The Beautiful Resistance

The tension between technological efficiency and meaningful craft has never been more pronounced. As AI tools transform our engineering landscape, something unexpected is happening – a form of beautiful resistance from skilled professionals who sometimes choose the longer, harder path.

When I watched one of my best engineers spend three hours writing code that an AI could have generated in seconds, I was struck not by inefficiency but by her complete absorption in the work. Her explanation - "If I don't struggle with it, I don't own it" - reveals something profound about mastery that transcends productivity metrics. This resistance isn't stubbornness; it's a protection of craft.

The paradox deepens when we consider that the engineers who understand AI capabilities best are often those who selectively resist it. They'll use automation for boilerplate but insist on hand-crafting core logic. As one architect told me, "Some things need to pass through human hands to have a soul." The fear isn't replacement but hollowing out - becoming mere reviewers rather than creators. Teams that embraced early AI programming tools often abandoned them because the experience felt like "watching TV" rather than building something meaningful.

What if these resistant engineers aren't holding us back but holding onto something we can't afford to lose? I've started implementing "craft time" - dedicated periods without AI assistance that reconnect engineers with the satisfying struggle of problem-solving. We're encouraging dialogue with AI rather than passive consumption, maintaining the human as the central creator.

Join me in considering what parts of your work deserve to be done the hard way, not because the past was better, but because some things - curiosity, struggle, understanding - are worth protecting regardless of how quickly the future arrives. Support this independent thinking at patreon.com/capybaralifestyle and help keep these conversations going.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro: Confession about AI
• 0:59 Maria's Story: Choosing the Hard Way
• 3:23 Beautiful Resistance in Engineering
• 5:37 Finding Balance with AI Tools
• 8:06 Leadership Approach to Resistance
• 13:22 Closing Thoughts and Support

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:22

This is Copybio Lifestyle. I'm Frank and this is where we try to slow down, notice and figure things out together. Let's get started. Can I start this episode with a confession? I love AI, I do. I love what it can do for my projects, for my time, even for my sense of possibility. And yet every now and then I catch myself rooting for the beautiful, almost stubborn resistance I see from my best engineers.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Let me take it back to last week. I was in the office not a fancy conference room, just the regular engineering corner with the half-empty coffee pot and three kinds of power adapters tangled on the floor. I watched one of my best engineers let's call her Maria spend three full hours writing a chunk of code. I mean, this was that copilot could have spilled out in 30 seconds, easy. I didn't say anything, I just watched, and what I saw wasn't frustration or inefficiency, it was something different. Maria was completely absorbed, like someone working on a puzzle that she actually wanted to solve, not just get out of the way. She didn't look at her phone, she didn't check her email, didn't even flinch when someone microwaved their leftover pasta in the next room. She was there in the work fully. When she finished, she leaned back with this quiet, satisfied smile, not the kind of I'm finally down relief, but more like the smile you see on someone who's just finished a long run or solved a crossword that stumped them for days.

Speaker 1: 2:31

Later, over coffee, I asked her gently why she done it the long way. She laughed and said I know Copilot could have done it faster, but then I wouldn't have understood it. Not really learn it faster, but then I wouldn't have understood it. Not really. If I don't struggle with it, I don't own it. That sentence stuck with me for days. I mean, I run teams, I worry about deadlines and budgets, but also I get it. There's something about the struggle that's hard to let go of. Maybe it's not just nostalgia, maybe it's something deeper, something about what it means to know something, not just have it. And this is what I want to talk about today the beautiful resistance. You know what I mean, right? It's that feeling when you watch someone ignore all the shortcuts and do things the hard way the senior developer who insists on writing everything from scratch. The junior was afraid that if they use AI too much, they'll never actually learn. I used to think this resistance was about pride or maybe stubbornness, but now I'm not so sure. There's a big difference between having code and knowing code, between being a code operator and being a craft person. Let me tell you a quick story.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Years ago I worked with a team that was ahead of the curve. They tried AI pair programming before it was cool. For it was cool. You'd walk by their screens and see this endless river of code auto-completing in real time. But after a month the team left off.

Speaker 1: 4:36

People say it was like just watching TV. They were physically present, but mentally they weren't in the work. It was like being a critic in your own job. At the next retrospective someone said I feel like I'm just here to approve suggestions. I'm not building, I'm just reviewing. The joy of the puzzle was gone.

