Ivan Jovanovic
banner
syntaxbullet.com
Ivan Jovanovic
@syntaxbullet.com
26, Self-taught software engineer. 💻
Coding since the age of 9. 🐣
With added abstraction comes a new risk, the risk of oversimplification. As we aim to make building apps more and more accessible to others, even those with well developed skillsets will eventually replace their complex understanding with oversimplified ideas, unlearning is a real thing, be careful!
April 24, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Today writing code has become less about having a deep understanding of the processes going on, and more about deploying as quickly as possible. While the barrier to entry is now much lower than it used to be and that is a good thing, I am seriously worried about our exchange of knowledge for speed.
April 24, 2025 at 5:20 PM
When I was younger writing code was a skill not everyone had and people that could do it were seen as smart individuals, others were intimidated to start learning how to code and everything was about learning and truly understanding what is going on inside the computer when you run what you write...
April 24, 2025 at 5:17 PM
After talking to multiple software engineer friends that embraced vibe coding I have decided to avoid engaging in it further. Exchanging knowledge for speed isn’t always worth it.
April 19, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Okay, so.. about vibe coding.. it's actually kind of fun, the only issue is that costs ramp up quickly and without manually reviewing changes all you get is unmaintainable code while your wallet gets slim.

AI can save time, but please don't forget to use your own brain or it will get worse. 🧠💪
April 10, 2025 at 6:43 PM
I believe we are going to see a future with a bunch of small fine-tuned, task specific large language models taking existing foundation models as a starting point. I am excited about it!

Open foundation models allow us to built reliable solutions without risking reliance on foreign actors.
February 21, 2025 at 5:08 AM
I tried finetuning my first small language model using unsloth last weekend. I got addicted to renting gpus and training LLMs and I blame you guys! @vastai.bsky.social, @unsloth.bsky.social
February 13, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Is it just me or do you also have a feeling that soon enough the job market will flip 🔄 and blue collar jobs 👨‍🔧👩‍🔧 are going to be more respected in society again as most college degrees are starting to lose their value? 🎓📉
November 25, 2024 at 8:06 PM
I have been writing code for over 16 years now. When it’s for university or others (work) I always get stuff done but when it comes to my own side-projects none of them ship and I move from idea to idea. 🚢❌

Do you have some advice? 🙏😅
November 24, 2024 at 11:11 AM
Science suggests running away from an anti-vision (fear) can increase your efforts by 4-5x compared to working towards a vision (desire).

Yet, the duration of the effort is lowered as negative reinforcement results in stress.

Absolute motivation increases ⬆️
Absolute duration ⬇️

1 / 2
November 18, 2024 at 8:51 PM
Do you often struggle with not being able to fall asleep? Too many things on your mind? 😴

Stop what you're doing right now and try:

- passive activities help your brain process in the background, leading to better sleep. eg. 🚿 or 💧🪴.

- Green noise can stop thought-🔁 you are having now. Try it!
November 18, 2024 at 9:15 AM
Every time I use language models like ChatGPT I end up wondering what other people are using it for. 😂

Is it because I feel like I’m not taking full advantage of it’s existence or is it the fact many people use it for things it’s not suitable for 🤔

How do you use ChatGPT and other LLMs? 🤨
November 17, 2024 at 6:04 AM
Speculative Decoding on Transformer models makes inference **extremely** fast. Here is a demo from Groq:
www.linkedin.com/posts/ross-j...

wonder if speculative decoding leads to significant loss of quality.
Jonathan Ross on LinkedIn: New llama 3.1 70B fast instance on Groq, using speculative decode. Preview… | 30 comments
New llama 3.1 70B fast instance on Groq, using speculative decode. Preview access. | 30 comments on LinkedIn
www.linkedin.com
November 15, 2024 at 8:43 PM
Most of the time, the thing holding us back is not that we don't know what we should be doing at any given time, or how we should do it. It's our brain trying to come up with an excuse or alternative to convince us, in order to save energy.

Trick your brain! Don't let it stop you from doing things.
November 13, 2024 at 2:16 PM
Why is it that most of the self-improvement / self-help space is littered with manosphere / red-pill agenda? Why can't there be a place for people to share unbiased, science-backed life advice?

Are you looking for something like this too?
a blue background with a pink butterfly and the words personal growth is uncomfortable sometimes
Alt: a blue background with a pink butterfly and the words personal growth is uncomfortable sometimes
media.tenor.com
November 13, 2024 at 10:46 AM
I wonder how many people that have spent 1000s of hours self-studying a topic never get the chance to be taken seriously by people around them, just because they do not have a degree in that particular field. ❌🎓

What can we do to give autodidacts more respect? Isn't it a green flag?? 💚
November 11, 2024 at 1:31 PM
I am starting to observe people getting started with web development by immediately learning React and Tailwind or similar libraries.

I am not sure if that's a mistake, or if years of me making sure my CSS skills are on point and I know vanilla JavaScript was stopping me from shipping things.
November 9, 2024 at 3:57 PM
Self-taught developers make up more and more of the overall population, how do we make sure those people have the same career chances compared to people with academic education?

I think it starts by giving people a chance. This is why using AI to filter job applications is counterproductive.
November 8, 2024 at 7:08 PM
I believe that if you're self taught you'll eventually hit a point where you'd like to learn about the mistakes you're making, ideally from someone more experienced.

I wonder how many self-taught devs stop improving because there is no one ready to review their code...
November 7, 2024 at 2:12 PM
I believe the best introduction to writing code for absolute beginners is starting with HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

HTML can be learned extremely quickly and gives people a feeling of accomplishment as they see the results right in the browser.
November 6, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Group assignments in schools and universities are often used as a way to build and test the ability of people to work in a team.

In reality some students are being unnecessarily held back and others are overwhelmed or simply don't care enough.
November 6, 2024 at 5:58 AM
Are keyboards really the fastest way to enter information into a computer nowadays?

I've been wondering that for quite some time now.

What if AI created a personalized keyboard layout?

What other options do we have now that AI has entered the mainstream?
November 5, 2024 at 3:29 PM
Large language models like ChatGPT have existed for quite some time now.

Yet I feel like most people I am interacting with have the wrong idea about what those tools actually are.

I see people complaining on a daily basis how ChatGPT is bad at Math or how it's not able to "think deeply"
November 5, 2024 at 6:15 AM