When Great Engineers Quit: Why Tools Make or Break Job Satisfaction

The tech industry has a retention problem, but not for the reasons most people expect. Rather than quitting because work is too complex or challenging, talented IT and security engineers tend to leave because their tools prevent them from doing meaningful work.

In other words, they are pushed, not pulled. 

This makes sense, as employees typically join companies to support organizational missions. They are passionate about and interested in what the company does. But they also deeply care about how that work gets accomplished. Most IT professionals didn’t enter the field to find themselves buried in dashboards, checklists, and manual tasks that drain their time and energy. 

Unfortunately though, many describe their experience as being reduced to "glorified button pushers." When the “how” becomes a daily exercise in fighting against their tools, even the most dedicated engineers start looking for the exit. 

These sentiments are reflected in the data, and industry survey results have only worsened in the past decade. A CIO report confirmed that 77 percent of IT admins described their jobs as “stressful,” and 79% self-reported “seriously considered leaving their jobs due to work-related stress.” 

From inconvenient to unsustainable, burnout is often a “slow burn”

Tool fatigue typically begins with slow, mounting frustration. The inability to create sustainable processes and drive efficiency becomes increasingly hard to accept. Then, after experiencing the drain of constant tickets, support requests, and manual onboarding workflows, it builds to a breaking point.

The core issue isn't just having too many tools - it's that device management has become over-engineered. What should be straightforward processes have been fragmented across multiple systems, each requiring its own expertise, maintenance, and workarounds.

There are a few well-known patterns that contribute to this frustration:

• Incompatible or “siloed” tooling that increases workload to manage specific data or functions
• Complex or unnecessarily difficult systems that require specialized skillsets or additional mental effort
• Tool sprawl, with many departments managing dozens of applications or more
• Inability to automate repetitive tasks that drain time

The data tells the story of teams fighting their own tools. A study from Information Week discovered that “45% of IT teams spend more than five hours per week writing scripts for workflow and automation.” 

Think about that: nearly half of IT teams are spending an entire workday each week just trying to make their tools work together. That's time that could be spent on strategic initiatives, security improvements, or innovation projects. Instead, it's consumed by the very systems meant to make work easier.

The best IT teams have figured out how to do more with less - not by working harder, but by refusing to accept over-engineered solutions. They've realized that consolidation isn't just about cost savings; it's about cognitive load reduction and enabling their people to focus on work that actually moves the business forward.

The dissatisfaction from these issues is compounded by the time wasted on low-value tasks. When platforms are poorly integrated or outdated, engineers and admins find themselves working around problems rather than solving them. IT shouldn't have to fight their own tools but that's exactly what happens when simplicity takes a backseat to feature bloat and vendor proliferation.

Poor tooling has costs beyond the burnout

Even relatively minor individual frustrations can add up to cause serious business consequences. From higher turnover to potential security risks, the effects of disengaged or worn out employees extend well beyond a single team.

Talent Flight

For many organizations, the most immediate impact is talent loss. And when engineers leave, they keep an incredible amount of institutional knowledge. Beyond technical skills, this knowledge reflects years of insight into systems, workarounds, relationships, and historical decisions. It’s impossible to replace, and knowledge loss is estimated to be a $30 billion problem for companies every year.

Recruitment Challenges

Hiring becomes harder, too. Qualified engineers talk to one another, and reputations travel fast in tightly-connected communities. More than half of organizations now say they struggle to hire security engineers, and many cite poor technical environments as a key factor. 

Innovation Stagnation

The effects of talent loss and bad tooling ripple outward. When too much time is spent maintaining fragile systems, teams remain stuck in reactive mode, unable to experiment or improve. In turn, this dynamic blocks higher-order thinking. Engineers can’t step back and ask bigger questions when they’re drowning in day-to-day operations. Innovation, process improvements, and strategic planning all require the mental space that broken tools consume. Over time, even the most motivated teams can become disengaged.

Security Risks

Alert fatigue and other physical effects of burnout can cause employees to miss important threat cues, fail to uphold security standards, or not proactively manage areas of risk. In fact, a security report produced by Devo Technology found that IT leaders admit to stress causing lapses in judgment that led to security breaches.

The appearance of productivity can mask deeper issues

Unfortunately, the symptoms of poor tooling often get misinterpreted. Leaders may see teams working long hours and assume productivity is high. In reality, this busyness creates the illusion of productivity while actually undermining it.

When toolchains require constant troubleshooting, manual handoffs, and repeated context switching, output may go up in quantity but down in quality or reliability. Teams find themselves choosing between meeting deadlines and maintaining standards, neither of which supports long-term success. 

According to Information Week, these are the manual activities that keep admins and engineers bogged down:

Effective tooling shapes culture and drives performance

Addressing these challenges requires a systematic approach focused on amplifying human capabilities rather than creating additional overhead. After all, if poor tools slow teams down, good ones should create leverage - removing inefficiencies and helping engineers do their best work. Below are a few key ways to help reverse the trends from harmful tooling and inadequate platforms.

Reduce Cognitive Load

Engineers and IT practitioners need tools that eliminate redundant effort and surface relevant information when it’s needed. Reducing the mental burden often looks like the following:

• Consolidating systems to prevent context switching
• Automating repetitive tasks to focus on value-added work
• Picking tools that are intuitive to use, not overly complex

Automation and integration improve employee retention by allowing more time for proactive projects. That time matters because it’s what engineers use to improve security posture, refactor systems, complete training, and pursue new ideas.

Enable Visibility

Rather than waiting for problems to surface and then scrambling to respond, modern tooling should provide the data and insights needed to identify and address issues before they impact users or systems. This shift from firefighting to fire prevention not only reduces stress but also allows teams to work more strategically, using their expertise to prevent problems rather than simply react to them.

Use Systems that Scale

Tools that work well for small teams often break as environments grow and get more complex. Teams shouldn’t need to spend time writing scripts or patching issues just to keep a system working, even though admins in larger enterprises report spending up to 10 hours per week “maintaining internally-managed scripts” created to bridge technical gaps. The right platforms should retain their value and capabilities as the organization expands - no “cobbling” and extra maintenance required.

Strong tooling supports retention, resilience, and reputation

Organizations that prioritize modern tooling will position themselves as places where engineers can grow and succeed. BuiltIn found that “43% of candidates” considered a company’s tech stack when deciding whether or not to apply. When teams are empowered to focus on real problems instead of fighting with their toolsets, they are also more likely to stay engaged, recommend their employer, and create lasting value.

The effects go beyond engineering. Companies that build strong technical cultures develop reputations that attract customers and partners as well. These companies earn trust because their teams are known for delivering quality work with reliable systems.

Start with tooling, not another culture survey

Here are a few scenarios to consider as you evaluate how tooling is affecting your team and culture:

• Before assigning your most talented engineer to a new project, ask whether they need better tools to succeed at their current one. 
• Before launching an initiative that demands scale and agility, make sure your team isn’t still stuck handling routine tasks that could have been automated months ago.
• Before talking about performance or disengagement, make sure people are equipped to do the job they were asked to do.

Engineers want to do meaningful work in a sustainable way. The right tooling provides a clear return on investment: lower turnover, faster execution, stronger systems, and a team that sticks around to build what’s next. 

This piece was inspired by a conversation on our podcast, Patch Me If You Can™, with guest Aaron Morin. In that episode, we dig deeper into why great engineers leave, how tooling shapes culture, and what organizations can do to retain top talent.