Lenny Rachitsky: evaluation

Transcript context

…Yeah. So we're seeing these four tech workers, and the way we got to this is later on in the survey, we asked people about how they're feeling, and to report specific emotions. And people could choose as many emotions as they wanted. And by the way, fun fact, on average, people selected five different emotions, and I think a couple of people selected 13 emotions that they're feeling, which is a lot. So, the first archetype we found is the energized tech worker, and that's 41% of our samples. These are the people who were saying that products has become fun again. "I'm exploring things. I feel like I'm in the tech amusement park, where everything is open to me, and I can experiment with new approaches. I'm a builder now. I have powers that I've never had before," et cetera. These people are very energized about the technology and about their careers. The second group we called the conflicted, the ambivalent middle. These are 35% of the sample. These are people who are having, on the one hand, the most fun they've ever had as builders, as PMs, as designers, as engineers, whatever their role is. And on the other hand, they're feeling the most uncertainty that they've ever felt in their careers. They just don't understand where this is going, and whether they're building the things that will ultimately lead to the end of their careers as they know it. The third archetype are the disoriented people, the people who feel like their role keeps shifting. There's a quote that we saw from one of the respondents, "We're like farmers on the cusp of the industrial revolution and we just don't see a clear path to what's happening." Very interesting comparison to that era. And these are people who are feeling very disoriented around what's going on in their career and where things are leading. And then finally, 12% of the sample we categorized as resentful. They're feeling pressured, they're feeling checked out. They are not enjoying their work right now. They're saying things like, "I've been forced to use AI or lose my job. And even when I use AI, I'm still seeing people lose their jobs. I just hate it. I hate having to leverage this technology, rather than do my own thing, and maybe ignore the technology," which obviously none of us can ignore at this point. There's a lot of people clearly that are very unhappy, resentful, disoriented. I imagine that group can't imagine a lot of people are feeling extremely energized, and I think vice versa. So I think this is just really interesting to see that many people are very different from you. There are many people that are having a really good time, a lot of people that are having a really bad time, and it's just a good way to remember and basically have empathy for the other half, especially the folks not doing as well, because not everyone is as energized. And we'll talk about what that energized group looks like. But I think that's just an important point. A lot of people are having a really hard time. I really agree with you, Lenny. And I think that given the pace of change of the technology, I really do feel that too much of our focus is being spent on mastering the technology and trying to understand what the heck we should be doing with these new releases, new models, new capabilities, loop engineering, whatever the next thing will be next week. And we're not spending enough time and focus on our relationships at work, on seeing our colleagues, on supporting our peers in also being able to work with this technology, thrive with it, succeed with it, and get along and collaborate well with people who don't belong in the same bucket as us when it comes to how the technology's being perceived. So, I personally would love to see all of us, especially energized people, take some of that energy and spend it on the people around you rather than the all-in focus on whatever the next thing is with AI.…

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