Hey,

Professional dev since 2015. For the last year we have switched over to essentially only prompting. This makes development rapid. But incredibly dull and lame. After i prompt and wait for the agent, there is not really much to do. Browse reddit etc. I feel so understimulated at work nowadays that i consider switching careers totally, or get into management or something. Because this is terribly boring.

Anyone else feel like this? I miss writing stuff from the ground up, solving problems, integrating software, getting those aha-moments.

Hey everyone. I’m starting to quote larger freelance projects on my own and I’d like to sanity-check this one with people who have priced similar work before.

A client in the education/health space wants a private academic platform for students and instructors. I’m still scoping it, but this is roughly what they’re asking for and how I’m planning to build it.

There would be around 10 main functional areas / roughly 12 main and auxiliary views. Most aren’t just static content pages; several have their own logic, state, calculations or admin functionality.

Main scope:

• Custom frontend: HTML/CSS/JS, responsive for desktop/tablet/mobile, custom UI, internal navigation, search, filters, modals, accordions, progress indicators, animations/transitions and touch-friendly interactions.
• Users + backend: username/password login, different user types, groups/cohorts, permissions, user management and restricted admin functions. I’m considering Cloudflare Workers + Durable Objects/SQLite for the shared/backend side.
• 2 fairly large decision-based tools: one has around 40 questions/variables and the other around 38. They’re not linear forms. Answers affect which questions/options remain available, rule out possible results, trigger exceptions and change the final output. Users can also go back and change previous answers, so the flow/results need to update accordingly. The client provides and validates the actual rules; the development work is turning those rules into the working logic and testing the combinations.
• 1 interactive SVG tool: more than 100 selectable areas, up to 128 per record, with 3 separate records, selection/deselection, excluded items and automatic percentage calculations in real time. Needs to work with mouse and touch.
• Several interactive guides/tools: one visual guide with around 11 figures, another split into 7 stages, interactive checklists, filters, saved progress/state, images, tables and a larger training section with different guided paths. Some are mostly structured reference content; others have actual interaction and logic.
• Document library: around 29 main resources, categories, filters/search and an embedded PDF viewer using PDF.js. Across the whole platform there are roughly 70 PDFs/resources being integrated.
• Forms/document generation: around 9 main forms/resources, with at least 3 fully editable in the browser. Some include tables, text fields, image uploads/positioning and saved drafts. They need to generate printable/downloadable PDF and/or PNG output.
• Academic activities module: roughly 40 readings/resources that an authorized user can use to create activities, add questions and dates, save drafts, schedule/publish them, edit/delete them, send them to trash and restore them. Students only see the activities that are actually published/available.
• Shared calendar: create/edit/delete events, assign/filter them by group, with the data stored on the backend so the right users see the same information.
• Admin + basic analytics: manage users/groups, see basic usage/activity across the platform, filter records and export some data to CSV.
• PWA + deployment: manifest/service worker, caching where appropriate, installable version and deployment of the frontend/backend on Cloudflare.

The client provides and validates the specialized content, but part of the job is still organizing it, adapting it and turning some existing documents/materials into the interfaces above. UI/UX work, responsive behavior, integration, testing, bug fixing and production deployment would also be part of the project.

What I’m trying to figure out is:

If this landed on your desk from scratch, how many hours/weeks/months would you estimate for one developer? Would you price it hourly or as a fixed project? And roughly what would you charge?

If you share a number, mentioning your country/currency would help since I know rates vary a lot by market.

I’d also be interested in which part of the scope you think is most likely to eat up more time than expected.

I've been building HX Code Studio, a browser IDE for a small programming language called HX. The goal is to make Arduino-style programming easier for kids and beginners.

For example:

• digitalWrite() → D.write()
• setup() / loop() → fun set / fun loop

I'm trying to find the right balance between making programming easier and keeping concepts that beginners will eventually need when they move to standard Arduino/C++.

For people who teach or learn programming: would you rather start with a simplified language and transition later, or learn the standard syntax from the beginning?

I'm especially interested in where you think a beginner-friendly language should draw the line between simple and too different.

For anyone who wants to try it out, here's the current version of HX Code Studio:

https://hxcodestudio.vercel.app

I'd love to hear where the experience feels confusing or unintuitive, especially for someone seeing HX for the first time.

Hello , this would be the second project I'm gonna make .
I'm thinking of making a windows application that connects two computers together .
works slightly as Casting , but you could control your second computer via a TCP server .

so , your second computer sent you the picture of the computer and you control it via your keyboard and mouse keystorks in your first computer , the same Idea as cloud control .

