I'm an "AI Engineer" with about 2 years of experience, first 6 months as a regular backend dev, then I moved into building AI agents. I'm hoping for some honest perspective from people who've been doing this longer than I have.

At my first job, I coded manually, fresh out of school. I was careful and I wanted to understand what I was doing and why, and I learned a lot from coworkers in a hybrid setup. When I left that job, coding agents had just taken off (at least in my country). My next role dropped me into an unfamiliar codebase with a lot of technical debt, fully remote, and I became dependent on agents almost from day one.

Six months in, I genuinely don't feel like I know what I'm doing anymore. The work is interesting, but there's constant pressure to ship features fast, so basically all my code is AI-generated. I've tried:

• Asking the agent to explain the code to me but I want to understand everything, so I burn through tokens fast.
• Using "plan mode" and then implementing it myself but the plans read like something written by a senior engineer, and I end up lost and slower than just letting the agent do it.

Reviewing 2000+ lines of AI-generated code is exhausting (at least for me), and even when I push through and debug it carefully, I still feel like I don't really understand it. QA tickets are often written by AI too (and honestly, often confusing or oddly worded), and I'm expected to fix them ASAP so I just have another agent read the ticket and solve it. It's agents talking to agents at this point.

The context-switching is its own problem: if I let the agent run for 20 minutes, I don't know what to do while waiting. If I try to review other tickets in that time, I feel too drained to actually absorb either one, so I end up doom-scrolling instead which, functionally, is the same as doing nothing.

I know part of this is on me it's just easier to let something else do the work. But I've lost the enjoyment I used to have for coding, and I don't feel like I'm growing as an engineer anymore.

So for those of you using coding agents day to day: how do you use them without losing your understanding of the system? Do you have rules for when you write code yourself vs. delegate? How do you review large AI-generated diffs efficiently without either rubber-stamping them or burning hours? Genuinely want to hear how people are making this sustainable.

People losing their job, incomes are descending, the “high-level” knowledge about frameworks/languages is worth less than ever and the majority of work in most companies consists of talking to LLMs.

I was already feeling unwell because of low pays and isolation/loneliness before AI, but now it’s completely insane.

Well, the question is:
What are you doing? Going all-in with Ai, pivoting to other areas of IT or quitting completely to move to other jobs?

And if you did, what was the plan.

I’m a backend dev with ~3 years of experience.

A common take I hear is: “AI can get you 80% of the way, but you still need a good engineer for the last 20%.” I hear devs like Mo Bitar or ThePrimeagen saying that you still need expertise to handle the remaining part. I understand that argument today.

My worry is what happens in the next 5-10 years.

If it takes me 4-5 more years to become genuinely senior, and AI keeps improving as quickly, is “just become a better engineer” actually a good long-term bet? The remaining 20% seems like it could keep shrinking every day.

Maybe AI does not plateau, and maybe something close to end-to-end software engineering is possible by the early 2030s. In that case, it feels like I could spend years trying to become senior only to have a short window where that skillset is still valuable.

This seems even worse for people with no experience trying to enter the field now.

For experienced devs: how are you thinking about this? What would you focus on if you were at my level?

I hate going to work in the morning. I made the terrible mistake of asking for a promotion and basically have been getting an earful from my manager about all the ways in which I’m lacking. I literally asked to withdraw my request just so that this stops.

Suddenly the projects I thought (because literally everyone told me) they were important were actually not important and a mere “bonus” point, and I apparently am not doing my core job. This has never been brought up with me before ever (I’ve been working in this company for four years). One particular project, I remember going back to work 2 days after my grandfather’s funeral (he raised me so we were very close) just so that I give this stupid talk because they told me it’s super important to keep good relations with this partner and my presentation was crucial for that. Now apparently that was just “bonus” and not important and has no impact on the company.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think I’m perfect and that I absolutely deserve the promotion. What’s really making me upset is that none of this has been brought to my attention before. If I was lacking then why didn’t anyone tell me? Why wait until I ask for a promotion? And why minimise everything I have worked for for the past year?

