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Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps. I think AI changes the equation here. Honestly, AI changes what "solo developer" even means.
I agree. If everyone on my team is just prompting agents, why would I spend money on their salary when I can use that for tokens instead? No one has yet given a good answer for this question when I've asked before.
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Ok, I see where we diverge now. My project is free and open-source so there's no money at play here. It's a labor of love. I agree with you if you're talking about a for-profit product that you'll probably do better with a team.
Even as a labor of love, the second definition still applies. Once your interest wains, the project dies.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps. I think AI changes the equation here. Honestly, AI changes what "solo developer" even means.
I agree. If everyone on my team is just prompting agents, why would I spend money on their salary when I can use that for tokens instead? No one has yet given a good answer for this question when I've asked before.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps. I think AI changes the equation here. Honestly, AI changes what "solo developer" even means.
I agree. If everyone on my team is just prompting agents, why would I spend money on their salary when I can use that for tokens instead? No one has yet given a good answer for this question when I've asked before.
Personally, I don't think useful business problems can be solved entirely with LLM loops. If you choose not to pay others to handle part of that then it's all on you.
Lessons from my failure: - do everything you can to keep burnout at bay - you do, in fact, need a holiday - hyperfocus is not your friend, ever ; if you feel you can’t put it down, you must put it down - never delete emails; the one thing you can guarantee is that you will need an email you deleted - if you look back at your notes and they are not instantly obvious, rewrite them while you still remember what you mean…
Lessons from my failure: - do everything you can to keep burnout at bay - you do, in fact, need a holiday - hyperfocus is not your friend, ever ; if you feel you can’t put it down, you must put it down - never delete emails; the one thing you can guarantee is that you will need an email you deleted - if you look back at your notes and they are not instantly obvious, rewrite them while you still remember what you mean…
I’d love to hear more about your experience, particularly with the point on hyperfocus - this is something I struggle to find a healthy relationship with.
Do anything you can do to not get to this point, because at times I have wanted my life to just stop. I am recovering and it’s better than it was but I have no picture of my future because I feel so unlike myself, and I have to plan for a life for this new guy I appear to be, who forgets stuff and doesn’t feel like the person his friends knew so he just stays in. I spent three days not answering messages over the weekend, hiding from my two most constant friends, because it’s more than I can do.
What I have learned about myself now, post-burnout, is that I get more done if I treat that internal emotional hyperfocus “pull” to carry on with something fascinating as a sign that I should put the work down. It’s better on average to assume that in fact the urge to carry on (because it has become really fun) kicks in when you have already done enough for one day or whatever. If I stop there, things are better. Because the stupidity cycle doesn’t start. I sleep better, I eat better (and earlier in the evening), it’s easier to restart tasks in the morning because I am more likely to have left something enjoyable or well-defined to do!
Hyperfocus isn’t a superpower. It’s more like a drug; a destructive pattern I must try not to seek out.
I almost certainly have ADHD, obviously.
When I think things are going really great, when I am buzzing, I am already neglecting something else important; housework, paying overdue bills, laundry, none of it is in the zone with me. But everyone else at work thinks I am productive so they love it; they don’t see the damage being done. Pretty soon everything will get out of control, and then some tiny uncertainty will block my focus, derail me and there it all is; I am an incompetent person living in chaos and I can’t get started on any of it.
One day you will have a series of terrible overlapping deadlines, and you won’t be able to find that hyperfocus lock-in. On that day you instead begin to rely on the extreme stress to make you function, and you are now subsidising work by drawing down on your future health.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. If everyone on my team is just prompting agents, why would I spend money on their salary when I can use that for tokens instead? No one has yet given a good answer for this question when I've asked before.
"prompting" is a skill, you pay for that.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree. If everyone on my team is just prompting agents, why would I spend money on their salary when I can use that for tokens instead? No one has yet given a good answer for this question when I've asked before.
Because agents alone cannot create good software. You are paying for people who understand how to use the agents. LLMs are a tool, and software engineering as a discipline ain't dead yet.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Because agents alone cannot create good software. You are paying for people who understand how to use the agents. LLMs are a tool, and software engineering as a discipline ain't dead yet.
I already understand how to use them as a professional engineer myself, so I don't see the benefit especially for the amount of money a salary and benefits cost.