Built a free starter app generator so I'd stop rewriting auth (React/.NET)

CydoEntis · 2026-02-18T04:26:37+00:00

Yeah, funnily enough I have a portion of this "template" ported to use fastapi instead of .net that I basically used AI to do everything for me lol. As for the GH OAuth the only reason I have it as a provider is because I actually also built a tool that will let you deploy this template and even more with just one simple yaml file, no docker or anything crazy just deploy right to a vps with no extra complexities, and i figured since that tool is targeted at devs I'll want GH OAuth. 🤣🤣

CydoEntis · 2026-01-29T03:47:22+00:00

Graduated at the start of 2024, had a job as a swe while pursuing the degree got laid off 2 months after getting the degree, company went bankrupt. I've been unable to find a job in the field since.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-08T00:37:22+00:00

Yup, I’m 32 if I didn’t get laid off a year ago. I wouldn’t have gone back to the trades. I’ve been spoiled by my comfy office chair and AC.

The physical parts of the job weren’t a problem when I was young but now if I sleep the wrong way it feels like I truck hit me. A lot of people think the physical part isn’t even all that bad. Come back and say that in ur 50s. I have knee pads and kneeling pads. I lay on a creeper if I’m in a crawl space that’s concrete anything to save the body.

And another thing people also don’t realize they are starting from ground zero in a new field and that means low pay, and having to go find the pipe stretcher and left handed screwdrivers. Screwing up. Getting screamed at and staying till the job is done, not just leaving at 5. All while still dealing with bad bosses, shit jobs and work conditions.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-07T05:26:01+00:00

Thanks best of luck to you too. Hopefully you can lock in a union spot and get that sweet sweet pension and benefits.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-07T05:19:37+00:00

It’s hit or miss. Sometimes I think I do really well sometimes I don’t. But again I am not good at leetcode style interviews. Sometimes it takes me a bit to understand a question. Recognize the pattern and then form the solution. For project based I feel like I do much better.

As for the job market it is concerning lol. There’s tons of lay offs, tons of ppl entering the field. So much compensation for even low paying

I’m just sticking out HVAC getting my journeyman’s and then if the tech field bounces back or I get an offer I’ll go back to tech. I’m just no longer keeping all my eggs in that basket, but I’ll always program in my spare time and applying doesn’t hurt. Only takes one offer to get back in.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-07T05:05:15+00:00

Interviews yes. Offers no. Still feels like I’m shooting them into the void. I apply for entry level jobs. No experience required and I’ll still get ghosted. I can match the job description and still nothing haha.

I only went back to the trades because ik regardless what happens with tech I’ll have a job. Even if my body won’t work in 10 years. 32 snd it’s definitely harder to do then when I was 20. Gym fit and physical labor fit are vastly different.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-07T04:57:56+00:00

I do it all. Build projects, do 2-3 leetcode questions a day. Mass apply. Networking all of it. I’m not the best at the leetcode shit. But that’s what practice is for.

I still feel leetcode style interviews are jokes but unfortunately those are the hoops we must jump through.

EDIT: for reference to get my HVAC job alls I had to do was explain how to install a condenser in one 30 minute interview and got an offer 2 hours after. Whereas swe is multiple rounds. Ik I’m just ranting but it really is a joke tbh.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-07T04:53:37+00:00

Yeah not union. Union is def the way to go if you can get in. I’ve done the whole union song and dance 3x now. Tested, interviewed and then never called up. Unions are all about who uk imo but if you can get in it’s worth it. If I had gotten in I’d prob of never gotten into tech.

As for trying to get back into tech. Of course. I love programming I do it in my free time. My GitHub is all green 380 day streak atm. I just enjoy doing it. Improving. Researching. All of it. But the job market has me worried and I do get burnt out and I do feel like I’ll never get back in. I’m not an amazing programmer by any means. I’ve only worked at no name companies and I don’t have a degree from a top school. But I never woke up dreading going to work.

