Build Something Over the Weekend

👔 Tales from the W2

Unfortunately, I had to drive into the IT office to reproduce a bug with the QA team.

The bug only appeared in our latest release, so we spent most of the morning cycling through different combinations of software, firmware, and client builds trying to trigger it again. No luck fixing it.

The QA team would occasionally step out for coffee. At one point I asked Mohan where they were getting it and if I needed to bring a mug.

“Upstairs,” he said. “They’ve got plastic cups.”

I needed a break anyway.

I walked out through the lobby and took the elevator to the second floor. It was noticeably quieter than the main floor. Most of the engineers work remotely now, so the building feels half-empty unless there’s a company event. At least on the main floor the security guys greet you.

Upstairs felt almost deserted.

I wandered around for a bit, slightly lost, before finding the coffee station tucked inside the cafeteria area. I started digging through the cupboards looking for a coffee pod.

That’s when Dr. Chen walked in.

He’s a distinguished engineer at the company. Years ago, when I was in my first role here, he led the sister team we worked closely with. I used to ask him for advice all the time. He was also the one who referred me for my current position.

We greeted each other. He recognized me but I had to remind him how we had worked together before.

Then the conversation shifted to AI.

He asked what tools I was currently using. I told him Glean for internal knowledge and GitHub Copilot for coding. I mentioned how impressive Copilot’s agent mode had become and how it can generate large portions of code automatically.

I also told him I had set up Copilot to automatically review our pull requests so the AI provides feedback alongside human reviewers.

He asked if I had tried Claude Code.

I told him I had heard about it but hadn’t used it yet. Later I realized I had confused it with the Cursor IDE. Claude Code is actually a terminal-based autonomous agent that can manage multi-file projects, run commands, and iterate on code independently.

I mentioned an article I had read where someone runs AI agents during their commute so work progresses while they’re traveling.

That caught his attention.

“You should try it,” he said. “Experiment with agents over a weekend.”

I told him I liked my current role and wasn’t sure if I wanted to push toward staff engineer or team lead.

That was the exact level he was at when we first met.

He admitted the staff engineer role is tough.

“But after six months,” he said, “it becomes your new baseline. The first six months are the hardest.”

I remembered the infinite compliance loop, but then he said something interesting.

The Infinite Compliance Loop

“If you build something useful with agents over a weekend and bring it back to the company, that’s how you get promoted.”

I guess that’s what informal mentorship looks like.

I grabbed my coffee, said goodbye, and headed back down to the lab.

The bug was still waiting.

PS
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