Note: I wrote this article myself. Since English is not my first language, I ran it through ChatGPT to scan for grammar corrections and paraphrasing. I reviewed the output and made my own adjustments before publishing.

The Meme, The Myth and The Neovim BTW guy

If you've been a developer long enough, you've probably heard the meme: "I use Neovim BTW." It’s become a badge of honor—signifying you’ve ascended to neckbeard status and can build any program or application you want.

Or... at least that’s what it looks like.

I mean, you're reading this blog post—and I assure you, it's not quite like that. Even though, yes, I do use Neovim BTW.

So... What Does It Actually Take to Say "I Use Neovim BTW"?

First things first: the terminal is your friend.

You probably got interested when you saw some guy with a mustache flying through code using a blazing-fast language. No mouse. Pure keyboard. One monitor. His editor? It’s not Electron-based like the one you’re using right now—it’s in the terminal! Meanwhile, you're only popping open the terminal to run npm run dev.

Anyway, if you want to feel as fast as our mustached hero, the first step is ditching your Electron-based editor. Wait—actually, don’t uninstall it yet. First, install Neovim. You'll want to use a package manager. Back when I was on Windows, I used scoop. These days, I’m on Arch BTW, so I installed it using pacman.

Once installed, type nvim in your terminal, hit Enter, and congratulations—you’ve made it. Take a screenshot, send it to your friends (if you have any), and proudly say, "I use Neovim BTW." Then close it.

Wait... how do you close it?

Don’t worry—Google’s got your back. It’s one of the most searched phrases on the internet.

Joking Aside… The Initial Experience Was Hell!

I knew a bit of Vim from writing git commit messages, but come on—using hjkl as your main navigation keys? It was hell, to say the least.

Starting Out

I came from a popular Electron-based editor with Vim extensions. That’s what everyone recommends to learn Vim motions. But for some reason, mine lagged—and when it did, it went ham.

Like, I’d be typing console.log, but if the editor lagged after I typed n, I’d continue typing anyway. Then once it caught up, I’d see connnnnnnnn on the screen. That was the final straw. I downloaded Neovim.

The hjkl → ldur Experience

As I said, I knew a little Vim from git, but that wasn’t enough—not if I wanted to be as fast as our mustached friend.

But once I got the hang of it? It was fun! No need to reach for the arrow keys—that alone was a huge win. I was slow… but it felt fast.

At that point, I knew: I'm in the rabbit hole. There’s no going back. I was going to learn the essentials and make Neovim my main editor. And that’s exactly what I did.

After three days of using the LazyVim distro, I was able to code my personal projects. Then I took it to work. I love hjkl so much that I now accidentally use it even outside Neovim.

It felt slick. I looked like an actual programmer who could finish 100 tickets without breaking a sweat.

(BTW, as I write this, I just finished one ticket… and it took a week. I use Neovim BTW.)

Distro vs Kickstart vs Self-Made?

I started with a self-made setup. I used a package manager and followed that mustached guy’s "0 to LSP" video. It was helpful—even though some things didn’t match up due to version bumps. But I made it work.

Since I mainly code in TypeScript, learning a bit of Lua was manageable. But I still had some broken plugins, so I switched to the LazyVim distro.

And man—it’s plug-and-play.

I haven’t tried all distros, but LazyVim had everything I needed… and didn’t need. That was a problem. One reason I moved to Neovim was to avoid bloat. I don’t want features I’ll never use.

Still, I used LazyVim for a few weeks, got some solid practice, and even impressed my coworkers. I looked fast. Reality? I was 20% slower. But I was still learning keybinds and motions I wasn’t used to.

As for Kickstart… oddly enough, I never came across it during my “training arc,” so I can’t say much.

It's Just Notepad With a Plugin System

Yes. That’s exactly what it is.

And that’s what makes it great.

When you open an Electron-based editor, your RAM usage spikes instantly—especially noticeable on weaker machines. But Neovim? No Electron, no instant RAM spike. It ramps up slowly, and only what you add gets loaded.

“But aren’t there easier alternatives?”

Sure. But then you don’t get to flex it... so why?

The Plugin Hunt Decree

Eventually, I got back to my normal speed—or maybe even faster. No more searching for keybinds. It was all muscle memory (for the essentials, at least).

But I missed some features from my old editor… so began the plugin hunt.

"I want this, I want that!" I started adding plugins like crazy. Some were great. Others? I never touched them. My Neovim setup became bloated—just like the Electron-based editor I left behind.

The Last Suffer

Weeks later, I noticed lag creeping back in.

Too many plugins. Buffers loaded with junk I didn’t use. So I took a step back. Actually—I nuked it all and started completely fresh.

This time, I followed Josean Martinez’s video instead of the dated (but still useful) Primagen guide. I used lazy.nvim (not to be confused with LazyVim), the modern package manager at the time of writing. I liked that I could split plugin configs into separate files—very DRY.

I still referenced Prime’s video for keybinds I had already grown used to—like <leader>ff and the rest of the goodness.

Conclusion: I Use Neovim BTW

So… what does it really take to be able to say "I use Neovim BTW"?

It’s not about being faster than everyone else. It’s not about ditching your comfy editor just to look cool on Twitter (or X, whatever). It’s about taking control. Neovim isn’t just an editor—it’s a toolbox that lets you decide exactly what tools go into it. No fluff, no bloat (unless you add it), and everything is yours to customize, break, and rebuild again.

You’ll suffer. You’ll Google “how to quit nvim”. You’ll go down rabbit holes, hit walls, rage at broken plugins, and question your life decisions. But at some point, things click. Motions become muscle memory. Buffers make sense. And suddenly, you're not just using Neovim—you’re wielding it.

So if you’ve made it this far, welcome to the club. You’ve earned it.

I use Neovim BTW and if you're interested, here are my dotfiles.