I'm definitely not at retirement age yet, but I do have to admit that I'm hopeful I can make it to retirement while still mostly working in a way that I enjoy.

At the same time, I've realized that "let me just try to squeeze out the last of my career" is a really unhealthy mindset for me to hold. It sort of locks me into a feeling like my best days are behind me or something.

So I am trying to dabble in using AI for coding and trying to make sure I stay open-minded and open to learning new things. I don't want to feel like a dinosaur.

I've used all of the popular coding agents, including Jules. The reality to me is that they can and should be used for certain kinds of low severity and low complexity tasks (documentation, writing tests, etc.). They should not be used for the opposite end of the spectrum.

There are many perspectives on coding agents because there are many different types of engineers, with different levels of experience.

In my interactions I've found that junior engineers overestimate or overuse the capabilities of these agents, while more senior engineers are better calibrated.

The biggest challenge I see is what to do in 5 years once a generation of fresh engineers never learned how compilers, operating systems, hardware, memory, etc actually work. Innovation almost always requires deep understanding of the fundamentals, and AI may erode our interest in learning these critical bits of knowledge.

What I see as a hiring manager is senior (perhaps older) engineers commanding higher comp, while junior engineers become increasingly less in demand.

Agents are here to stay, but I'd estimate your best engineering days are still ahead.