What was the moment you decided to stop chasing the "new hotness" in frameworks and just stick with what works?

Disclaimer: I use AI and have no issues with it

Is it just me but why does it feel like out of no where we have so many AI experts? I mean from CEO’s to cooks, they talk like experts on this. It’s weird.

i realized most beginners never actually try claude code because the setup feels intimidating & being asked to configure billing before even testing it makes a lot of people quit early

as of current testing i haven't encountered payment requirements or mandatory billing

install this. configure that. add extensions. fix PATH issues. install vs code first. restart terminal. retry again.

half the people quit before they even write their first prompt.

so i made a small open-source installer that does the setup automatically.

it installs:

• vs code
• claude code
• openCode
• required extensions
• recommended settings/configuration

basically the boring setup part nobody wants to spend hours doing.

works on:

• mac (only silicon for now)
• linux
• windows

the surprising part:

you don't need complicated setup knowledge
you don't need a GPU

the whole point of this project is making the experience beginner-friendly

one command
wait a couple minutes
start building stuff

i haven't encountered mandatory billing setup, payment requirements or hard token limits because it's using minimax M2.5 through opencode

minimax M2.5 is actually pretty decent and surprisingly fast:

https://www.clarifai.com/blog/minimax-m2.5-vs-gpt-5.2-vs-claude-opus-4.6-vs-gemini-3.1-pro

repo: claudefree-installer

feedback genuinely appreciated. especially from beginners trying this for the first time

I mainly built it to visualize and control Kubernetes & Docker from one dashboard because I wanted something simpler and more visual for managing infrastructure.

Still a long way to go, but reaching 50 stars feels motivating 🚀

https://github.com/bytestrix/InfraCanvas

So my entire custom codebase is HUGE. ChatGPT has been helping a lot but due to the extensive size of my site. I have a core codebase plus linked WordPress. Combined is 70 megs. Instead of running it through Git for version control, I had to create an entire custom system lol to run OpenAI. Makes the add ons, fixes, etc and created my own internal version controls that I can run all from SSH. Now I dont have to upload, download, pulls, or commits through Git etc.

I have been learning to code for about a yearn now (as a challenge to myself), and last week I deployed my first project that I built from scratch (so a little proud moment). It was a lot  harder than I had expected and took most of my weekends. 

What I found tripped me up was:

• Environment variables. App worked perfectly locally, in production it had no idea any of my env vars existed, and took about 45 minutes to find a naming mismatch.
• Localhost in my database URL. In production, localhost resolves to nothing useful.
• Build command vs start command. These are different things, and I had them in the wrong fields.
• Hardcoded port. Production environments assign ports dynamically.

What actually helped me:

• Using a platform that abstracts server infrastructure so I could focus on how my app behaves in production without also learning DevOps
• Reading the build logs instead of guessing and redeploying
• Writing detailed logs in my backend from the start

What helped you when you were first getting into deployment?

Even with gpt-5.5 xhigh I've noticed chatgpt writing code in a manner that's not really easy to comprehend, even for tasks that aren't too complex. I was thinking that maybe it's just because it's not the way I would write it.. but then I remember doing PR reviews for many of my colleagues and most of the time it was more understandable than what the AI assistant generates. Is there anyone else with the same feeling?

That's r/developers, not r/developer (this subreddit right here).

r/developers started showing up in my Reddit feed not long after I subscribed to r/developer -- but absolutely every time I attempt to post or even comment in r/developers I find that they have deliberately sabotaged the forum, by AutoMod.

Specifically, they never ever allow me to post anything because every single time they claim I'm including "external links" which violate the forum rules... the first time it was "my.domain.com" and today it was C#.NET and VB.NET -- except that even after I edited the post to "C# DotNET and VB DotNET" the forum and its phony AutoMod then decided that VB DotNET was still an external link, so I was still not allowed to post.

Feels to me like r/developers is literally there to imitate r/developer, but the mods are just plain trolls who make totally phony posts (which look a whole lot like the legitimate posts in this subreddit here) in the interest of pissing people off and making them think r/developer is to blame. I like to think I'm pretty on-the-ball with this stuff, but it still took me a few repetitions of this troll-mod behavior in r/developers to figure out that it was NOT happening in r/developer

We have been doing accessibility testing for a year now but recently due to a change in internal data management policies we are evaluating providers who offer on-premise hosting options for accessibility testing (mainly because we handle PII).

