Something subtle is happening in dev work right now.

We’re becoming more productive…

but less engaged.

And not many people are talking about it.

AI didn’t remove work. It removed struggle

Modern workflow looks like this:

AI writes the boilerplate

AI suggests architecture

AI generates first drafts

AI fixes common bugs

So what’s left for us?

Reviewing output

Stitching systems together

Fixing edge cases

Writing prompts instead of code

It still feels like work.

But it doesn’t always feel like creation .

The real issue: no more dopamine loop

Programming used to feel like:

problem → struggle → insight → solution → reward

Now it often feels like:

prompt → output → tweak → repeat

The “struggle” and “breakthrough” steps are shrinking.

And that matters more than it sounds.

Because those steps are where motivation comes from.

Productivity is up.…