this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2026
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I was a developer and then manager for 16 years before I saw what the industry was becoming and left, almost a year ago now.
I used to be excited about the work I was doing, solving tough problems and working/managing great people.
Unfortunately, like every company, we had mass layoffs and AI tooling mandated.
My very last year there was me just depressed while trying to keep morale up for the team I was left with (which is almost impossible if you can't support the company).
The good news is, after I left I've made a horizontal shift to starting my own Indie game company. Obviously that has tons of risks and it's own problems, but it's been a breath of fresh air to work how I want to work, with a hope I can build a company and run it how I want to (which is not forcing AI tooling down everyone's throats).
I suspect I'm not the only engineer who's left to set up their own business over the past year, on the premise they want to start something small, with a healthy culture that they can hire engineers into.
I appreciate it's not much of a lifeline, but over time I reckon you'll see a correction with smaller companies starting up, who do engineering right and can set disruptive cultures that draw all the exceptional and clever engineers to come work with them.