diff --git a/hack/update-codegen.sh b/hack/update-codegen.sh
index 6dd66eb20fe..52bd315abcf 100755
--- a/hack/update-codegen.sh
+++ b/hack/update-codegen.sh
@@ -48,11 +48,20 @@ if [[ "${DBG_CODEGEN}" == 1 ]]; then
     kube::log::status "DBG: starting generated_files"
 fi
 
+# Generate a list of directories we don't want to play in.
+DIRS_TO_AVOID=()
+kube::util::read-array DIRS_TO_AVOID < <(
+    git ls-files -cmo --exclude-standard -- ':!:vendor/*' ':(glob)*/**/go.work' \
+        | while read -r F; do \
+            echo ':!:'"$(dirname "${F}")"; \
+        done
+    )
+
 function git_find() {
     # Similar to find but faster and easier to understand.  We want to include
     # modified and untracked files because this might be running against code
     # which is not tracked by git yet.
-    git ls-files -cmo --exclude-standard ':!:vendor/*' "$@"
+    git ls-files -cmo --exclude-standard ':!:vendor/*' "${DIRS_TO_AVOID[@]}" "$@"
 }
 
 function git_grep() {
@@ -60,7 +69,7 @@ function git_grep() {
     # running against code which is not tracked by git yet.
     # We need vendor exclusion added at the end since it has to be part of
     # the pathspecs which are specified last.
-    git grep --untracked "$@" ':!:vendor/*'
+    git grep --untracked "$@" ':!:vendor/*' "${DIRS_TO_AVOID[@]}"
 }
 
 # Generate a list of all files that have a `+k8s:` comment-tag.  This will be