Nevertheless, the main motivator for me has been always the final outcome - a product or tool that other people use. Using AI helps me to move much faster and frees up a lot of time to focus on the core which is building the best possible thing I can build.

> But we shouldn't pretend that you will be able to do that professionally for much longer.

Opus 4.5 just came out around 3 months ago. We are still very early in this game. Creating things this year already makes me feel like I'm in the Enchanted Pencil (*) cartoon in which the boy draws an object with a magic pencil and makes it reality within seconds. With the collective effort of everyone involved in building the AI tools and the incentives aligned (as they are right now) the progress will continue be very rapid. You can still code by hand but it will be very hard to compete in the market without the use of AI.

(*) It's a Polish cartoon from the 60s/70s (no language barrier) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-inIMrU1t7s*

While I don't speak Czech, I speak Polish which is a close cousin. For years it didn't occur to me that "robot" and the shortened "bot" words have slavic etymology. In Polish "robić" means to do (carry out, perform etc.) something. "Robię kawę" means "I'm making a coffee" and "Zrób coś" (imperative mood - do something!) is a call for action to take action. It's a popular multi-use verb.

"Robota" is a job or some work that one has to do, not necessarily forced as Google suggests.

Edit: Also adding another interesting fact. Golem is an inanimate entity from Yiddish folklore, with a story strongly related to a 16th Prague Rabbi. I looked it up on Wikipedia if there was any connection with the "Robot" and indeed there seem to be some - "The play was written in Prague, and while Čapek denied that he modeled the robot after the golem, many similarities are seen in the plot." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golem)

Also, my profession is being a Software Engineer, not a train passenger.

I made a calculator for this a while ago: https://flat.social/blog/get-a-remote-team-back-in-the-offic... (scroll a bit down for the inputs).

That said, not every work is directly "building" - some aspects of a job might involve collaboration, communication and helping others out when they're stuck. Spending some time after hours to help a colleague who got stuck might have a result which is disproportionately larger to the input that a tired person had.

In my opinion, majority of the people who are stopping Nicotine (not just smoking) approach it as an incredibly hard challenge. The process is demonised and described as something that is really hard to complete. That's exactly what I would like people to think if I'd be to work in a marketing department for tobacco corporations.

While there is a longer story behind it, I quit cold turkey in March this year. This time was much easier - I didn't approach it as something that is hard to do. While this might sound banal, I focused on what am I getting out of it, not what I'm loosing. Everything, from my gums to my muscles got better.

Nicotine in its pure form is definitely great brain stimulant, I'm still a big fan. I just don't think it's worth the cost, both from financial and health perspective to use it often.

Remote: Full-remote but more than happy to travel occasionally. My location is very flexible.

Portfolio: Most recently I built https://flat.social from scratch. It's a video conferencing app where everyone can fly around and talk with others in proximity - feel free to check out the demo! Also started working on https://glot.space (language learning) in my free time now.

Technologies: Full-stack (Next.js, React, Node, WebGL, Typescript (+ npm friends), Redux, Jest, Socket.io), CosmosDB, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Firebase, Docker, Azure, Digital Ocean, Mediasoup / Webrtc, PIXI.js. In the past I have also worked with Python and done fair share of iOS work with Swift (<3) and Objective-C both (both as a dev and tech lead).

Résumé/CV: Per request - email me.

Email: me[at]pawel.io

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borkowskip/

Hi, I'm Paweł, a Software Engineer with 11 years professional experience building products and leading tech teams in environments ranging from large corporations to startups.

I'm currently available for contract work - outside IR35 for UK but open to work with worldwide clients (smiling to US and LATAM timezones here).

I recommend distributing even small sums of money across as many accounts as you have. Some in Revolut, some in Wise, some in a normal bank. There is a number of reasons for which access to your bank account can be blocked (fraud attempt, stolen SIM card, stolen card etc.) so the more backup you have, the better off you should be. As the person above said, keeping printed receipts might also be useful for legal purposes.

One of the core features that made me use Uber was the map - I could see where the driver is going and how far away is he. Also, the app is localised into language that I can understand and I can see the price upfront without having to worry about getting scammed. Recently I had to book a taxi over the phone at the end of the world (literally - Ushuaia) in a language that I can barely speak and the experience was rather stressful in comparison with using an app.

Remote: Full-remote but more than happy to travel occasionally. My location is very flexible.

Portfolio: Most recently I built https://flat.social from scratch. It's a video conferencing app where everyone can fly around and talk with others in proximity - feel free to check out the demo! Also started working on https://glot.space (language learning) in my free time now.

Technologies: Full-stack (Next.js, React, Node, WebGL, Typescript (+ npm friends), Redux, Jest, Socket.io), CosmosDB, MongoDB, PostgreSQL, Firebase, Docker, Azure, Digital Ocean, Mediasoup / Webrtc, PIXI.js. In the past I have also worked with Python and done fair share of iOS work with Swift (<3) and Objective-C both (both as a dev and tech lead).

Résumé/CV: Per request - email me.

Email: me[at]pawel.io

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/borkowskip/

Hi, I'm Paweł, a Software Engineer with 11 years professional experience building products and leading tech teams in environments ranging from large corporations to startups.

I'm currently available for contract work - outside IR35 for UK but open to work with worldwide clients (smiling to US and LATAM timezones here).