cpb
u/cpb
I'd love it if my curiosity about how people are feeling as they encounter or embrace the changes in workplaces brought on by AI got the reach of the Rails Developer Survey, rather than just what I've been able to accumulate in 1-on-1 interviews.
We see a lot of surveys asking what AI tools people use, but very few asking how it's actually impacting the humans writing the code. Mapping this adoption to a change curve (like the Kübler-Ross model) could yield some fascinating insights into where the Rails community is emotionally and practically right now.
Likert scale questions (1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree) designed to measure this without leading the respondent:
Individual Experience
How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding your personal experience with AI coding tools (e.g., Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT) in your daily workflow?
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I believe the current capabilities of AI coding tools are overhyped and will not fundamentally change how I build software.
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The increasing expectation to incorporate AI into my development process causes me frustration or resentment.
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I intentionally restrict my use of AI to tedious or boilerplate tasks to maintain manual control over core problem-solving.
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The rapid advancement of AI in software development makes me anxious about the future relevance of my technical skills.
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I recognize the limitations of AI tools but accept them as a permanent fixture in the software engineering landscape.
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I have proactively adapted my habits to use AI as a collaborative tool that enhances my overall productivity and capability.
Organizational Experience
How strongly do you agree or disagree with the following statements regarding how your current team or organization is responding to AI technology?
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My organization's leadership largely ignores or minimizes the potential impact of AI on our engineering processes.
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My organization strictly prohibits or heavily restricts the use of AI tools due to perceived risks or distrust of the technology.
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My organization limits AI usage to isolated experiments or non-critical, siloed environments rather than integrating it into core workflows.
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My organization's current approach to adopting AI feels reactive, frantic, or poorly planned.
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My organization acknowledges both the risks and benefits of AI and is working toward establishing a realistic stance on its use.
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My organization provides clear, supportive policies and resources that actively empower engineers to use AI tools effectively.
Would love to see this kind of psychological/practical split in the data for 2026!