The Engineer I Never Hired

I have two degrees: one in Computer Science and Technology and a Master of IT. 🎓🎓 For years, I was one of the few girls in university or the office—coding, then leading developers, managing implementations, and eventually becoming a Research & Development Manager and Head of Engineering. In application development, the work is always busy, the nights are late, and the pipeline is never-ending. ⏳

I’m from the generation of software building that believes in "Peopleware." 🤝 As Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister taught us, the real challenges aren’t technical—they’re human. I saw this firsthand: some teams I led were simply better than others because of the people.

Great engineers are so hard to find. 💎 I remember working with one particular engineer years ago. We had sourced him from another vendor to help us with an incredibly difficult project. He was so good. I used to tell all my friends, "The day I can afford to hire him for a permanent role on my team, you’ll know I’ve made it. I’ll be at the top of my career. I can retire happy." 🌟

Since then, I’ve led projects across the entire spectrum. Some were so successful—and I was so proud of the team—that I was moved to tears. 😭 Others failed so miserably that I still try to forget them. But that specific day—the day I could finally afford to hire that one great engineer for a permanent role—never came.

Instead, AI arrived. 🤖✨

For most of my career, people thought engineering was boring. They would code for a few years and then leave to do project management, finance, or investment—anything "less boring" than just coding. But with AI, suddenly everyone has this frenzy, this enthusiasm for building software. 🔥

It amazes me. Now, people with or without tech knowledge come to me asking how to build things. After spending so many years managing, organizing, and encouraging teams to just stay in the game, code and build, it’s incredible to see people volunteering themselves to try it out. 🙌

Products like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Manus are so good; they make users feel empowered. But I can't help but wonder: Will AI also empower the next generation of doctors and lawyers? 🩺⚖️ People who also endure years of "boring" work before they can truly be helpful? Will it help them stay in careers that have such high quit rates?

Or will it simply stop people from wanting to become those things at all? 🧐

But deep down, I understand. I understand that feeling of wanting to hire the best engineer—the desire to find that one person who makes the impossible feel easy. ✨

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