About the Book

The Collapse of Care is a modern workplace novel about what happens when good intentions meet broken systems.

Miguel is young, bright, and earnest—a junior software engineer who believes that talent and care are enough to build a decent, fulfilling career. He grew up with the modest dream of being dependable, honest, and safe from extremes. Not rich. Not famous. Just steady.

But the tech industry doesn’t play by those rules.

Assigned to a prestigious team, Miguel quickly learns that prestige is a mirage. Managers stay silent, Product Owners punish mistakes, and teammates adapt by cutting corners, hiding effort, and playing politics. Care and honesty aren’t rewarded—they’re liabilities.

As Miguel struggles to adapt, his idealism collapses. He experiments with disengagement, learns the politics of invisibility, and watches his modest dream erode into burnout and ghost commits. Yet beneath the cynicism, he still searches for meaning—for a way to code, to live, and to care without being crushed by the system.

This is not a story of meteoric success or triumphant disruption. It’s the quieter, more common story of survival, disillusionment, and the hard-earned wisdom to move on.

The Collapse of Care is for anyone who has ever sat in a stand-up wondering if they still care, for every developer who thought hard work and honesty would be enough, and for anyone who has felt the weight of being average in a world that doesn’t value it.