Here’s the Secret Nobody Tells You About AI
Everyone’s talking about AI like it’s going to replace jobs or revolutionize industries.
But the real power of AI isn’t in the big, scary future stuff.
It’s in the small, soul-crushing task that makes you groan every time it lands in your inbox.
The one you wish would just… go away.
That’s where AI shines. Not in replacing you, in rescuing you from the parts of your job you secretly hate.
My Wake-Up Call: Packet Analysis Purgatory
Let me tell you about mine: pcap analysis.
You know that moment when Wireshark opens a 1GB pcap and you instantly regret your career choices?
Yeah… I’ve been there. Way too many times.
I’d sit there thinking, “All this… just to find out why one connection dropped?”
“Meanwhile, my coffee’s cold, my will to live is fading, and I’m 6000 packets deep into what feels like debugging someone else’s fever dream.”
It’s like debugging with J.R.R. Tolkien narrating, every packet has a backstory, three cousins, and a destiny you don’t care about.
The Pattern That Changed Everything
Then it hit me: the problem wasn’t the complexity… it was the mind-numbing repetition.
I wasn’t solving mysteries anymore, I was reliving the world’s least fun “Groundhog day”.
And here’s what I realized: if something makes you miserable AND you can describe what you’re looking for, AI can probably do it.
“So I thought, ‘If I can explain this to another engineer, why not explain it to something that won’t silently judge my life choices?'”
I described to an AI exactly what I was hunting for:
- “Show me failed connections”
- “Find retransmission patterns”
- “Identify the slowest response times”
- “Summarize what happened in plain English”
Building It (Easier Than You’d Think)
So I decided to create an application to do exactly that.
Enter stage right: AI to the rescue.
I described what I wanted the application to do and what problem it was solving. One click and the framework was in place and ready, more or less.
I still had some tweaking to do, but AI walked me through exactly what I needed to do. Line by line. Error by error.
Here’s the thing: I didn’t need to be a master developer. I just needed to be clear about the problem.
The AI handled the “how to build it” part. I handled the “what it needs to do” part.
Now? I drop in a pcap file and get a summary in seconds instead of hours. The AI handles the tedious pattern matching. I handle the actual problem-solving, the part I actually enjoy.
Why This Works (And Why You Should Try It)
This wasn’t about being a genius or a developer.
It was about being fed up enough to try something different.
The tasks that drain you the most are usually: ✓ Repetitive (you’ve done it dozens of times) ✓ Rule-based (you follow the same steps each time) ✓ Time-consuming (but not intellectually challenging) ✓ Describable (you could teach someone else to do it)
That’s exactly what AI is good at.
Your Turn: The 3-Step Process
Ready to find your own automation opportunity? Here’s how:
Step 1: Identify Your “Sigh Task”
Think about the one part of your job that makes you sigh every time it hits your queue.
The task that drains your will to live just a little bit more each time you do it.
Common culprits:
- Data entry/reformatting — “Why am I copying this from System A to System B for the 50th time?”
- Log analysis — “I’m searching for the same error patterns… again.”
- Report generation — “This is the same report with different dates.”
- Email responses — “I’ve answered this question 100 times.”
- Code reviews for common issues — “Another missing null check…”
- Documentation updates — “Updating the same template for every release.”
If you’re doing it more than once a week and it feels like punishment, write it down.
Step 2: Describe It Like You’re Teaching Someone
If you can explain it to a junior colleague, you can explain it to AI.
Write down:
- What you’re starting with (input)
- What you want to end up with (output)
- The steps you follow every time
For my pcap analysis, it was:
- Input: Network capture file
- Output: Summary of connection issues
- Steps: Filter for errors, identify patterns, document findings
Step 3: Hand It to AI and See What Happens
You don’t need to be a programmer. Just describe your task to ChatGPT, Claude, or whatever AI tool you have access to.
Start with something like:
- “I have [this type of data/task]. I need to [desired outcome]. Can you help me automate this?”
- “Every week I have to [task]. How can I use AI to speed this up?”
Worst case? You spend 20 minutes and learn something.
Best case? You never have to do that soul-sucking task the old way again.
The Real Innovation Opportunity
Here’s what most people miss about AI in the workplace:
Real innovation doesn’t start with the exciting stuff you like doing.
It starts with the soul-crushing parts you secretly wish would automate themselves.
The tasks you avoid. The ones you procrastinate on. The ones that make you question your career choices.
Those are your goldmine.
Why? Because:
- You’ve done them enough times to know every step
- You understand exactly what “good” looks like
- You’re motivated to find a better way
- Nobody else wants to do them either (so you look like a hero when you automate them)
If AI can save me from packet purgatory… it can probably save you from your least favorite task too.
Start With What You Hate
Don’t wait for the perfect project or the right moment.
Start with annoyance. Start with frustration. Start with that task you’ve been complaining about for months.
That’s your signal.
The next time you catch yourself thinking, “I can’t believe I have to do this again,” stop and ask:
- Could I teach someone else to do this?
- Does it follow the same pattern each time?
- Is it eating up hours I’d rather spend on actual problem-solving?
If yes, you’ve found your automation candidate.
Try it. Describe it to AI. See what happens.
You might be surprised how quickly “I hate doing this” turns into “I can’t believe I used to do this manually.”
What’s the one task in your job that makes you sigh every time it shows up? Share it in the comments — let’s brainstorm how AI could help. Who knows, your “most hated task” might become your best automation success story.
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