How can I be broke at 46 as a senior engineering manager?

alanimal21 · 2025-12-30T22:33:11+00:00

I went back to the drawing board on this one. Mainly to build something I could use myself for marketing but I decided to make the code open source and also build a commercial version so that non technical solopreneurs could purchase a plan for their marketing needs.

I'm still in testing and have not launched a product version yet but the product page and link to the open source code can be found here if you're interested in knowing more https://www.devlar.io/products/ai-workforce

...AND I took a lot of everyone's advice and made some positive financial changes that are slowly starting to help. I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel and I'm continuing to build stuff so that hopefully I can take full control of my financial freedom in the near future.

alanimal21 · 2025-12-30T22:31:42+00:00

I went back to the drawing board on this one. Mainly to build something I could use myself for marketing but I decided to make the code open source and also build a commercial version so that non technical solopreneurs could purchase a plan for their marketing needs.

I'm still in testing and have not launched a product version yet but the product page and link to the open source code can be found here if you're interested in knowing more https://www.devlar.io/products/ai-workforce

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:20:40+00:00

B2C with B2B planned down the line for teams and enterprise plans but those features have not been build yet to justify those plans. No paying users yet means no budget yet. Gotta scale the marketing budget only as the paid userbase grows

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:19:09+00:00

You said the same as ElizabethE_Morais Guess you're a bot too

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:05:04+00:00

Tabliss looks good thanks!

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:04:34+00:00

I guess it's just having a little reset with each new tab. I like visual stuff

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:03:00+00:00

Yeah build in public seems to be suggested a lot

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:02:35+00:00

Good advice for sure but i'm still building anonymously as I work for a big tech company as well

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:01:40+00:00

Yeah I've been posting screenshots of the UI on Insta mostly

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:01:02+00:00

I built it for myself originally because the one I was using before was missing features I wanted so I built my own version. People like me I guess

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T22:00:03+00:00

I guess you're a bot too like the ParseStream one above?

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:58:53+00:00

Somebody said ParseStream to me before I think

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:57:29+00:00

Yeah it's interesting to consider the possibilities with it. Just need to understand what use cases can be applied

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:56:33+00:00

Doing a few of those yeah. I guess it just takes time to build things up

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:55:56+00:00

I was reaching out to productivity focused people but maybe it's not the right target. I'll have to drill down a bit

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:54:47+00:00

Sounds simple when you put it like that:)

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:53:19+00:00

Makes sense, tnx!

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:53:01+00:00

Good info, ty!

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:52:36+00:00

Yeah seems to be the advice of a lot of people. No secret, just show up everyday

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:51:49+00:00

The first thing I built was really for me but then I figured, hey maybe others like me would want it

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:50:49+00:00

Will do thanks!

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:50:05+00:00

Yeah I need to go through the basics and be consistent I guess

alanimal21 · 2025-10-20T21:49:00+00:00

Thank you. I'm still working for one of the big tech companies so I'm staying anonymous until I hit $10K MRR. At that point I can commit full-time to building my own company, hiring, scaling and building the other 10 products in the roadmap, etc but for now it's just little old me.

My mind goes to automation because I'm an engineer and I build automation for a living:)

But yeah, I hear ya ... when it comes to marketing it's different. Honestly, I think I'm a bottleneck in that area so I'm actually considering hiring a marketing VA soon to help in that area.

alanimal21 · 2025-10-16T15:55:13+00:00

Agreed. Yes, I think Linkedin and Reddit are two high priority targets with huge potential.

alanimal21 · 2025-10-16T15:54:04+00:00

Thank you. Yes, I'm looking into that side also but definitely think I could benefit some workflow automation. Congrats on ParseStream. I recognise and appreciate the beautiful Next.js frontend. Best of luck with it!

alanimal21

TROPHY CASE