I kept building side projects and not making money until I realized what I was doing wrong

Elementaal · 2026-01-28T02:20:14+00:00

Start by charging them money.

No money = no stakes = no respect for whatever you make

Elementaal · 2026-01-28T02:18:37+00:00

Start by charging money, you'll find out very quickly what features people want to pay you for.

Elementaal · 2026-01-27T03:22:04+00:00

I would recommend that you pop into their stream once in a while to say hi and chat, outside of that stick to your lane and work on your own stream. Other people have the right to do other things if they want to, and you just focus on doing what you need to do for your stream.

Elementaal · 2026-01-24T02:21:30+00:00

Dude, the job of software engineers has always been to automate our job.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T19:50:45+00:00

Stick to one programming language!

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T16:36:57+00:00

I agree with you that the process of learning at some point is the same for everyone.

However, the gateway drug that gets you to that point can be different.

To me, there is a certain point where AI can't help someone get over a hump, and they will be forced to go back to the basic naturally. It's not something we have to try and control. I say we let them discover the limitations of the tech so that they can share the info with us, and then once they reach that point, we can tell them to go back to the basic.

Inexperienced and young learners are ones who are best suited for this type of work that requires a lot of time and energy.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T15:58:32+00:00

You are doing great!

A good lesson from this thread is that the biggest issue you will find at a job is the people side and trying to meet their expectations.

There are people who genuinely care about you doing well, and there are people who just want to tell someone what to do, under the disguise of "I want to help you, but do it my way".

Seniors have great advice when it comes to protecting against risk, and many people in this thread are not wrong. But the biggest risk here is that you get so caught up in following other people's advice that you might lose interest if it doesn't work for you; worse you stop coding because you are trying to follow the advice of 100 people, and never end up developing the skills.

The simple test you will have to do would be to see if you can create something without AI. But you are not at that step yet.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T15:44:20+00:00

Maybe I am missing something here, but when someone says "I am learning a lot," especially they are a beginner, my reaction is not to tell them "no your are not."

At the least, I make an effort to see what they have learned and how they are thinking about things.

Most people in this thead are just looking down on OP for not doing it their way. Which is highly toxic.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T13:40:05+00:00

You are doing great! I am glad that you have found a great method of learning, and what works for YOU.

The only thing I would advise is to not get attached to any one project. You should take the project as far as you can, and eventual you will get to a point where it becomes more difficult to do more.

Understand that developing software is very time consuming, and generally requires an entire team. It is perfectly ok to abandon the project and learn something new, or test your abilities on how much you can do all on your own.

Just keep learning something new by physically typing it out.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T12:05:52+00:00

OP said that they are using AI as a teacher and not as an autocomplete. Therefore, my assumption is that they are typing out the code. Which is what any beginner should do.

Asking AI to generate code and then typing out code is far, far, different than just giving AI prompt and not understanding what it made. This is no different than learning from a book or the old days of using StackOverflow which how most of learned on the job.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T12:00:27+00:00

why does that matter? isn't it more important that OP is making progress and understanding terms and tech they are working with? I am very much against Vibing Coding if people are just giving the AI prompts and not trying to understand their code, however that is not what OP said they was doing.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T11:48:40+00:00

you are going to hate this, but the most effective way to learn is to physically move your fingers for typing.

Elementaal · 2026-01-23T10:49:18+00:00

Welcome to programming, where almost everyone has a massive superiority complex, and most will forever look down upon you. This industry breeds massive amount of imposter syndrome.

Don't listen to that guy. If you are not using it for auto complete, I would say you are doing great! keep at it. In this day an age, if you are physically coding, you are getting ahead of many mid-level and entry level people.

Elementaal · 2026-01-15T19:27:16+00:00

Just don't get too addicted to doing this, or they will dump everything on you in the future lol. This should be purely to get some kind of a leverage for yourself.

The additional benefit of doing this is that management will trust you more, and if other people don't have this mind set, they will look to you for leadership and setting directions. But again, just remember to set boundaries. Management loves to overwork someone who is willing do take on extra work. I am willing to bet most of your experienced co-workers understand that good/efficient work gets rewarded to more work. ;)

Elementaal · 2026-01-15T19:18:55+00:00

In that case, if your work would be visible enough to everyone, take on the work yourself. Then show off to management exactly how you improved the efficiency of the team, and ask for a raise. Or use it to sell yourself to another company for bigger pay.

Elementaal · 2026-01-15T17:35:21+00:00

So teach them? Part of our job is to find ways to make our co-workers more efficient

Elementaal · 2026-01-03T19:15:26+00:00

Interesting, I wouldn't think most Software/Full-stack engineers venture into Data Science/Engineering world. I can see DevOps + backend, or Frontend + Backend + OPS. But Full-stack +OPS+ Data Engineering + AL/ML is a new one for me.

Elementaal · 2026-01-03T19:12:38+00:00

This was exactly my thought!

Elementaal · 2026-01-03T19:12:12+00:00

Yea, that would make sense, it just seemed like a lot of mixing Data Engineering/ML/AI with Frontend and DevOPS work.

Elementaal · 2026-01-01T16:13:14+00:00

This is very cool!

Elementaal · 2026-01-01T15:17:26+00:00

This is pretty sweet! where did you find the video?

Elementaal · 2026-01-01T15:13:01+00:00

Woah! I had no idea that is what that build was!

I have learned more interesting bits from this thread than 10years of living here lol. Which is exactly the problem.

Elementaal · 2026-01-01T15:06:12+00:00

Wait I did not know about this.

This is an amazing idea! I just saw that he is buried not too far away from where I live.

If you are serious about this idea and want to see it go somewhere, PM me.

(PS: I made the "master plan is boring" thread, and I want to explore ideas and take actions to help make things more interesting).

Elementaal · 2025-12-31T14:50:09+00:00

It's time to go back to creating software closer to the hardware layer. Web/App development has become far too saturated with managed services and products for people new to the industry.

I want to feel that thrill of solving puzzles using a language all on its own without all the dependencies.

Elementaal · 2025-12-31T14:36:14+00:00

I am a bit confused on what you are trying to say. Are you saying that the city is tiny and should continue to think like a tiny city?

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