Only 22% of developers are happy at work as AI reshapes their jobs.
The AI boom is pushing ahead as the software developers behind it are wearing down.
Stack Overflow’s 2026 Developer Survey, released earlier this week, polled 30,903 developers across 169 countries. Nearly half said they were complacent in their jobs. A third were unhappy, and 22% were happy.
Among complacent developers, burnout or tech fatigue topped the list of reasons for complacency, cited by 21%.
The findings arrive as AI rewrites what the software engineering profession means. Some developers describe being reduced to button-pushers, passing along AI output instead of solving problems themselves.
For others, the shift to AI has triggered an identity crisis. Menlo Ventures partner Deedy Das wrote in an X post last month that anxiety among tech workers is “off the charts.”
As developers lose enthusiasm for their jobs, AI is taking up more of their workday. Stack Overflow found that nearly two-thirds of respondents use AI coding assistants or agents, and 62% use general-purpose AI chatbots.
For many, that daily use is intensive: 31% of daily AI users spend at least four hours a day using the tools.
The findings play into what a therapist sees in her clients. Annie Wright, a Bay Area psychotherapist and executive coach, mainly works with tech employees. She told Business Insider in August that her clients had moved beyond burnout to deeper fears about identity and job security.
“I don’t know who I am if my work gets automated,” she said, describing what clients now tell her.
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