Botond Balla

backend engineer

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@rainonme4eva I buy a new one every year, but my first was the M2. Always max out the RAM if you get the Air.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

With the spread of deepfake videos and artificial content, theatres and operas will be visited more, because we crave reality and humanness.

Unfortunately, I doubt that classical, slower-paced pieces will be popular; maybe a new genre of theatre more appealing to the younger generation will emerge.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

Working on the company project started to feel less like a job and more like something I care about.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@SamLenSports @NXT4EU That one tiny mistake everyone keeps making? Joining the EU doesn't sacrifice your sovereignty. You're still a totally separate country. The EU is not even a country, folks. You won't believe it.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

When I see people on the internet engaging in creative activities like painting, it always makes me want to do the same, but I don't know where to start or what to do. Any ideas?

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@Clinton_Ferraz @CtrlAltDwayne I mean, they may get better and better, but you and only you are responsible for the code you write or generate. And that will not change.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

I'm actively looking for a way to still have this feeling while coding. Maybe solving a higher-level architectural problem will give that feeling, or I don't even know.

I am certain of one thing: we must maintain our problem-solving skills. We must understand our entire codebases because our code is our responsibility, whether or not we used AI.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

As a software engineer, it’s sometimes quite hard to navigate a codebase in the first few weeks. I found AI helpful for finding different points in the code.

Maybe you’re looking for a particular method, or the place where a stack trace gets hashed, filtered, or put into the database.

It’s really helpful for searching when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for. I think that’s the most useful way to use AI in engineering, at least to me.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@31b4_ I don't reject that using AI is beneficial in professional life. I even used it to filter job postings to get a job. I just don't think it's healthy to completely integrate it into my personal life.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

Two months ago I found that AI was helping my professional life and was unfortunately a big part of my personal life as well. I used it for everyday problems like recipes, training plans, summarising websites and emails, etc. I even rarely copy-pasted direct messages into LLMs because I could not form a reply on my own.

I had become incapable of tasks I could easily do before AI.

I cancelled all my subscriptions. The only one I still use is the company subscription for Claude Code, and I do not even fully exploit that.

The beginning was hard. I uninstalled all LLM apps from my phone and computer and blacklisted the websites.

Then doing stuff without it started to feel normal again.

Now I am much more competent. I can do everyday things without assistance, it is like putting the walking frames aside and starting walking without them.

I recommend everyone try a week without LLMs. You will not regret it.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

I heard this line on the tram this morning and it stuck in my head:

“If you are the smartest in a room, you are in the wrong room.”

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@Esterr213 @codewith55 I don't carry my charger with me wherever I go.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@solopribuilds To be fair, this “hype” was so short I haven’t even used Astra, only heard about it twice, once from a friend and once in a company Slack channel.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

My iPhone 18 Pro is on its way. The only thing I'm worried about is the variable aperture. Moving parts tend not to hold up well over time.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

@gmathis1995 @TTrimoreau Net profitable, or just gross-margin positive? Spending billions on GPU clusters for their next training runs means the company is deeply in the red.

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

Many people told me they sleep better with melatonin supplements. I have no problem falling asleep with or without them and found little to no change in my recovery. I took 1 mg two hours before bed.

According to my Whoop data, it adds an average of 3% to my recovery score. For comparison, sharing a bed with my girlfriend increases my recovery by 9%.

Many people swear it works, but I found it does not work for me.

What am I missing?

[Botond Balla @bllbtnd]

I doubt over-engineering is an issue when we actively participate in the process. I still believe engineers must understand the code they build, whether it’s their own or an agent’s. Even in agentic coding, the human must define the architecture, the AI’s role is to translate the logic into reality.

However, I still believe the best and most reliable code is written by humans and then reviewed and improved by an agent.