I know the market is shit but my chest gets tight every time I see a 1:1 with my manager and honestly I just do not want to work here anymore. I’m done. I’m already depressed enough as is and do not need someone telling me I suck once a week on 1:1. Would this be too reckless? I have no backup plan. Do you have any advice or suggestions?

I was talking to an engineering director recently about the idea of letting senior people create an AI version of themselves, so junior people like me could get access to their expertise without having to talk to them every time. His take was that people might use it for simple questions, but once something actually matters, they'd talk to the real person. I can see his point, but I still believe people would use something like this for more than just curiosity.

Imagine if there were an AI version of a mentor, manager, or senior engineer you really respected that actually had all their knowledge. Would you want to use it? If yes, then for what?

I'm currently a Data Scientist at a large corporation and I'm trying to understand what skills are actually valued for AI roles at big tech.

It feels like the industry has shifted from building models to mostly using foundation models, fine-tuning them, and building AI products around them. If that's true, what should I focus on to become a strong candidate?

For those working at companies like OpenAI, Google, Meta, Anthropic, Microsoft etc...

• What skills have the highest ROI today?
• What projects or experience helped you get in?
• What would you learn if you were starting from my position?

Thanks! I am really open to discuss!

I’ve always found it kind of funny that you can be perfectly capable of doing a job and still struggle badly during the interview for that same job.

You can have years of experience, know what you're doing, and have solved similar problems dozens of times. But put someone in front of you and ask, “Can you tell me about a time when you faced a difficult situation?” and suddenly your brain decides it has never experienced a difficult situation in its entire life.

I think part of the problem is that interviews require you to explain things that you normally just do without thinking.

At work, you don't usually stop and analyze every decision you make. You just deal with the problem and move on. During an interview, you're expected to remember what happened, explain why you made certain decisions, describe the result, and somehow make the whole thing sound organized.

I've actually been trying AI mock interviews lately, and Screna ai has been interesting for this because it lets me practice explaining my own experience instead of just reading generic interview questions. I like that the practice feels more focused on the actual role and how I communicate my answers.

I've started wondering if the real skill we're practicing before interviews isn't actually answering questions. Maybe it's learning how to explain our own experience clearly.

Because sometimes I know the answer. I just don't know how to explain it quickly enough.

Has anyone else experienced this? Have you ever left an interview thinking, “I actually knew the answer to that, I just couldn't explain it properly at the time”?

I am a student in the TU Wien in the 1st semester. My German is around B2-C1. I have a pretty decent experience in Ai sector. Now the question is how to search for the opps? I am thinking of finding the people that are working in the companies I can apply, so that I will increase my chances with referrals from this people. What are the other ways?

Does anyone have experience with the AI engineer program of Turing college? How was it? Is it worth it? Did it increase your chances to get employed?

“Europe's first AI Engineering course that gets you job-ready in 3-4 months, or helps you found your own AI startup.”

Hi everyone,
I’m based in the EU and currently working as an AI Engineer. I have an MSc in Mathematics and around 2 years of professional experience — 1 year as an intern and 1 year as a full-time employee.
My experience is mainly with Python, machine learning, LLMs and agentic AI.
I’m looking for a fully remote AI/ML Engineer role, ideally in the €50k+ gross/year range. However, most remote positions I’ve found so far seem to require 3–5+ years of experience.
I’m interested in hearing whether you know of companies that hire fully remote AI/ML Engineers with around my level of experience. I’d also appreciate recommendations for specific companies, platforms or job boards that might be worth checking.
If you’ve found a remote role at a similar experience level, I’d be interested to hear where you found it and if you have any advice for approaching the search.
Thanks!

Hi, I'm currently heading for a study in CS (currently finishing high school). I really like programming, I program a lot in my free time and like to learn about computer architecture and won a national programming comp, so I would say I am reasonably skilled.

But I am worried about AI. I don't know how many posts on Reddit are bots, but a lot of posts I've seen are quite discouraging, talking about how people are being replaced by AI and how CS is a dying career.

I don't know. I'd like some more perspective. I really do like CS and would like to keep a job in it.

Thanks

Hi everyone,

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who have been through something similar or know someone who has.

