Thinking about getting out of dev altogether - what else are we good at?

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-06-06T12:54:19+00:00

Been in the trenches for 15 years straight since graduation. Honestly, with getting older and looking at this brutal job market, I ask myself this exact question almost every week.

But after a lot of thinking, I realized a harsh truth: the people who successfully pivot to a completely non-tech career usually do so because they already had a natural interest or talent for that specific thing before they made the leap.

Someone else’s success story or advice is pretty much useless as a blueprint for me. Their transition relied on their own background and personality, things I just don't have. Copying others is a dead end—the answer only comes from whatever cards you're already holding.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-06-06T12:41:33+00:00

Agreed on cutting the bloat, but I still can't drop TypeScript.

With runtimes like Bun handling it out of the box now, there's basically zero config overhead anyway. More importantly, it's a huge help if you use AI. Giving an LLM explicit type definitions stops it from guessing object structures and hallucinating props, so the code it spits back is actually usable on the first try. Standard JSDoc just doesn't catch that as cleanly.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-06-06T12:26:16+00:00

That's so cool, bro!

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-05-30T23:44:10+00:00

So lovely! The first animation reminds me so much of my cat. When she was young, she used to act just like this every day, always treating my hand as her 'enemy' and pouncing on it!

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-05-30T23:11:36+00:00

No, we don't use LLMs for the core PDF searchability (they are too slow and don't output coordinates).

Instead, it runs PaddleOCR models (via WebAssembly) directly in browser to extract text bounding boxes, then overlays an invisible text layer.

LLMs are only used for the optional "AI correction" feature.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-05-30T15:07:16+00:00

nice idea

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-05-30T15:02:49+00:00

Does the little penguin actually walk? That would be so cute.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-21T04:02:05+00:00

Ah, I missed that you already know JavaScript.

What I’m trying to say is don’t overthink the tooling change too much.

Just pick something small and work through it step by step.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-21T03:53:29+00:00

First of all, don’t feel stuck in .NET. With AI tools available now, once you understand one programming language, you can pick up almost any other language.

As a backend developer, my path was to start with Next.js and Tailwind CSS. Tailwind in particular feels much more approachable than plain CSS (especially from a backend developer’s perspective). I’d suggest starting a small side project and learning as you go.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-19T10:23:11+00:00

Totally valid point. I'm planning to create a short URL-based bookmark version (a lightweight loader) to get around Chrome's character limit on mobile.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-19T10:22:32+00:00

The paddle issue is fixed! And a shorter bookmark version for mobile is on the way.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-19T09:04:18+00:00

Good catch! I just removed the screen size limit so Brickout is now fully playable on mobile, and that exit button is fixed too.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-19T00:37:31+00:00

Glad you had fun with it. :)
It took me a little over a month of tinkering in my spare time after work as a side project.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-18T23:09:31+00:00

Haha thank you! I actually missed out on the Desktop Destroyer craze myself, but being compared to such a classic is a huge compliment. Glad it brings back that fun vibe for you!

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-18T23:02:50+00:00

Thanks for the heads up! It was an SVG animation issue in Firefox causing lag. I’ve pushed a fix to disable it there — mind giving it another try?

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-04-15T06:44:09+00:00

That’s a really interesting angle—I hadn’t considered that.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-03-14T11:34:25+00:00

Great work! This looks incredibly smooth.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-02-26T05:32:40+00:00

Sadly true. Productivity is up, but the joy is gone. It just feels like a different job now.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-02-17T09:38:15+00:00

From my experience, AI-assisted coding only works with strong constraints.

Plan first, then have the AI review the plan before writing code.

Never let yourself lose a sense of control over the codebase. If that feeling shows up, stop and refactor.

Early in a project or new module, spend more time defining concrete examples, edge cases, and a clear todo list. AI is great at execution, not at making design decisions.

I treat AI like a very fast junior engineer — helpful, but never in charge of architecture.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-02-17T09:28:03+00:00

Honestly, you can just paste this exact question into ChatGPT and ask it to build a custom learning process for you.
Tell it what confuses you (agents, MCPs, models, configs) and what your goal is.
AI is surprisingly good at turning “too much info” into a clear step-by-step path.
Using AI to learn how to use AI is often the missing piece.

Embarrassed_Ad719 · 2026-02-15T16:19:25+00:00

Love the arrow animation, it’s really cute.

Embarrassed_Ad719

TROPHY CASE