It has been almost a year and a half since I wrote my last article. Things have changed a lot. I was in a tough spot and felt lost in life.
Luckily things turned out well and I am in a better situation now. I am writing this as a record of this period of my life.
What Changed Link to heading
My Old Company Closed Down Link to heading
Due to unfavourable economic conditions, my old company closed down and I was laid off.
I didn’t start looking for a job right away (which turned out to be a big mistake), and instead went on vacation.
(If there is one thing to take away from this post, it is this: don’t leave a job without an offer in hand!)
During my 4.5 years working there, I changed from a complete beginner to an experienced developer (sort of).
There were not many clients, so my manager gave me the freedom to manage a project all by myself,
i.e. picking the tech stack, implementing it, and also setting up a DevOps + cloud environment for deployment.
This experience proved to be quite useful, which brings me to my next change…
I Started My New Position at Morgan Stanley Link to heading
The previous full-stack experience was what landed me this job. I heard from feedback that among all the interviewees (around my age), I was the only one who could tell a “full” story. I have knowledge of nearly every aspect of software engineering, and this impressed my would-be manager.
I am still adjusting to the new environment (a big enterprise like this is vastly different from a small vendor), but I am otherwise satisfied with my job.
But I must not forget to mention a friend who referred me to this company. This position requires Java/Spring knowledge and I basically have none. Without his help, I would still be unemployed (Thanks, Ira!). This person and I have very similar interests (except he is much richer than me 😆). I have learned a lot from him. We are also doing a special thing together, which is…
I Started a Podcast Link to heading
We are doing a podcast! The channel is called Why Source Code Always Suck (為何Source Code總是爛). We discuss tech-adjacent topics like fresh grad job prospects, project management, software design and others. We plan to have a podcast every Saturday evening. Please subscribe and join us!
(There is also a Discord group you can join)
I Started Going to the Gym Link to heading
I started going to the gym. My current focus is heavy lifting. This improved my posture and boosted my strength initially, though currently I am not seeing much progress.
Maybe having proper sleep (which I am lacking right now) is the thing I need for muscle growth.
I Stopped Using Desktop Linux Link to heading
I stopped using desktop Linux and went back to Windows 11.
The main cause is Easy Anti-Cheat breaking Elden Ring Nightreign in a VFIO setup. I tried gaming on Linux directly but the performance is not on par with Windows.
The novelty of desktop Linux has worn off. Now my Linux usage is limited to coding (in WSL) and my homelab. WSL is very nice (I use Arch BTW).
I still think every programmer should try desktop Linux, as the process of tinkering and suffering is a very valuable experience that will be useful for their whole career.
I Embraced LLM Code Development Link to heading
Previously I rejected LLM code development because I feared that it would produce slop (which I am responsible for). This view has changed: with the current SOTA models, LLM-assisted coding has become very viable.
My workflow is simple: Write a list of requirements (or ask the LLM to get it from Jira via MCP), then discuss missing implementation details and potential issues/improvements with the LLM, until I am satisfied with the plan. After that, I ask the LLM to implement the plan, then have another back-and-forth about bugs and improvements, and finally submit a PR.
At home, I am using the Pi harness (with DeepSeek or my self-hosted Qwen3.8-27B) to do my side projects. LLMs have improved a lot in such a short span of time.
What Hasn’t Changed Link to heading
I Am Still a Gamer Link to heading
I am still addicted to games. This year I spent most of my time playing Elden Ring Nightreign. If you also play it, send me a message so that we can play together!
FeelsGoodMan
I Am Still Doing Homelab Link to heading
I have shifted my current focus towards LLM-assisted coding at home. But I still have a homelab, and it is improving slowly.
My next improvement is to use n8n to collect data about things I care about (e.g. weather, software logs), then pipe it to an LLM, and send me the result via Discord webhook or ntfy.sh notifications.
My messy homelab
Retrospective and Looking Ahead Link to heading
To iterate again: it is stupid to leave your job without an offer in hand: the job market is as bad as it can be, don’t challenge your luck! You can always take a vacation later. I got lucky and met the right people at the right time.
My future is looking bright (sort of). Hopefully I can make meaningful progress in my current job. LLMs have changed software development significantly, so I am trying to adapt to avoid falling behind others.
My brother is studying software engineering too, and I plan to guide him on LLM usage (as his school probably won’t teach this; schools are known to be slow to change their curriculum).
I wish you (the reader) excellent prospects in life as well!