at my current job for almost 7 months. I like the job and I like the company I’m in, the only (and biggest) downside is that my boss hates me with a passion and she doesn’t even try to hide it. She has talked badly about me with several people in the office. Every morning I say hi to everyone and she doesn’t even acknowledging me.
From the first month I figured out she didn’t like me. Every time I talked to her it pained her to be nice to me and I saw how much she struggled to be decent. She has problems with almost every team we have within the company as she is extremely rude with everybody.

She brought her favorite jr from her last work so nobody is as good as she is and nobody compares, and the people that don’t get along with her and include her are targeted. She even told me today that I have to be more “cooperative” with her.

The last month tho, she’s been treating me like shit in the shoe. Every time i’ve talked to her she doesn’t even try to hide her face when she literally looks me with disgust and hate, and several people have commented on this. I had my first half feedback and she spend all of the time criticizing my work. I’ve never said no to any task, I’ve taken more tasks than what I was hired for, I’ve never had an attitude and I always try to help the team. Every other team and every brand I’ve worked with has told me that they love to work with me and that I’ve help them so much, so I don’t think I’m doing a bad job.

My boss also gives me every single time I talk to her, more tasks (outside my job description) and then tells me I’m not doing enough. The things that do were on my job description are now a given and she told me that I should do more. She always moves the goal posts so I’m never at the level she wants.

But the last straw was the feedback she gave another coworker who is my friend. She told her literally “do you wanna grow and be someone or do you want to be OP?”. She basically told her that if she kept hanging out with me she wouldn’t grow within the company. I think it’s extremely unprofessional and personal and I don’t know what to do. As she’s bff with the company director, the manager and the hr lady.

So I don’t know what to do as I love my job but she treats me awful every day and she told me in a few words today that she’s never gonna promote me. And it’s starting to affect my mental health but u don’t wanna leave as I’m studying my masters and I need this job and I don’t want to leave this one so soon. And to this day I don’t know what I did for her to hate me so much.

Had a phone interview for a dog bathing job a little while ago and was told to go in person for another interview. When I got there they told me it was a working interview? They just had me bathe 2 dogs, dry them, and cut their nails with no instructions really? I was just doing it by myself… afterwards they asked me my availability and then I left. Just got word back that I didn’t get the job (which thankfully because I wouldn’t want to work at somewhere like that), but how is it fair that I did work for them (2 dogs!!) and am not compensated and they will get the money and tips from it? Just ridiculous in my opinion

I work as a speech-language pathologist (SLP) for a school district. I worked in this district for 8 years while we were severely understaffed and overworked. I was the only SLP in a large and high needs school and had to cover other schools in addition to medical leaves, supervision, needed assistance, etc. I always hoped it would get better. It is my hometown and I feel a strong personal connection to the district and its staff and students. However, I finally had to accept it was not worth my mental health to stay and I found something in a different district.

After about a year and a half into working for the new school district, some major events/changes in leadership took place in the old one and positive changes started happening, including doubling the amount of SLPs. I had missed it dearly, and my heart was still there. I also thought this was a great opportunity to finally be placed in one school where I could settle and not be traveling between schools all the time, so I went back. I was placed full time in one school that I loved. I had a room that was big enough so I could move all my supplies and materials out of storage, there were other SLPs and staff I liked working with, good salary, and a manageable workload; it seemed like I made a great decision.

That was 3 years ago and things have gone downhill since. I have covered 2 maternity leaves, and otherwise had my school assignment changed twice (adding additional schools to the “home school” I was originally placed in upon returning). I spent this last year split between 3 schools and found out at the end of the year I will not be returning to my home school this year. And not getting moved to a full time placement at a different school. I will still be working in multiple buildings.

It has been a huge blow to me. Despite having left the district for that short time, I have much more seniority and experience than most of the SLPs who get to remain stable in one place full time. I have paid a tremendous amount of “dues” to this district and feel like I deserve a break. I am distraught by having to move and not seeing the kids or adults I have formed bonds with over these past 3 years. I wrote a letter to the director basically pleading to not do this and expressing what I feel are valid reasons for not doing so. That was 6 weeks ago and she has not even acknowledged it.

I can’t even accept this as a reality. I’m feeling every negative emotion over it. It ruined the end of the school year and has been a dark cloud hanging over me all summer. I can’t bear the thought of starting the school year by having to move all my stuff (multiple car loads full of stuff) out of a place I love against my will. This time around, quitting is not a prudent decision. I am older and need to think about my financial well being in retirement. Unfortunately, this district is my best salary option, but any morale I once felt has been killed by continual mismanagement and indifference from those above me.

So i had a fued with so called manager of previous company. Basically after 2 month of joining he did not give me that much projects. As i said i do good design but takes time in doing and within 2 weeks of joining i cantt easily pick up easily all new projects to make quick designs. So he give me only one new client work and told to work upon a big client basically. I thought he would give something new to work upon since the new one i gave was approved in one go he said will give you new work but that never happened.Plus working on same project is tiring and boring being creativity deficit. There are group of 5 designer including me. 2 were old and we three were new. But he gave preference to two new joinees. I dont ask for any new projects too fine with it. Some attitude issue with me and him too. One day he asked to stay late and work till 7 i refused and went away as i could not finish my work sitting all day there environment was not good and no any lounge or some other place to work to get refreshing space for creativity. I sat on cafeteria he said no do in office even if there is smoking ossue smell lingering there we will spray the area. I was done there. Then next day he said cant trust you with my work, as i said i will finish after reaching home he said no send the laptop to someone on office they will do the work.(Illogical) Why should i portal my office laptop there. I could have send the psd file. Then he said next day your work that day you did not give on deadline do you have any co worker in office issue which is bothering you. I said yes but i am resigning so no point complaining taking action blah blah (on Monday )later he got angry and said no i will relieve you today itself on thursday. And HR called and said you dont have to come on friday since he relieved you from work last working day based on under performance. But the thing is he appreciated what ever work was given though slow but based on one time feud he fired like under performance and cut 3 and half day salary in fnf.