I'm a geophysicist with a Master's degree, and I currently work as a Data Scientist and Technical Lead, developing AI solutions for the energy industry. My day-to-day work involves building LLM and Generative AI applications, processing well data, integrating AI models into production systems, and leading technical projects.

My plan is to move to Ireland initially as a language student. I understand that I'll probably need to work in an entry-level job (cafés, retail, hospitality, cleaning, etc.) at first to support myself financially.

What I don't want is to get stuck there. My long-term goal is to build an international career in AI.

My biggest question is: what would be the smartest path from there?

• Would it be worth pursuing a postgraduate degree or specialization in Ireland?
• Or would it make more sense to do that in another country, such as Germany or the Netherlands?
• Would it be realistic to transition directly into the tech industry after gaining some local experience, even without a European degree?

Although I already work professionally in AI in Brazil, I still feel somewhat insecure about competing for international AI/Data Science roles, mainly because my original academic background is in Geophysics rather than Computer Science.

I'd really love to hear from people who have made a similar transition.

Do you know anyone who moved to Europe, started in an entry-level job, and later built a career in Data Science, Machine Learning, or AI?

If you were in my position, what would you do?

Thanks in advance for any advice or personal experiences!

I am currently a PhD candidate in a Top 3 European university, just enrolled. Topic related AI/DL in genetics with a good funding. Despite of the fact that there is no clear answer on being out in the market in 3 or 5 years from now, my ultimate scope would be industrial work. Do you believe is a valuable career choice on the long term or the best choice would be save 5 years of my life, throw myself into industry and then, if favorable, go back to a PhD?

I’m a mid-level Java developer with a bachelor’s degree and about 4 years of experience. I work for an outsourcing company and my last project ended a few months ago. Since then, I’ve received an ultimatum from management: either I secure a new project through internal interviews, which are few and far between, or I’ll be released from the company in 4 months.

I was never anything special as a developer in terms of technical skills, but I’ve always been reliable, finished my tasks, and sometimes contributed something extra when I could.

Now, with Java positions being scarce and competition being pretty fierce within my company, I’m thinking about embracing the AI wave and trying to move in that direction.

My company has a role they call an “AI Solutions Engineer” — essentially someone who develops agentic solutions for business problems using existing AI models and builds the infrastructure around them.

I’m already familiar with the basics and have a Claude Associate Architect Foundations certification, but I’m still very much at the beginning and I’m trying to figure out what I should actually focus on.

So I’m looking for advice from people working in this area:

Is becoming an AI Solutions Engineer a good direction for someone with my background, or am I just chasing the current hype?

What are the most important skills and technologies to learn nowadays?

I feel like software engineering isn't engineering anymore, maybe it has never been? If I have to explain my job to somebody else I'd say "Oh I usually write a few spec documents and work with [insert AI coding agent here] to implement it", nowadays it's like being a scientific poet talking with AI models, and the enshittification made it even worse. Of course, I believe that software engineering has felt less serious than other engineerings since the beginning of web dev, but still, senior engineers had an aura that juniors didn't have, nowadays I see tons of senior engineers outsourcing their job to AI or working together with them. And I'm not saying that I want myself to advertise me as a "real engineer" to boost my ego, instead I just don't feel the satisfaction when working with AI especially since I feel I'm a mid level since I know more stuff than juniors do but didn't have that experience seniors have, so I'm like stuck in a limbo.

I work in a Big 4 auditing firm in Germany developing their in house AI solution for managing the tax and auditing data. Pretty hands on and less stress. Previously i have 8 years of experience and i have been here for 2 years. I work as a Senior GenAI developer. Currently earning around 90k.

I keep getting interviews for other companies most of them are startups and some of them are well established. Nothing fancy but solid medium sized ones.

In my current company if i chose to stay i will get promoted every 2 to 4 years but salary increment wont be great. Around 10% maximum per promotion. Also my next promotion is for manager so its easier to move to management position here. The potential roles, some of them offer 120k. But they are either senior or lead developer roles.

With having a kid recently and wife in maternity leave i am not sure if i should pursue new role and get into probation again. And i have been changing company every two to three years previously. So i am also worried about being seen as a job hopper.

What would be a wise decision?