Menlo Ventures partner says software engineers face identity crisis

Deedy Das, a partner at Menlo Ventures who invests in AI and enterprise software, says tokenmaxxing and the push to use AI coding tools are creating a divide on engineering teams. He distinguishes “lazy” engineers, who rely heavily on AI to write code, answer questions, prepare updates, and finish tasks with minimal engagement, from “craftsmen,” experienced engineers left to understand, review, and fix the growing flood of AI-generated code.

“Most software engineers are facing an identity crisis bordering on depression,” Das wrote. As AI makes code generation easier, reviewing and maintaining that code has become the new bottleneck, shifting many engineers’ roles from writing software to supervising, validating, and correcting machine-generated work.

That shift feeds what some describe as “AI sprawl,” with workers juggling multiple tools, duplicating effort, and producing more output without clear gains in effectiveness. “The craftsmen are tired. Very tired,” Das added.

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