How My Life Dramatically Changed in the Last 5 Years as a Software Engineer
- #personal
- #career
- #ai
Sometimes I look back at the last five years and honestly cannot believe how much my life has changed.
Covid. War. Moving countries. Working from home. Building a life in Australia. And now, AI changing the way I write code.
If someone had told me in 2019 that my last normal week in the office was coming, that flights would stop, that I would leave Ukraine, move through Thailand, end up in Australia, and one day work in a company where we barely write code manually anymore — I would not have believed them.
But this is exactly what happened.
Covid: the last flight, the last office week, and the beginning of working from home
In March 2020, I was in Krabi, Thailand, enjoying my holiday.
Everyone around me was already talking about Covid, possible lockdowns, closed borders, cancelled flights. But honestly, I could not believe that something like travel could just stop. Flights, airports, moving between countries — it all felt too normal, too permanent, too obvious.
And then, almost literally, my flight back to Ukraine was one of the last ones before the world locked down.
I came back to Ukraine, had one final week in the office, and I think that was probably my last proper office week in life. Hopefully.
After that, I took my office screens home and built a proper desk setup. And strangely, that period became one of the best times in my career.
For IT, especially in Ukraine, it was a very interesting time. Salaries went up. Remote work became normal. I suddenly had more freedom, more time, and much less stress.
To clarify, lockdown in Ukraine, at least in my experience, was not as strict as in many other countries. The main change was that we moved to working from home. The rest of life still felt open enough.
And for me, working from home changed everything.
Nobody interrupted me. I could concentrate deeply. I could write better code, faster. I had time for the gym, the pool, long walks, and real life.
I changed company for a better one and moved to Odesa, where I could see the sea from my window every day.
My quality of life definitely went up.
War: parallel reality
Then February 2022 happened.
I was in Thailand again — partly working remotely, partly having a vacation. My company had even helped me move there because everyone knew something could happen. There were warnings about the war, but most of us still did not really believe it would happen.
I remember feeling anxiety deep inside, but also thinking: no, this cannot be real.
Then, during my second week in Thailand, the war started.
I was terrified.
My parents, my sister, my friends — everyone was still in Ukraine. I did not know what to do. I felt fear not only for myself, but for the whole country. It felt like I could feel Ukraine with every cell of my body. The pain, the fear, the shock — everything.
Time stopped.
At first, many of us thought the war would be over in a few days. It was impossible to understand how this could be happening. Russians were our neighbours, relatives, people we knew. I kept thinking: surely people will stop this. Surely nobody can support this.
But then came the painful realisation: they were not stopping it. Many of them supported it. Many believed it was the right thing to do.
That was one of the most painful parts.
After a few months, through shock, fear, and a lot of inner realisation, I understood that this war would not be short.
I loved Thailand, but I also knew it was not the right place for me long-term. I needed to build a real life somewhere stable.
Australia: starting again
Around that time, I heard that Australia was giving tourist visas to Ukrainians.
Before the war, I had already thought about moving to Australia. I even had my ACS skills assessment approved for my programming experience. So I thought: maybe I should apply and just see what happens.
To be honest, I was exhausted. Mentally, emotionally, physically. I had so many doubts and fears. I still do not fully understand how I found the strength to apply for that visa.
But I did.
And I got it.
When I arrived in Australia, the country had just reopened its borders after Covid. Everything felt alive again. There was this strange feeling of blooming, like the whole country was waking up.
I changed my LinkedIn location to Australia, and the next day I received around 20 messages from recruiters.
It was Sunday.
I sent out my CV, and from 8 am on Monday, recruiters started calling me. Almost everyone was open to sponsorship and a working visa.
In one day, I found a job.
I chose the company and the project I liked. I wanted something connected with AI, with a healthy work-life balance, and 100% remote work again.
A month later, I had my working visa and started working in Australia.
It still feels unreal when I write it like this.
Opus 4.6: I almost don't write code manually anymore
The company I work for has very strong engineering practices.
We do TDD. We pair. We care about code quality, architecture, clean solutions, and good engineering decisions. These things are not optional — they are part of the culture.
But with Opus 4.6, everything changed again.
Now we have a new policy: almost no manual coding.
We still design. We still think. We still do TDD. We still write tests. We still pair program. But now we pair with AI.
And just a few months ago, I was not sure this was really possible.
But it is.
This is reality now.
I don't feel like AI replaced the engineer. I feel like it changed what engineering means.
I write less code by hand, but I need to think more clearly. I need to know what I want. I need to understand architecture, testing, edge cases, product logic, and quality even better than before.
AI can generate code, but it still needs direction. It needs taste. It needs judgement. It needs someone who knows what good looks like.
And honestly, I love it.
I can be faster. I can be better. I can focus more on the important parts instead of spending hours typing boilerplate.
What's next?
In five years, my life changed completely.
I went from office work in Ukraine to remote work by the sea in Odesa, from war anxiety in Thailand to building a new life in Australia, from writing code manually every day to pairing with AI as part of my normal work.
It was dramatic. It was painful. It was lucky. It was strange. It was beautiful in some ways too.
And I have no idea what comes next.
But if the last five years taught me anything, it is this:
The world can change very fast.
And sometimes your whole life changes with it.