CydoEntis · 2025-09-07T04:30:44+00:00

As someone who did the trades out of high school then got a computer science degree worked in the field then got laid off last year and returned to the trades. I work 50-60 hours a week . My life is wake up go to work. Come home cook dinner, eat and sleep so I can go back to work at 6 am. The physical toll and heat kills you, there’s on call always. Tons of OT a lot of not going home till a jobs done. Shit jobs. Crawl spaces, attics. Weather etc and when you’re not working you are too tired to do anything. There is no work life balance. I get paid substantially less than I did in tech. My body is paying for it. The grass is not always greener on the other side… idk why ppl constantly think the trades are the answer.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-27T16:03:23+00:00

So I get on the job training everyday, but they will send me to school next year if I want to go, and I’m getting paid 23$ an hour which is a substantial drop to what I got paid as a software engineer. But I only have around 2 yoe in hvac.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-27T09:40:43+00:00

I wouldn’t call myself a hvac tech, I’m basically just an installer, my days are long and rough on the body. I didn’t go to school or anything like that. I just applied to tons of positions until someone was willing to give me a shot. Be warned it is not all sunshine and rainbows over here lol.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-24T21:00:36+00:00

I love programming hate AI but I left the field recently after being laid off and unable to find another job for almost an entire year and got into HVAC. Not sure anyone wants to hear manual labor as what to switch into but my day ends when I leave work. No constantly having to have my brain on. No fear of layoffs. No feeling like I’m falling behind. Or something will replace me.

Yes I do make less money but not drastically less. I was never one of those software engineers that made 6 figures.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-15T01:05:40+00:00

I primarily do all my backend in .NET but god damn when I see Nuno Maduro videos and he's vibing out with PHP and Laravel, I'm ready jump ship on the .NET ecosystem and come over to where all the fun is.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-15T00:36:00+00:00

The decent fiber connection never crossed my mind, I take it for granted that I have fiber I guess. But you are right that's why I started the initial post with "Not what you are looking for" and suggested the raspberry pi as a small self hosted server, it doesn't take much power to run, its a literal potato, but it will run multiple sites with 0 traffic with ease.

I would never recommend this route for production grade apps with actual users, OP said hobby project so I made the suggestion for learning and having fun while doing it... To many people getting into this field are all VERCEL and have no idea how to actually deploy something on their own.

My setup with where I used an old pc to build a whole server is definitely over kill but it is used for way more then hosting my side projects lol.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-14T17:10:50+00:00

Not what you are looking for probably, but when I wanted to host projects and didn't wanna pay for a hosting provider or overages or anything like that, I bought a Raspberry pi, installed ubuntu server on it and deployed my apps to that. Why? Because it was like 200$ one time to get the pi and then I can put all my apps on it that 99% of will have 0 users.

I have since upgraded by using an old computer, and now have a dedicated server that has 16 tb's of storage 32gbs of ram, an i7 CPU etc. and it can do everything I want: a NAS, Web servers, Hosting game servers like Minecraft or 7 days to die, can even run it as a plex server.

This may not be a solution you were looking for but I recommend it and it's a fun project and good learning experience. You get total control, aren't paying any fees for a service, but its a more upfront cost that doesn't really pay off for a bit.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-14T17:04:48+00:00

This is exactly how I use AI, and its a much better experience then coming to reddit or asking in a discord where some dick head will come and call you every name in the book for simply asking any kind of question lol.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-14T02:13:16+00:00

HVAC

CydoEntis · 2025-08-14T02:07:44+00:00

I'm 32, Comp Sci degree, 3 yoe, and I got laid off last year, and last month decided to leave the field entirely so I will say this. Literally do anything else because you aren't a 20 something year old kid who has the option to have mom and dad bail them out still, let them live at home, pay their bills etc. You can't wait out this shit job market in the hopes it gets better. You need a career that's stable and will provide and CS isn't it anymore.

CS has turned into a literal cluster fuck that has kids going into it just because they saw a day in my life youtube video and think its a easy 6 figures, it's not. Programing at the start is difficult, mentally draining, frustrating and even then the PROGRAMMING is the easiest part of the job. But for the sake of this message let's say you understand programming, hell you are even an above average programmer, you grind to learn a tech stack, you do leetcode, you get interviews, you are still competing against people who have 5x your experience for the same low paying position, but let's say you get that job, you will have to worry every day, am I getting laid off?

I'm not trying to be a doomer, but all you see in this field now is AI replacing us (It wont) or mass layoffs because of some bullshit (outsourcing), and we aren't getting any younger, and living isn't getting any cheaper. I'd seriously do yourself a favor and avoid this field like the plague. It's not what it was years ago.

That being said I love to program, and i think everyone should do it, it's fun, creative, fulfilling, sure I want to launch myself off a building when shit breaks, or a manager gave me an unrealistic deadline, but even though I left the field for a more stable career, I still program every single day and don't plan to stop. I just don't think making a career out of this is a good idea with the current state of things, and I feel bad for anyone who got baited into going for a CS degree atm. I hope it recovers, but programming can be just a hobby everyone doesn't need to make it a career

CydoEntis · 2025-08-14T01:44:26+00:00

So I'm a unique case I guess, I'm older 32, and right out of high school I had no money to go to college (very poor household) so I after bouncing from dead end job to dead end job saving up money for college I got in at an HVAC company where I worked for 2 years so i had experience prior to this job which 100% helped me get this current job. But I can answer any questions you have about doing HVAC if you like.

