Tired of Everything Changing?

Why stillness feels safe but perspective makes you useful

One week, the roadmap resets. The next, your manager changes. Then a new deadline drops out of nowhere.

You tell yourself it's temporary. That once things calm down, you'll get back to the real work.

But eventually, you realize:

If you work in tech, change isn't the exception. It's the environment. And the real work isn't avoiding it, it's learning how to move through it.

One of the bigs ones In my career was when Trade Republic removed the Engineering Manager role and replaced them with Technical Product Owners (as managers) and Tech Leads (as ICs). I found myself doing a complete shift from Engineering to Product, a shift I never planned for. At first, I resisted - why would I want to work in Product? I was worried I'd lose technical credibility. That I'd drift too far from the work that mattered to me.

But, stepping back gave me something I hadn't expected: perspective. I started working closely with product and business. I zoomed out enough to help shape the mobile organization as a whole and shifting away from the execution mindset to the product mindset, focusing more on the why instead of the how.

I then realized the skills I was learning around influence, strategy, and team design weren't a step away from engineering. They were part of growing into the kind of engineering leader I actually want to be.

That's when it clicked: You don't fix the chaos. You help people move through it.

When calm becomes a trap

Stability is a badge of honour. Something you've earned. You've built trust and it feels calm, you’re finally able to sit down and do the work you want, right?

So you start hoping for a quarter without churn. Some room to breathe. Something steady and predictable.

But senior roles don't come with stillness. They come with exposure. The more senior you are, the more you see. The more you see, the more you carry.

And the more you try to wait it out, the more disconnected you feel. You're not shaping the system. You're reacting to it.

Calm feels good. But over time, it quietly slows you down.

Stable teams stop asking hard questions. Processes drift from reality. Engineers prioritize familiarity over impact.

You don't notice it right away. You're still getting things done. You're still delivering. But over time, cracks spread. And by the time you see them, they've been there a while.

💡Try this: Quietly ask yourself, “What’s one thing my team’s still doing just because it’s familiar?”
You don’t need to call it out. Just noticing it is the first step toward change.

What resisting change really looks like

You've seen this. Someone checks out after a re-org. Another engineer clings to an old way of working. Teams keep asking when things will "go back to normal."

But the truth is: when you resist change, your influence shrinks. And when that happens, it doesn’t just slow you down, it slows your team down too. You go narrower. You get left out of decisions. You stop being part of shaping what comes next.

💡 Try this: Before you check out of the next change, pause and ask:
“What do I actually know about what’s happening?”
Most people disengage from stories they haven’t tried to understand.

The skill nobody taught you

Change doesn't just test your patience. It reveals how you show up.

• Do you wait for clarity or help shape it?

• Do you stick to what you know or spot what's shifted?

• Do you tighten your grip or adjust your posture?

The engineers who thrive don't have more answers. They're just more honest about what's real. They sense what's changed. They read the room and they act from awareness, not anxiety.

That's not a soft skill. That's leadership.

It's not about staying calm. It's about learning to read what's actually happening.

• Pattern recognition: What kind of change is this? A shift in leadership? Market pressure? Org politics? What's underneath it?

• Influence mapping: Who's making decisions now? What do they care about? How can you help them succeed?

• Communication: How do you turn ambiguity into clarity, not just for yourself, but for others?

These aren't soft skills. They're survival skills and every engineer can learn them.

Four ways engineers respond to change

When things start shifting, most engineers default to one of these:

1. The Fixer
Heads down. Keep shipping. "I'll just focus on what I can control."
What this looks like: Stops attending planning meetings. Avoids Slack channels with "too much noise." Ships features but loses context on why they matter.

2. The Cynic
Checks out emotionally. "I've seen this before, it'll change again in six months."
What this looks like: Eye rolls in meetings. "This too shall pass" comments. Technically present but mentally elsewhere.

3. The Frustrated Optimist
Wants to contribute but feels blocked. "I'd love to help, but nobody tells me anything."
What this looks like: Asks great questions that go unanswered. Offers solutions that get lost in bureaucracy. Gradually stops trying.

4. The Calibrator
Stays present through the uncertainty. Helps others find their footing.
What this looks like: Names what's changed and what hasn't. Asks clarifying questions in public. Translates confusion into actionable next steps.

You don't try to fix the chaos. You help people move through it.

That's the difference. Do it consistently, and people start turning to you not because you have all the answers, but because you help them keep going when things get murky. Not for certainty, but, because you make things feel possible again.

💡 Try this: Think back to the last messy change your team went through.
Which of the four roles did you slip into?
Would you handle it the same way next time?

This is the job

You didn't get here by waiting for clarity. You got here by making progress without it.

You weren't hired to work in ideal conditions. You were hired because you can keep the work moving, even when it gets hazy.

That means:

• Working without all the answers

• Collaborating through discomfort

• Letting go of systems that no longer fit

• Staying present through the reshuffle

It's not just about building the right thing. It's about helping people keep building when everything around them shifts.

Change isn't a detour. It's the road.

Know someone stuck in the storm? Forward this their way.

You might be the clarity they’ve been waiting for.

The takeaway

The next time something shifts: priorities, structure, leadership, ask yourself:

What's true now?
Forget the last quarter. What's changed today? What's still solid?

What's missing?
Is it clarity? A shared plan? A calm voice in the room?

What can I shift?
It might be a question in retro. A rewrite of a confusing spec. A check-in with someone spinning in uncertainty.

You don't need to fix the chaos. You just need to give people something real to move toward.

If you're supporting others through it:

• Say what's changed

• Say what hasn't

• Help people move from confusion to choice

Change isn't a detour. It's the road.

And how you walk it, that's what makes you a leader.