It’s been a while, but I’m currently knee-deep in a very classic, on-fire development project.
To be precise, a member of my group is the main PM, and I’m positioned as the sub-PM. However, due to a complex mix of factors, the project has caught fire, and I’m now on the front lines getting my hands dirty. (As for why it came to this, I want to thoroughly review and articulate the reasons within the group once things settle down.)

Day after day, we work until the date changes, digesting a massive number of test cases while coordinating across multiple system stakeholders. Honestly, it’s simply painful.
While doing this gritty work, I keep thinking about how I’d rather be doing smart, efficient, and modern development leveraging AI. I also feel guilty about sacrificing time with my family.

But on the other hand, I also feel that there are definitely experiences and hard-to-articulate skills that can only be gained in these muddy situations.
When you work with people who have survived these kinds of crunches, even if you clash a bit while moving the project forward, there are moments when you mysteriously understand each other at a fundamental level.

Conversely, it’s painfully obvious that "wannabe tech talents" who only have superficial, well-behaved skills can’t do anything when thrown into these situations.
It feels like those are exactly the people who tend to focus on pretty ideas like "using AI to do X," but lack the substance to back it up. (I might want to dig deeper into this topic another time.)

It’s been a really long time since I’ve experienced a situation like this. It’s painful, yet there’s a mysterious sense of accomplishment—it's a hard feeling to describe.
Sometimes, I think a heavy crunch project like this isn't so bad. But still, at the end of the day, I’d prefer to develop smartly and efficiently.