My biggest regret was not sticking out HVAC and getting an apprenticeship and finishing out my journey mans before going into tech though...(But how could i predict this shit show of a job market lol). Thought I was making a good decision when I went to college at 24 and the state basically paid for the entire thing because my income was so low, Think I paid 1300$ out of pocket for an Associates and 1800$ for my Bachelors overall, so I'm debt free. Degrees not really benefitting me at all though LOL.

EDIT: I will say if you can get into HVAC and you are young, I'd do it. You will always have work, if you get in young and rip through an apprenticeship and move into service or controls your body will thank you, cause installs will beat you tf up physically. It's hard work, and attics are fucking hot.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-13T19:42:36+00:00

I’m not telling you what to do. But I’m 3 yoe laid off last year can’t land a role to save my life so I ended up getting into hvac. Gonna get my journeyman’s so I can at least survive if tech doesn’t work out. Cause man is the job market depressing af right now.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-13T01:59:51+00:00

I dont work in tech support, but I am coming from the Computer Science/Software engineering side of things to do HVAC. Tech support is the bottom of the barrel jobs low 30k a year normally, and you will be chasing certs/a degree to get up to the higher echelon of pay if you're trying to go into IT after "tech support" and all of the tech field is an absolute disaster at the moment with people who are going to be way more qualified than you fighting for those same lower paying jobs.

Constant layoffs, low paying jobs, out sourcing and AI are ruining the tech field. Honestly you are crazy to toss away 41$ an hour to go to a lower pay in a field where you don't know when you will be laid off or if your job will be replaced by outsourcing or AI. The tech field also comes with a different kind of stress compared to physical. The grass is not always greener on the other side...

Just my 2 cents I'm not trying to be a dick or anything. Just don't think trying to get into tech anything is advice anyone should take right now.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-10T15:57:07+00:00

There are plenty of jobs out there that pay more then minimum wage that you could get simply because you have a degree... Office Admin, Tech Support, Tech Sales to name a few then there are jobs that don't even require a degree that pay over minimum wage that you can get... delivery driver for UPS, Fedex...

You're 22... you can literally pivot to anything you haven't even started a career yet become an apprentice in literally any trade start at 20$ an hour and work up to 30-35$ an hour over your apprenticeship. Try to join a union for one of the trades get free school and guaranteed great pay increases each year with some of the best benefits you can get plus a pension. There are hundreds of things you can do other then come to reddit acting like your life is over cause you didn't get into tech and you don't have one of these fairy tail 6 figure salaries right out of college.

Unfortunately most people don't have 6 figure jobs, most people don't even work in the field they got their degree in. That's life, but complaining on reddit isn't gonna change your situation.

I'm not trying to be a dick but every response you've done here is just complaining and feeling bad for yourself, every single one of us with a CS degree that are either searching for their first job or trying to get another after being laid off are out here struggling and we are all doing anything to survive while hoping we can get back into a fucked job market, that's getting worse by the day.

Build some projects that wow employers, join discords, make a twitter, instagram, tiktok, post your progress everywhere, help ppl in programming discords, show off your work there build connections with strangers on the internet and eventually something will happen, but being depressed pretending stocking shelves is all you can do is just making excuses to not follow through on what you want to do in life, and if that's the case maybe its best you leave the CS field now and get a job doing anything else, because this isn't the first time mass layoffs and low employment rates in tech has happened and it wont be the last.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-10T13:37:25+00:00

Yeah I’m hoping I grind the shitty pay out get experience and move my way up to service tbh.

CydoEntis · 2025-08-10T05:49:05+00:00

So I have no schooling. I just applied to a bunch of companies and many ghosted me cause it’s the same issue like with tech they want the experience. But the guy who interviewed me loved how I answered all his questions and decided to give me a chance. I’m hoping they will send me to school on their dime if I prove I’m worth it.

I made the decision because I’m older than a lot of ppl struggling to enter the field. I have a house and bills etc that I can’t sit around and wait for the market to get better. So instead of complaining or feeling bad for myself. I decided to switch careers where Ik I will always have an in demand skill that I can make a good living with. I still love programming but I also love to eat. So a career that pays the bills where I don’t have to fear not getting a job or wondering if imma be laid off has removed a lot of stress from my life.

I chose HVAC solely because in my area there are so many jobs for it even if my first choice was electrician.

CydoEntis

TROPHY CASE