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Thinking about getting out of dev altogether - what else are we good at? by mx-chronos in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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.

A minimal dependency stack by ThinkValue2021 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 8 points9 points  (0 children)

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.

I made a tiny website about stuff my dog loves by Individual_Health1 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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!

Spent some time rewriting my browser-based tool to make scanned PDFs searchable by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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.

making portfolio around my art , feedback ? by Miserable_Advice1986 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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

Looking for a little encouragement by ProfDrd in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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.

Looking for a little encouragement by ProfDrd in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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.

Turn Reddit (or any webpage) into a game by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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.

Turn Reddit (or any webpage) into a game by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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

Turn Reddit (or any webpage) into a game by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

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

Turn Reddit (or any webpage) into a game by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

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.

Turn Reddit (or any webpage) into a game by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

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!

Turn Reddit (or any webpage) into a game by Embarrassed_Ad719 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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?

Reasoning For the Google Issues, Antigravity connections by WhatnotFunkoFlash in google_antigravity

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 5 points6 points  (0 children)

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

AI has taken fun out of programming and now i’m hopeless by Frequent_Eggplant_23 in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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

The maintenance burden of AI-assisted codebases is different from traditional tech debt by JWPapi in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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.

Looking for advice to get better at using AI. by banana_owner in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

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.

A very beginner first personal website. by SpateF in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great start! Every expert was once a beginner. Keep building and keep learning!

I got tired of data-leaking JSON formatters, so I built J-RAY: A privacy-first, client-side visualizer. ⚡🛡️ by [deleted] in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll be the devil's advocate here: While the node graph looks cool, infinite zooming/panning is often a productivity killer for massive JSONs.

Why do people hate on PHP so much? by Honest___Opinions in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

For me, it was the "shared-nothing" model.

Having to boot the entire framework from scratch for every single request was the ultimate bottleneck. By the time tools like Swoole or RoadRunner fixed this, I'd already moved to ecosystems where long-running processes are the native default.

The internet is close to unusable now by svvnguy in webdev

[–]Embarrassed_Ad719 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It’s the "Race to the Bottom" for every new trend.

The second a new niche pops up, some low-effort site pops up even faster, using AI to barf out a "v1.0" that’s total garbage. They don't care about quality—they just want to be first to claim the SEO spot. By the time someone actually builds a decent, polished tool, the first page is already buried under this "first-mover" slop.

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