The just-say-no engineer was a ZIRP phenomenon | Hacker News

Hacker News users debated whether “just-say-no engineers” were a ZIRP-era product or simply a normal part of software culture.

Some commenters argued that saying no can be a useful safeguard for code quality, technical debt, and code review discipline.

Others said AI tools, especially LLMs, may be shifting who gets to make implementation decisions and how much gatekeeping engineers can do.

The discussion also highlighted broader pressure from management, stock prices, and changing hiring norms in big tech.