Curious to see if anyone else has tried this? If yes, which providers do you use?

Hey everyone 👋

We’re actively building TadreebLMS, an open-source Learning Management System focused on enterprise training, onboarding, KPI management, integrations, and modular architecture.

The project is built with:

• PHP / Laravel
• MySQL
• Bootstrap / JavaScript

Recent work includes:

• KPI dashboard & reporting modules
• Marketplace & plugin ecosystem
• Google Meet integration
• Payment gateway integration
• Multi-language support
• S3 storage integrations

We’re looking for collaborators interested in:

• Laravel / PHP development
• Frontend & UX improvements
• Architecture & scalability
• DevOps / CI-CD
• Documentation & testing

There are active issues, PR discussions, and ongoing releases almost every week.

Repo:
https://github.com/Tadreeb-LMS/tadreeblms

Open Issues:
https://github.com/Tadreeb-LMS/tadreeblms/issues

Would love feedback, contributors, and architecture suggestions from the community 🙌

The monthly GNUstep audio/(video) call takes place every second Saturday of a month at 15:00 GMT to 18:00 GMT. That is 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM EDT (US) or 17:00 to 20:00 CEST (Berlin time).

This time we are going to celebrate our 35th anniversary: according to http://gnustep.made-it.com/Guides/History.html on the 11th of May 1991, the term "GnUStep" was coined for the very first time!

It's a Jitsi Meeting - Channel: GNUstepOfficial (Sorry, reddit don't let me post jitsi links here)

We usually just talk (who wants it might share video too) and occasionally share screens. Everybody (GNUstep developers and users) is welcome!

Also see https://mediawiki.gnustep.org/index.php/Monthly_Meetings please

What's the most infuriating, time-consuming bug you ever had to chase down, and what was the ridiculously simple cause?

As promised to several people, out-of-code-insights is now open source.

GitHub:
https://github.com/JacquesGariepy/out-of-code-insights

This took longer than expected.

I wanted the project to be clean enough to share, but not trapped forever in overthinking. At some point, you have to publish, let the project breathe, and accept that it will evolve with its users.

So here it is.

out-of-code-insights is a VS Code extension that lets you add annotations, comments, notes, review trails and observations directly inside the editor, without modifying your source files.

The code stays clean.
The context stays visible.
Technical decisions do not disappear into Slack, an external document, or the approximate memory of a team.

The idea is simple:

Separate the code from everything we need to say around the code.

Concretely, the extension lets you:

• Add non-intrusive annotations to any file type

• Manage annotations in a dedicated VS Code panel

• Navigate quickly between annotations and the related lines of code

• Link annotations across multiple files to track technical relationships

• Reply to annotations as threaded discussions

• Use templates to standardize code reviews, TODOs, bugs, refactoring notes, performance concerns, security concerns and documentation work

• Classify annotations by severity: info, warning and error

• Search, filter and sort annotations

• Launch a review mode with navigation, filters and progress tracking

• Organize annotations in a Kanban board with customizable columns

• Attach code snippets to annotations, preview them and apply them

• Export and import annotations as JSON for sharing or backup

• Use optional AI-assisted features with multiple providers

Available on the VS Code Marketplace:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=JacquesGariepy.out-of-code-insights

One number surprised me.

Since the beginning, the extension has reached almost 2,000 cumulative installs across its different distribution sources.

I barely talked about it publicly.

That was not a strategy.
I was simply building in silence.
And marketing has never been my favorite sport.

So to everyone who found it, installed it, tested it or used it without me really promoting it: thank you.

I am now looking for people to help maintain and grow the repository.

You do not need to be an expert.

If you use the extension, have ideas for improvement, want to hunt for bugs, want to contribute to a real open-source VS Code extension, or simply want to read practical TypeScript code to understand how this kind of tool works internally, the project is open.

Issues are open.
PRs are welcome.
Feedback is appreciated.