Speaker 1: 5:05

And you know what's funny? The engineers who could get the most out of AI, who really know their stuff, are often the ones who resist it the most, not because they fear being replaced, but because they fear being hollowed out. One of my team members once told me when I use AI, I feel like I'm being demoted. I'm not the creator anymore, I'm just the reviewer. I think about that a lot. There's a reason so many architects use AI for boilerplate but still insist on hand-scrafting the core logic. One of them told me something need to pass through human hands to have a soul. And then that's the ultimate irony. I know engineers who are literally building AI tools, writing the code that will automate someone else's job, but when it comes to their whole daily work, they refuse to use those same tools for the parts that matter most. That's not hypocrisy, that's reverence, that's protecting their craft. You might relate to this Even outside of tech. Maybe you have built furniture from scratch even though you could have just bought it. Maybe a cooking state of ordering takeout, or writing a notebook instead of an app. There's a difference between just aiming the result and aiming the experience that leads to it.

Speaker 1: 6:53

I want to pause here and say this isn't about being anti-AI. I use these tools, my team use them. I'm amazed by what they can do, but I think we miss something when we treat all resistance as a problem to solve. What if, instead, it's a signal? What if Maria and the rest of the engineers who resist the easy path are warning us about something essential we are about to lose? Maybe it's mastery. Maybe it's joy. Maybe it's the kind of deep understanding that only comes from struggling through the hard parts, from making a few mistakes, from touching every line of code with your whole mind. There's a phrase I heard once easy don't always mean better, sometimes it just means emptier. That's what I see in the best engineers they want to feel the contours of the problem, not just watch the solution appear. So what we do with this? How do we honor the resistance while still moving forward? I started running a little experiment and I recommended to any leader out there create craft time for one block a week.

Speaker 1: 8:24

No AI, no co-pilot, no autocomplete, just you and the problem. It's not a punishment, it's a celebration, sometimes someone we could play, but more often than not they end up surprised by how satisfying it feels to struggle again, to wrestle with the details, to make something that's really theirs. There's also a big difference between using AI as a replacement and using it as a dialogue partner. The best moment I have seen are when the engineer and the tool have a kind of conversation. Ai make a suggestion, the human pushes back. It iterates, challenges the model, maybe even argues a bit. That's not being left out of the loop. Maybe even argues a bit. That's not being left out of the loop. That's learning. But when AI just does it all with no friction, no back and forth, that's when the people start to feel disconnected. It's like watching someone else play a game you love you see the moves, but you never get your hands on the controller. I want to share something a bit vulnerable here.

Speaker 1: 9:44

Years ago, when I started managing larger teams, I was all in on efficiency. I wanted faster releases, fewer bugs, more automation. I started pushing AI everywhere For bugs, more automation. I started pushing AI everywhere. For a while. It worked. Velocity went up, dashboards looked good, but then something stumbled. Shift Subtled, shift, morale dropped, retrospectives got quiet. We still ship, but it feels like we lost the spark. It took me a while to see it, but eventually I realized. In trying to maximize output, I accidentally minimized the experience of engineering. I turned creators into operators and for the best people, that was the real risk not being replaced, but being emptied out.

Speaker 1: 10:47

Now I pay close attention to resistance. Sometimes it's just fear or comfort with the old way, but sometimes it's the healthiest voice in the room, the voice that says wait, if we do everything this way, what do we lose? And that's worth listening to. Here's what I try to do now. I ask the team. Where do you want to slow down? Not everywhere, not all the time, but where does it matter to do things the hard way? Where does the craft need to survive? For some it's the core architecture, for others it's the critical algorithm. For juniors, maybe it's a chance to build something hand-to-hand, without a safety net. For seniors, maybe it's teaching, pairing, mentoring, not just optimizing.

Speaker 1: 11:48

I also encourage a spirit of dialogue with AI tools. Use them, but don't just accept their answers. Challenge them. Try it the old way, now and then, just for the feel of it. You might be surprised at what you already discover. And if you are a manager, don't treat resistance like a weed to be pulled. Sometimes it's the flower you should be watering.

Speaker 1: 12:21

We talk a lot about digital transformation, about staying competitive, about efficiency, but what if the engineers who resist AI aren't holding us back? What if they are holding on to something we can't afford to lose? So next time someone on your team insists on doing something the hard way, ask them why? Listen, really listen. You might learn something about what makes engineering beautiful in the first place, and you might remember what you got into this work too, if you are out there building, leading or even just wondering what all this technology is for. I hope you can take a little time to resist, not because the past was better, but because some things curiosity, struggle, understanding are worth protecting, no matter how fast the future is coming. Well and hey, if you appreciate this conversation and want to support independent, 80 free thinking, you can always find me at patreoncom capybara lifestyle. It helps keep the lights on and it means a lot. Thanks for giving me your attention. Protect your spark, honor your craft and I'll see you next time.