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Tmkly

146 karma · joined October 22, 2021

meet.hn/city/51.542519299999995,-0.44833493117949663/London-Borough-of-Hillingdon Socials: - linkedin.com/in/linkedin.com/in/tomoakley - mastodon:mastodon.social/@tmkly Interests: Fintech, Fitness, Mobile Development, Running, Science, Startups, Technology, UI/UX Design ---
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Tmkly··on Ask HN: Ten YoE as a software engineer, what's next with LLMs coming in fast?
Thanks. I think I have a good understanding of the business, having worked at the same place for 7 years. I am a leader in the sense of bringing technical ideas to the table, either for DX or product features. Often I use LLMs to sound out my ideas and thoughts and mould them into something I can go and talk about to higher-ups or other engineers to get buy-in. Also using LLMs a fair amount for writing tests which is great as I hate that bit!

Yeah I absolutely understand I'm in a better spot than juniors! But I worry slightly about the mid/longer term implications so want to make sure I'm prepared now rather than out of a job in some years due to AI.

I don't think I'm taking a moral stand against LLMs, but as you said, LLMs let complexity spiral and often I'm commenting on a PR for something a colleague has done which is clearly AI and not quite right. I try to care a lot about the code my team write but for sure we use LLMs.

Yeah you're right. I've always been front-end oriented, from when I was 15 making websites. But my fascination is more on the problem-solving side and coming up with new technical ideas, so I think if there were genuine problems to solve I could do that. I definitely see your point though.

Thanks for your views, very helpful.

Tmkly··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (March 2026)
Location: London, UK Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Typescript, React Native, React, AWS, Node.js. Some Swift/Kotlin/Java (would like to do more, especially Swift). Have written some Lua. I like writing automation scripts in Bash. Heavy user of lots of Terminal-based tools, such as Neovim, Tmux, etc (see my dotfiles: https://github.com/tomoakley/dotfiles)

Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomoakley Email: tom[dot]oakley[@]me.com

I am a Lead Engineer at a small tech company in London called TotallyMoney, where I have been for the past 7 years, specialising in React Native (and some work on the web). During my time there the iOS/Android app has become the main focus for the company (however we maintain a web app too). I have been a large part of driving the app forward, both technically and in terms of the product. I have been a software engineer for 10 years and have a degree in Computer Science.

Some highlights of things I have worked on include new CI pipelines (automated testing, creating new app targets for manual testing and more), universal/app links, Swift and Java native/turbo/nitro modules, automated “real device” testing using AWS device farm and Maestro, spinning up our own CodePush server on AWS, and many features written in TypeScript. The app is not written with the Expo framework so I have had a lot of opportunities to understand React Native more - but open to working on an Expo app.

I want to remain focussing on React Native although I’d love the opportunity to write more Swift/Java, and also open to working on the web some of the time.

A hybrid approach to in-office/home works well for me (ideally 2 days in-office) but a full-remote job would be ok for the right role/company. Not open to relocation but some travel would be ok.

Thanks for reading!

Tmkly··on Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (May 2025)
Location: London, UK

Remote: Yes

Willing to relocate: No

Technologies: Typescript, React Native, React, AWS, Node.js. Some Swift/Kotlin/Java (would like to do more, especially Swift). Have written some Lua. I like writing automation scripts in Bash. Heavy user of lots of Terminal-based tools, such as Neovim, Tmux, etc (see my dotfiles: https://github.com/tomoakley/dotfiles)

Résumé/CV: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomoakley Email: tom[dot]oakley[@]me.com

I am a Lead Engineer at a small tech company in London called TotallyMoney, where I have been for the past 7 years, specialising in React Native (and some work on the web). During my time there the iOS/Android app has become the main focus for the company (however we maintain a web app too). I have been a large part of driving the app forward, both technically and in terms of the product. I have been a software engineer for 10 years and have a degree in Computer Science.

Some highlights of things I have worked on include new CI pipelines (automated testing, creating new app targets for manual testing and more), universal/app links, Swift and Java native modules, automated “real device” testing using AWS device farm and Maestro, spinning up our own CodePush server on AWS, and many features written in TypeScript. The app is not written with the Expo framework so I have had a lot of opportunities to understand React Native more - but open to working on an Expo app.

I want to remain focussing on React Native although I’d love the opportunity to write more Swift/Java, and also open to working on the web some of the time.

A hybrid approach to in-office/home works well for me (ideally 2 days in-office) but a full-remote job would be ok for the right role/company. Not open to relocation but some travel would be ok.

Thanks for reading!

Tmkly··on Ask HN: AI hackday at work – what shall I work on?
I’m not thinking of anything particularly ambitious. Just something fun I can work on by myself or with a couple of others and can demo to the rest of the company (I work for a pretty small company). They won’t be bothered about “owning” the work.
Tmkly··on Ask HN: AI hackday at work – what shall I work on?
It’ll be normal working hours, they won’t expect anything more
Tmkly··on Ask HN: AI hackday at work – what shall I work on?
It’ll be normal hours, they won’t expect us to work outside of that.
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
that's great, will take a look. thanks
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
I was looking at a vintage computer, so yeah that's a possible route. Been using emulators so far but it's not the real thing. Thanks.
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
these look good, thanks!
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
I've been meaning to visit Bletchley! thanks, these suggestions are helpful
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
yeah I'm not entirely sure what I want. Thanks for these suggestions, will take a look. nand2tetris looks cool!
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
this looks extremely interesting and may be just what I'm after. I have some basic electronics experience so I could build on that too. Thanks!
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
these resources look great, thanks. also yeah great suggestion for buying a cheap vintange microcomputer!
Tmkly··on Ask HN: Best way to learn about computing history?
thanks will take a look!