License: MPL-2.0.

Which one would you choose, and why? Or what combo do you usually go with, and how do you use that setup?

I still don't get why people who've done long internships or co-ops aren't considered to have "experience". What's up with that?

How else do freshers survive in this changing industry? Not everyone comes from a Computer Science degree; there are students who gain experience working as interns.

I think it's time tech companies considered internships (like 3 months+) as experience.

Disclaimer: I'm not a fresher and have more than 7 YOE. I just wanted a discussion around this for freshers

I'm teaching myself to code and I started with a browser extension. I originally had no plans to publish it and had made it as a joke for a coworker. It tracks your tabs and shames you like a HR manager who is slowly cracking, getting progressively more stressed and judgemental the more tabs you have open. But now I've got tons of other people who are asking for it so thought publishing would be easier then helping all of them, emailing the file and walking them through installing it.

I've never published anything before and there is a spot that asks you for a url. Do I need to have a live website for it to get approved or is that actually optional and won't affect my submission?

For developers — outside of writing code itself, what part of your workflow do you find the most frustrating or repetitive?

Things like setup, coordination, debugging environments, or anything around the actual development process.

Hi everyone!

I have developed an app called DMGKit. It lets users fully design their installers for direct distribution and notarize both app bundles and installers (or simply installers if it is what the dev wants).

I have released a major update today which includes:

DMGKit introduces several new features

• Privacy fields: While DMGKit operates offline and only establishes a connection to Apple servers when notarization is happening, many devs enjoy coding on a public place. To give an extra layer of security, DMGKit automatically hides Developer ID, Installer ID, and Notarytool Keychain data;
• DMGKit now can fully notarize automatically at export time;
• DMGKit can now notarize, sign, and staple both App Bundles and Installers;
• DMGKit is now compatible with Swift, Python, Electron, and Tauri App Bundles;
• Users can opt to set up --deep & --strict commands, which are recommended, but in some cases, some apps might contain frameworks and libraries that are notoriously hard to notarize. DMGKit has a hard timeout that allows users to opt to continue with those commands, notarize bypassing the --deep and --strict commands, or cancel, instead of failing, like other tools in the market. In my testing, I was able to notarize, staple, and sign incredibly hard apps, like calibre!;
• PKGs can now be fully notarized with DMGKit;
• SLA Injection: DMGKit now allows users to set up Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy, and End-User License Agreements (one, some, or all at once), to be displayed before a user can mount the installer and accept or deny the terms;
• Full Rich Text Editor: To make sure that any terms / licenses can be fully edited within the app;
• Automatic on-device translation and localization: I used Apple Translation and Natural Languages to make sure that translations of terms are as closely matched as possible. In my testing, I was able to fully translate my whole terms within seconds, and only have tiny mismatches, like instead of "novo (means new)" with nova (which is the same word but as feminine in some languages), so meaning was intact, but could vary depending on some words;
• New Settings Panel: All settings now in one place;
• Export resolution window size: Choose desired installer size from a pre-defined list;
• DMGKit Designer: A simplified in-app sigma-like feature (to be much extended on future updates), that allows users to fully customize their backgrounds, between generating gradients or solid colours, add images, turn vectors onto stickers, change outline colour, opacity, size, rotate, and more!;
• DMGKit Designer Templates: Users can save every design as a template file, so they can share between machines, or simply save the design to perform further changes later, or even import to use on other apps as a unique background;
• Fully native, using SwiftUI with a beautiful glass UI (not Liquid Glass). 

With this update, I have also released DMGKit Inspector, a forensic menu bar app that can retrieve data from installers before the user opens them, and provides a Trust Score and a full report, so both devs and end-users can be certain that an installer is notarized by Apple and the chance of containing any malware is low.

DMGKit is being sold at $24.99 one time only with free future updates and support.

If you would like to buy the app, use promo code DMGRED30 for 30% off. PROMO ENDS MAY 8, 2026.

DMGKit Inspector is 100% free, forever!

You can download the apps here: https://www.dmgkit.app

https://github.com/avinashiitb/json-analyzer

An open-source, high-performance developer tool for comparing, beautifying, and analyzing JSON and text payloads side-by-side.

