Software tester says their employer made them redundant, telling them it uses AI and Claude Code more heavily and needs fewer QA staff (first-person account)
In a public post to r/AskUK created on 6 October 2026, a person who describes about eight years of work as a software test engineer writes that they have just been made redundant. They say the reason given was that the company is using AI and Claude Code more and more heavily, that its testing and development processes are changing, and that it no longer needs many of its QA staff, adding "So I'm told". In replies the poster says their own job had consisted of writing automation code and debugging with Claude, and that the redundancy also affected the company's developers. The employer, its location and the date of the redundancy are not stated. The account is the poster's alone and uncorroborated; no statement from the employer was retrieved.
- AI system
- Claude Code
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 6 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Relation unknown
- Reported harm
- Professional Harm
- Whose AI use
- An institution’s AI use
- Setting
- Work
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 4 claims: 4 reported. 6 open questions
- People reported harmed
- At least 1 person
AI system as recorded: Claude Code and other AI tools that the poster says their employer is using more heavily in software testing and development; the poster says they themselves used Claude for automation code and debugging
What Happened
The redundancy. The poster writes: "I've been working as a software test engineer for approximately 8 years now and I've just been made redundant due to the company using AI/Claude code more and more heavily." They add that the company's "processes for testing and development are changing and they no longer need many of their QA. So I'm told."
What the poster did. Told by a commenter to learn how to code and how to use Claude, the poster replies: "This was my entire job. I only used Claude and spent half my time creating code for automation and the other half debugging with Claude." When a commenter describes resourcing arguments about whether an agent in Claude can test better and cheaper than testers, the poster answers "Pretty much the exact reason I'm gone".
Scope. The poster says the cuts were not limited to testers: "the redundancy hit our devs too. Software devs are shrinking too." No number is given. In a general reply the poster says their company "is using AI so heavily" and that roles are disappearing as companies adjust their processes.
What follows. The poster says the experience leaves them "feeling uncertain about the job of a tester in general" and that they are thinking of retraining or starting a new career using their software and testing skills. Commenters offer career advice; one describes a separate redundancy that was not AI-related.
Reported harm
The poster says they lost their job as a software test engineer when their employer, by the poster's account of what it was told, cut QA staff because it is using AI and Claude Code more heavily (first-person account, uncorroborated).
Outcome
OngoingAt the time of the post the poster had lost their job and was asking whether to stay in software testing or retrain for another career. No employer statement, redundancy terms or subsequent employment is reported.
What remains unknown
- The employer, its industry and location.
- The date of the redundancy and whether a consultation or formal redundancy process took place.
- The employer's full stated reason and whether AI tools now perform the testing work.
- How many other people, including the developers the poster mentions, were made redundant.
- The financial effect on the poster and whether they have found new work.
- Whether "AI/Claude code" in the post names the Claude Code tool or code produced with Claude; the poster's replies name only "Claude".
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The poster says the employer gave heavier use of AI and Claude Code, and changed testing and development processes, as the reason it no longer needs many QA staff, and that they were made redundant for that reason. This is a reported institutional response to AI adoption: the poster's account of the employer's stated reason is the only evidence, no AI output or action toward the poster is described, and no employer statement was retrieved. The poster's replies add that their own work was automation coding and debugging with Claude, which identifies the tool in use without establishing that it now performs the testing.
4 claims: 4 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The poster says they worked as a software test engineer for about eight years and have just been made redundant.
Causal attribution. Poster's account.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'I’ve been working as a software test engineer for approximately 8 years now and I’ve just been made redundant'
Reported The poster says the reason given was that the company is using AI and Claude Code more and more heavily, that its testing and development processes are changing, and that it no longer needs many of its QA staff.
Causal attribution. Poster attributes the reason to the employer ("So I'm told"); no employer statement was retrieved.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'due to the company using AI/Claude code more and more heavily'; 'processes for testing and development are changing and they no longer need many of their QA. So I’m told'
Reported The poster says in replies that their job consisted of writing automation code and debugging with Claude, and that the redundancy also affected the company's developers.
Causal attribution. Poster's account; no number of other people affected is given.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'This was my entire job. I only used Claude and spent half my time creating code for automation and the other half debugging with Claude'; 'the redundancy hit our devs too. Software devs are shrinking too'
Reported The poster says the experience leaves them uncertain about the future of testing roles and that they are considering retraining or a new career.
Causal attribution. Not applicable: records the poster's stated outlook.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'This leaves me feeling uncertain about the job of a tester in general'; 'thinking now may be a good time to retain or start a new career using my skills within software and testing'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- r/AskUK, 6 October 2026: "Made redundant by AI, where to go now?"(opens in new tab)
s1 · reddit.com · Forum post · English · Inspected · 6 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English on 2026-10-07: full self-text and the 100 comments retrieved through the arctic_shift archive API by post ID, four of them replies by the poster. The poster handle is not recorded. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The post does not say where the poster lives or where the employer operates. The choice of subreddit and the vocabulary of the post are not evidence of location.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-07: Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account of a redundancy that the poster says the employer tied to heavier use of AI and Claude Code in testing and development, reviewed as a consequential institutional response to AI adoption. Described with attribution and without corroboration; the employer is not identified and the poster's handle is not recorded.
People described
The poster, a software test engineer with about eight years in the role, who says they have just been made redundant
People reported harmed in this case
At least 1 person
0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed
Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.
One person counted: the poster, made redundant through the employer's decision. The poster also says the redundancy "hit our devs too" without a number, so additional people are unquantified. The poster's own use of Claude at work does not make the job loss a consequence of their own use.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). Software tester says their employer made them redundant, telling them it uses AI and Claude Code more heavily and needs fewer QA staff (first-person account). AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-software-tester-reports-redundancy-as-employer-cites-heavier-ai-and-claude-code-use-first-person
BibTeX
@misc{2026_software_tester_reports_redundancy_as_employer_cites_heavier_ai_and_claude_code_use_first_person,
title = {Software tester says their employer made them redundant, telling them it uses AI and Claude Code more heavily and needs fewer QA staff (first-person account)},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-software-tester-reports-redundancy-as-employer-cites-heavier-ai-and-claude-code-use-first-person}
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