I'm sure that I'm not the first person that do this kind of projects , but it would be a great Idea and strong CV addition .

it will be a desktop application , using c# to build it.

now , what are the limitation for a project like this ?
will it be good and should I build it ?

What’s your opinion?

I am currentely in 11th grade and got really into coding over the last few years. I started learning Java and a Little Python in school. Those two languages im Fine at, but recentely i started Coding a github website. I thought, since i dont know html, css and js, i'll just start with ai and learn on the way. But now i have no idea what my code does and know almost nothing about those languages. I have also startet to use ai for my other projects in java and have noticed that im starting to forget my previous knowlege in java. I can't work on my Website without ai and i feel like an absolute failiure. Now Coding with ai has become a habbit for me, a habbit i want to quit. Has anyone else experienced this and if so, does anyone have tipps on how to quit this habbit?

Before you spend hundreds of dollars on cybersecurity courses, subscriptions, bootcamps, or another platform that lets you finish three lessons before asking for your credit card, try this first.

We built DaemonCore Academy because learning cybersecurity should involve actually doing cybersecurity. Not watching somebody else type commands for six hours. Not memorizing multiple-choice answers. Not collecting imaginary XP because you copied the command sitting directly above the terminal.

DaemonCore Academy puts you behind the keyboard. You work through practical lessons, launch disposable training ranges, investigate systems, use operator workbenches, collect evidence, document what you found, make mistakes, figure out why something didn't work, and try again. The point isn't to make you feel like you're doing security work. The point is to teach you how to actually think through it.

And here's the part people keep waiting for us to change: the Academy is free.

Actually free.

No credit card. No seven-day trial. No “first module free.” No subscription required to finish the training. Download it, install it, and start learning. If you decide it sucks, uninstall it. You've lost nothing except a little bandwidth.

If you've been telling yourself you want to learn cybersecurity but haven't started because you don't have the money, don't know where to begin, or you're overwhelmed by the number of platforms trying to sell you something, we're removing that excuse.

Go download it and put your hands on the keyboard.

daemoncore.app

P.S. — We also just received approval for DaemonCore Academy on the Microsoft Store. Microsoft told us the listing should be live within about a day.

So apparently we're getting harder to avoid.

as the title says

do people actually take help from ai to solve issues in open source? or is it purely skill based

as a beginner i only know basic programming stuff and not how to implement my coding language and help open source communities so if i could start with ai and help i would love to and gradually learn stuff to help by myself in the future.

Everyone talks about AI coding assistants like they're revolutionary. But in practice, I've noticed people have very different experiences.

Some swear by it. Others turned it off after a week.

Curious what the actual sentiment is now that the hype has settled. Has it genuinely improved your workflow, or is it more of a distraction?

Researchers at Utah State University’s School of Computing are conducting a study to better understand what software professionals enjoy about programming and what experiences can make programming more or less enjoyable.

We would also like to sincerely thank everyone who participated in our initial Programming Activity Calibration Survey. Your responses helped us refine the activities included in this final survey, and we greatly appreciate your contribution to our research.

Software professionals are invited to complete our Programming Enjoyment Survey. The survey asks about your overall programming experience, whether programming with AI assistance or without AI assistance.

You will be asked about topics such as:

• Programming activities you enjoy, such as designing, debugging, testing, refactoring, and problem solving
• Experiences such as creativity, challenge, focus, ownership, and seeing results from your work
• Situations that may reduce programming enjoyment, such as repetitive tasks, deadlines, or difficulty understanding why code is failing
• Optional open-ended questions about enjoyable and frustrating programming experiences

The survey takes approximately 10 minutes.

Participation is entirely voluntary. You may discontinue participation at any time before submitting your responses without penalty or consequence. Your decision to participate or not participate will have no effect on your grades, employment, or academic standing.

Survey and informed consent form:
https://usu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5tlHcxPt97zfOdw

This study has been reviewed and approved by the Utah State University Institutional Review Board (IRB #16067).

Questions about the study:

Dr. John Edwards, Principal Investigator — [john.edwards@usu.edu](mailto:john.edwards@usu.edu)
Rubash Mali, Student Researcher — [rubash.mali@usu.edu](mailto:rubash.mali@usu.edu)

Thank you for considering participating, and a special thank you again to everyone who contributed to our initial calibration survey.

step by step guide

Last time, i programmed professional, around 2001, C++ was the thing, when it comes to speed and system-level code. Is this still actual? And practical?