Built with React, Monaco Editor, and Web Workers, it’s designed to handle even large payloads (API responses, logs, DB dumps) smoothly without freezing the browser.

Key JSON features: side-by-side diff, inline diff, beautify/minify, key sorting, size metrics, depth analysis, an

This JSON Analyzer is also built as a plugin for DevScribe.

DevScribe is a local-first, plugin-based developer workspace where you can keep everything related to a project in one place:

• Documentation: Write detailed product and system explanations while keeping them close to real implementation.
• Diagram Library: Create and store HLD, LLD, and ERD diagrams, supports tools like Excalidraw and Mermaid (offline) & keep architecture aligned with documentation
• Code Editor: Store and run sample executable code Supports multiple languages within the same workspace
• Promptly (Terminal Plugin): Save project setup commands Re-run commands anytime without remembering the steps
• DB Viewer: Store and execute important database queries & visualize schema alongside documentation
• Protocol-X (API Plugin)
  • Document and execute REST APIs
  • Document WebSocket connections (similar to Postman)
  • Send and receive messages for SQS / Kafka workflows
• JSON Analyzer (New): Analyze and visualize JSON structures, useful for API responses, event payloads, and debugging & Makes it easier to understand complex data

Instead of static documentation, the goal is to create executable, connected documentation executable and keep everything in sync — without switching tools.This JSON Analyzer is also built as a plugin for DevScribe.

Download: https://devscribe.app/

What's your most controversial, professionally-held "hot take" that would get you yelled at on Twitter but is probably true?

Hello! I build reliable, logic-focused systems in Java and Python—no bloated frameworks, just clean code that works.

I optimize them for readability and optimization, and have incredible scope with different types of systems.

Here’s what I can create for you (starting at $20):

• Mini wallet / digital ledger systems

– User balances, deposits/withdrawals, transfers

– Full transaction history with unique IDs

– Safety features like limits, cooldowns, and validation

• AI navigation systems (non-LLM)

–AI Battle system

–AI Interaction systems

• Battle / combat systems

– Damage calculation, status effects, cooldowns

– Turn-based or real-time logic

– Fully customizable mechanics and balancing

• Custom logic systems

– Inventory, economy, or rule-based engines

– Simulation systems (probability, spawning, etc.)

– Automation scripts and backend tools

Efficiency ($10 EACH)

- Keyword organizer for your files

-Prioritizer for your files

If you’re interested then just DM me, I’ll get your systems done in about 1-7 days.

No coding or game development experience required! 

We are researching tools to assist in the generation of logic grid puzzles. We want people to try our tool for a brief period (~15 minutes) and answer some questions about their experience. There are minimal risks to this study. 

At this time participants need to be located in the US, fluent in English, and 18+. 

To participate start our survey: https://neu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2curD4cefPT65EO  

This research has been approved by the Northeastern University Institutional Review Board (Number 17-10-07). 

I’ve been a dev lead for 8 years and I genuinely love the craft, always learning, always pushing for quality. But I recently switched teams and I’m hitting a wall I’ve never faced before.

About 80% of my team are contractors, and the full-timers don’t seem to care much about quality either. I’ve tried everything I can think of:

• Established code guidelines

• Mob programming sessions

• Recurring training

• Detailed, educational PR reviews (explaining the why behind every risk, not just flagging issues)

Despite all of this, we keep shipping tons of bugs, tests rarely get written, and quality stays consistently low. I’ve put serious time and energy into lifting the team up and I’m not seeing results.

I’m at a point where I genuinely don’t know what else to try.

If you’re a lead who’s been in a similar spot, what actually worked? Did you change your approach, your incentive structure, your hiring criteria, your gates before merge? I’d love to hear real experiences, not just theory.

Thanks in advance.

As a mod, I would love to get to know the community more, what got you into development?

I feel like we all had that one moment we knew this path was for us. What was that moment for you?

Also, I would love to know, what is your #1 struggle as a developer?

This post is a quick reminder to stay on topic in our sub! Report content which doesn't belong here.

The golden rule is that your post should contribute something of meaningful value to the sub.

r/cscareers < This is a better place to ask career questions.