Madalin Popa

DevOps Engineer by day and Software Developer by night. I love Python’s expressiveness and GoLang’s simplicity.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

I don't know if this is a sign of old age or just wear and tear, but lately I prefer light mode in my terminal. Should I be worried?

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

Do you remember when Twitter, now X, was a platform full of cool people?
I remember following a handful of accounts from people who had made it in this field. From time to time, they posted updates about their work and experience. I looked forward to every tweet, and I wanted to build things and work with those people one day too.

Now, it's hard for me to imagine what this place is like for someone at the start of their journey who wants to become a software engineer. Everything is about "how good is agent X". I think if you're just starting out in this field, it's best not to be here. I encourage everyone to keep learning. In the end, the best investment is in yourself.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

I was thinking of making a lesson plan with ChatGPT to generate vocabulary, exercises, writing practice, and audio conversations, plus listening to podcasts. I also noticed plenty of plugins for this, but I think I'll go with a teacher once I get back home.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

After my trip to Spain, I plan to improve my Spanish, and I can't decide between using ChatGPT and taking lessons with a real teacher. How do you guys learn a new language these days?

I tried Duolingo and similar apps, but they didn't work for me.

I'm a self-learner, so learning with AI looks like a good fit for me. But at the same time, these days I really value human interaction more, and learning with a real person is also a way to support them.

[designwithkingsley @desgnwitkinsley]

A very short story

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@RaulOnRails Congratulations, man! Happy to see fellow Romanians succeeding in this domain. And as someone mentioned, I'm happy too that you chose the local market.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

I Still Write My Own Code.

For me, the joy is in the process of building software, which includes solving problems and writing code. I don't want to skip all of this with a prompt. I have my editor, my theme, my keyboard shortcuts, and my music (no need for Claude FM). I keep pen and paper next to me, where I sketch ideas, modules, and components.

Sometimes I get caught up in the AI hype and try different prompts, skills, and workflows. But then I remember that I do this work because I enjoy it and I'm passionate about learning and solving problems. I don't compete with anyone. I don't want to be 100x more productive or produce software just because it's easy. So I still write my own code, and I'm the architect of my software. I don't want to be only the architect.

I see all these posts from DHH about how easy it is to produce code with AI, how there's no need to read the code, and how prompts are the future.

This post is for those of us who code for a living. Not everyone writes code to launch an app and make money from it. Some of us work as employees or contractors, and our income depends on the code we write.

Some of you might be tempted to agree with those posts and start to feel that you will be left behind if you don't jump on the AI wave.

When this happens, I want you to ask yourself these questions:

1. Is this applicable to me and my domain?

Writing a plugin that only you and five other people will use is one thing. Writing code that is critical to an infrastructure or an entire business is another. In my daily job, I can't afford not to understand or read the code I produce. And I bet many of you are in the same situation. Not to mention that some of us are responsible for the code we write.

I don't want to give the impression that my code is more important than others', but when your income and job depend on the quality of your code, you need to be accountable. You can't say "Claude misinterpreted my prompt." You can't do what AI companies do now: send a "sorry" notice later, on behalf of their agents that escaped from their lab environment.

2. Could I debug this at 3 AM without AI?

If something breaks in production, I need to understand the code well enough to fix it myself. Production environments can be complex, and you don't always have an agent that can connect and troubleshoot for you. This is even more true now, when we wear many hats and are responsible for more than just writing code.

3. Am I learning something, or just getting output?

Getting output is easy. Learning is what makes me better at my job, and it's the part I enjoy. Most of us work in teams, and we need to explain our solutions, with their pros and cons, to the wider team. We can't just send them a Claude session and tell them to read it.

To be clear, I'm not saying you shouldn't use agents to write code. But no matter how you produce the code, you should own it and be accountable for it. You should be able to change it yourself, without internet access or an AI agent.

Right now I use AI for learning, exploring ideas, code review, automation, and writing docs. I also have a small set of my own agent skills for specific tasks and to repeat solutions I already know.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@iuliatech Hei! 👋

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

Hey guys, amazing meeting you all. Let's keep in touch on makermap 👇

the map says we should meet @OzyBuilds, @tsvtxt and @Petru_Amortoae 👋

https://t.co/MnZICjymOa
https://t.co/iMEETL0qEw

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

I'm 37.

DevOps engineer based in Bucharest🇷🇴

I write Go every day and love keeping things simple and easy to maintain.

Looking to connect with more builders, DevOps folks and Go devs!

[Lars Jansen @oldstackjournal]

Safari 27 now has an MCP server for web development.

So Codex/Claude/etc can inspect the actual DOM, network requests, console output and screenshots from Safari instead of you trying to describe what broke💪

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@duartemsilveira Hi Duarte! Let’s connect!

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@bidyut_io Hi

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@raf_piek Hey! Let’s connect.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@TheHashton @CodePrepped @X Hi Harry, let's connect! Go developer here. Always happy to chat with founders and other devs and swap experiences.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@jaumesegura7 Currently walking the Camino de Santiago, trying to take a break from tech and all the AI FOMO 😄 How's your SaaS going?

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@DonatasJab Let’s connect!

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

@neerajjj6785 Go, all day all night.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

Day five on the Camino, and I haven't opened my laptop or read a single line of code. I'm looking at the ocean, trying to find clarity and go home with a million-dollar idea for a vibe coded app.

[Madalin Popa @coderustle]

Day three of my Camino to Santiago de Compostela. With all this AI hype and everything that's happening in software engineering, a walk alone with your thoughts, disconnected from work and everyday life, is a blessing. I feel grateful and optimistic.

#SoftwareEngineering #CaminoDeSantiago