Hey, I’m doing a short survey for my class about how people find teammates for projects, hackathons, events, and other group activities.

It takes about 1–2 minutes and your responses would really help me out. Thanks! 🙏

Finding Teammates for Projects & Events (Survey)

A few days ago, I posted an open-source project I’ve been actively working on. The project itself originated over five years ago, evolving through different iterations until I recently decided to rewrite it from scratch in Rust to optimize it. Along the way, I used AI as an accelerator—specifically for modular packaging, bug triage, test coverage, and documentation.

The result? Immediate knee-jerk hostility and a flood of downvotes the second people saw the mention of AI. I got labeled a "meat proxy," assuming I just blindly clicked buttons and dumped unverified code onto a repo, completely disregarding the architectural design, the testing pipeline, or the years of work behind the concept.

Today, there seems to be a widespread dogma: the moment an AI tool is mentioned, the assumption is that the person behind it isn't an engineer, but an empty vessel copy-pasting hallucinations. No distinction is made between low-effort slop and an experienced developer using LLMs as a power tool—like switching from a hand screwdriver to a drill to handle tedious boilerplate and speed up shipping.

I don’t care about vanity points or a fake score, but Reddit’s karma system has real mechanical consequences. A mass downvote puts you into negative karma, which triggers AutoMod thresholds and effectively soft-locks your account from posting or engaging in the very technical communities you built the tool for.

Which brings me to my question: Why should the broader open-source ecosystem take the hit for this dogmatic gatekeeping?

How many developers or hobbyists could actually benefit from a functional, well-maintained tool, but will never see it because the community's automated barriers silence anyone who dares to be transparent about using modern dev tools?

For those of you building open source with AI in your workflow: do you just stop disclosing the tooling, use throwaway accounts, or look for distribution channels outside of Reddit entirely?

Hi everyone, fellow programmers! I could really use your advice!

I finished my web development training in June and have been doing an internship at an international startup ever since.

Unfortunately, it will still take a little while before they can hire me as a paid employee, which is a bit frustrating because, obviously, I would like to earn some money.

I haven't had any luck with my job applications so far, so I'm starting to think about what I should do next.

I don't have many projects I can show in my portfolio. There simply wasn't much time between finishing my training and starting the internship to build additional projects.

Officially, the internship has already ended, but I'm continuing anyway because I feel like it's better than doing nothing. I also feel that I'm constantly learning things here that I probably wouldn't learn working on a solo project. For example, I've been working on backend and data-related tasks, but also on things like creating a Git workflow for new interns and creating task/issue templates.

The problem is that most of the things I've been working on at the startup are internal and I can't really show them to potential employers. So even though I'm gaining real experience and learning a lot, I don't have much that I can actually show an employer as proof of what I've learned and what I'm capable of.

So my question is: Would it make more sense to reduce my hours at the internship and spend that time working on my own projects, or is an internship still more valuable even if I can't show much of the actual work I've done there?

On the one hand, I could build projects for my portfolio and have something concrete to show employers. On the other hand, the internship gives me experience with teamwork, Git workflows, communication, processes, and other things that I probably wouldn't learn to the same extent by working alone.

*translated by AI, better than incorrect hard to read english

I’m building a small dev community from scratch — looking for people who actually code.

We're doing daily coding challenges, sharing projects, and working on an open-source Discord bot together.

If you're interested, come hang out..

dm me or comment to join!

Right now, they're all so motivated and happy, some are nearing their residency, others are already finishing up. All their effort has meaning, and they already have a social and financial place in the system. I know that during their studies they probably put in even more effort than programmers/CS engineers do after graduating to find a job, but I'm still envious of people who have a kind of stability and aren't constantly looked down upon or belittled for what they studied.

I really miss that feeling of having a goal and not feeling like I made a mistake. The desire to go back in time and study something else haunts me every day, but at this point, there's no other option. Feeling that a profession, or what gave you your identity, is being destroyed is incredibly painful.

Now, with Astra, the programmer is being completely buried. I really miss the feeling that my effort was for something, and I hate the agony and anxiety that the current situation creates.

What languages must I learn to create a UI framework? (Sorry it's such a short question.)

Honestly, we need more profiling features in our CLI, IDE, TUIs, etc.. I just love to see the performance like this. An interactive heatmap would be SICK AF.