Honestly, I’m surprised to learn there are developers who don’t use AI tools at all in 2025.
I’ve been a software engineer for about 10 years, and these days Claude Code is basically my coding buddy and documentation assistant(and yes, I’m one of those devs who doesn’t love writing docs or design docs encouraged by big corporate) — and I use ChatGPT daily for research, quick explanations, or brainstorming. At this point it feels weird to work without them.
Though they’re not as magic as I want. I have to do the followings with AI:
- review everything AI spits out, because it can sound confident but be dead wrong
- Clear instruction and rules make a huge difference (like claude.local.md)
yes, writing them can feel like doing documentation ...
Even with those quirks, the net gain is huge for me, I just need to learn how to mentor them — AI saves time on documentation, debugs, gives me new ideas, and helps on side projects.
From my perspective, AI is unstoppable. We’re at the start of a new era in software development, and within 5 years it’s going to replace many different roles in our circle or other indurstry : )
Hey there, I feel your struggle. As a remote software engineer in the JS stack, I went through something similar last year.
Keep trying for fully remote roles if that's your priority. It might take time, but they're out there.
Consider hybrid roles to expand your options, as more companies are asking for RTO (return to office) lately. e.g. Amazon
Create an online portfolio as your online resume, showcasing your work from the past 1.5 years. You can host it for free on GitHub - search for Web Developer Portfolio for examples, some are really great.
Update your LinkedIn profile, set your status to "looking for a job," and create remote job alerts. Recruiters will reach out directly, helping your resume get seen and get first interview. When you talk to recruiters or company's CEO in LinkedIn, online resume is really helpful. Passing coding tests with flying colors might mean your resume isn't even reaching the hiring teams. So LinkdedIn is a really good approach to have a cold message with target role.
Ask for referrals from your connections and keep an eye on remote job websites.Search keywords and you will found some useful remote list. Referrals significantly increase your chance to get the interview.
If you're worried about the time frame, consider freelancing on platforms like Upwork in the meantime. I was working as a contractor when looking for a remote full time job last year.
Nice work on your open-source project! I have seen serval effective ways to monetize via open-source project:
Community funding is a great starting point. Set up a GitHub Sponsors account or use platforms like Open Collective or Ko-fi. Many developers are happy to support projects they find useful. You can check the open source repo with Sponsors enabled.
I have seen a monetization case from a popular Chrome extension - I cant remember the extact name. While free for users, it displays sponsor logos in its GitHub repo and within the extension itself.
Finally, take inspiration from Tailwind CSS, which is a famous open source project. They offer Tailwind UI, a paid, advanced component library built on their free core framework.
From my personal experience, monetizing a SaaS project isn't easy, but it's certainly possible. However, establishing a steady income stream is a different case altogether.
Good luck! Look forward to hearing more your experiences from this!
Hey, sorry for the laid off - I think it is common these days. From my experience - don't stress too much about those job market data trends. They're usually playing catch-up anyway.
Jump on LinkedIn and check out their job board. It's way more useful for getting a real feel of the job market and how good/bad it is the role you want to switch. Meanwhile, I don't think you should worry about the life cycle of job posting - as this is caused by multi factors and inrelevant.
So yeah, mix it up. Look at some data if you want, but definitely spend some time on job boards. You'll get a much better feel for what's really going on out there.
Oh, have you ever read this book?
You make a fair point. I agree that by conventional definitions, this book may not be widely considered a 'classic'. Maybe just'personal classic'. After working for 8 years and finding myself at a career low point, this book completely transformed my mindset.
Keep an eye on this topic so that I can explorer which book I can read during the flight! Thank you
I personally recommend this book: The Almanack of Naval Ravikant A Guide to Wealth and Happiness. It was an old book but it is really classic. I think Naval's philosophy in this book has inspired me a lot and change my mindset in daily life.
I am mainly with JS tech stack for years and play around Python from time to time - My set up in my machine is iterm2 + Oh-My-Zsh(theme) + plugins(e.g. autoJump & zsh Autosuggestions). I cant live without Autosuggestions in my terminal.
Hello, I suggest you try talk to the Cloudflare team via their official discord. Cloudflare have their team in discord server and you might be able to get response faster than the email waiting game. Or even you can check the list of history questions.
My case is I have an issue with Cloudflare worker - then I asked question in their discord. Someone from Cloudflare team answered the question within 24 hour and able to fix the bug with my CloudflareId at their side.
I have tried to contact Cloudflare Support via discord regarding their worker issue. Cloudflare team replied within 24 hours or shorter in channel. I suggest you can try to talk to Cloudflare team via their discord for prompt response.