| I'm a mid-senior level engineer, and I experienced the following beginning in December, when I first start using ChatGPT: December - January: I need to explore this brand new tool called ChatGPT. This could be as big of a game changer as Google must have been (was not in the workforce back then) January - March: This thing is a TOTAL game changer. I can do work at a Senior+ level, when I was barely scraping by as a mid just a few months ago. I'm going to learn as much as I can as quickly as possible, using this new tool. March - May: Uh oh. The team has new expectations of me. I'm sure I can deliver! May - July: I don't think I can deliver. I'm working constantly and feel burnt out. ==== Since July, I've changed projects to something less stressful (I work in consulting), as well as put a hard stop to computer-related activities after work hours. I'm slowly regaining my interest in programming again, after a few months of not even want to look at code. In retrospect, I burned out myself because of the tremendous opportunity sitting right there with ChatGPT, and also the fear that all my peers will use the tool as religiously as I would and I may be out of a job if I don't work at a breakneck pace to acquaint myself in this new tool. I wrote articles and spoke on podcasts about this new tool, just to demonstrate that I'm a (false) expert in this thing. The lesson I learned is it's okay to be exciting for new technology, but I should pace myself. Most of my peers will take a lot longer to get up to speed, so as long as I stay abreast of trends I'll be just fine. |