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cmbothwell | 20 days ago | on: Child's Play: Tech's new generation and the end of thinking

The irony of the agentic/mimetic interview question is not lost on me. I wonder if it is on the hypothetical interviewees?

Answering “agentic” is the most “mimetic” answer you could give.

The most “agentic” response is probably “Fuck you”.

cmbothwell | 1 year ago | on: You might not need Redis

This hits at the true nature of the problem which has _nothing_ to do with Redis at all (which is a fine piece of technology written by a thoughtful and conscientious creator) and has everything to do with the fact that our industry at large encourages very little thinking about the problems we are trying to solve.

Hence, fads dominate. I hate to sound so cynical but that has been my experience in every instance of commercial software development.

cmbothwell | 1 year ago | on: Why Clojure?

What was it about Elixir that you found dissatisfactory? I am currently evaluating Clojure vs. Elixir for a new project.

cmbothwell | 1 year ago | on: A layoff fundamentally changed how I perceive work

Feel free to contradict me with personal experience, but I actually posit that (like many interesting phenomena in life), the truth is exactly the opposite. The number of people in a team expands to fill the budget allocated. That budget flows from a legible & convincing narrative told to the check-writers (internal or external) that may or may not overlap with reality.

cmbothwell | 1 year ago | on: Three Laws of Software Complexity

> If you can't isolate and articulate the problem without referencing your tech stack and tooling, or your explanation gets all muddy and convoluted, you haven't actually identified the essential complexity of a problem

100%. I don't have much to add but I've really enjoyed our discussion.

Have you seen this talk by Mike Acton? If you haven't, it might really resonate with you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX0ItVEVjHc

cmbothwell | 1 year ago | on: Three Laws of Software Complexity

This rings so true. I noticed a consistent level-up in my abilities once I started to seek the essence of the problem. I ask myself: “I start with this information. The desired output is X. What is the essence of the data transformation that takes me from the input to X?”

When I boil down the task to its nature as a data transformation, the solution flows from my understanding of the problem, and I’ve found that my choice of tools flows transitively from there pretty easily. The problem is “isolated” from the software as you said which makes it so much easier to reason about things.

I sadly have not gotten much traction when I try and advocate for this mindset in our industry.

As an aside: It reminds me of a funny point from secondary education. Did you take AP tests in high school? If you did, you might remember as I do a consistent refrain that teachers used to beat into students preparing for the tests: “Answer the question” Over and over we heard this ad nauseam until it became second nature, whether for AP English or AP Physics - and it was good advice! Because the number one mistake students make on those exams is not actually answering the question asked, which even when couched in the most wonderful prose, results in a failing mark.

I think software engineering is often pretty similar. Even the best, most sophisticated tools will not produce a working solution if you don’t understand the problem.

cmbothwell | 2 years ago | on: Goodbye Auth0

I would also posit that this inclination towards individuals over institutions in the US extends to Central and South America.

cmbothwell | 2 years ago | on: Goodbye Auth0

This is a very incisive and insightful take and really distills some large cultural differences between Americans and Europeans down to its essence.

Can I ask if you are American or European? How did you come about this insight?

cmbothwell | 2 years ago | on: Ask HN: Would doing a coding bootcamp be a horrible idea?

I tend to agree.

OP, if your motivations are largely economical, you're probably best off leveraging your existing skillset and experience. Sales is a very valuable skill, and engineering/tech, while valuable in isolation, truly shines when applied to a domain. Building your own product while learning how to code could propel you forward in your current field.

On the other hand, if this is something with a more intrinsic motivation behind it (which it sounds like it could be the case given your post) then it might be worth considering doing the "slow" path. Have you looked into community college courses that you might take nearby? This might allow you to work your learning into the other obligations in your life. I chose a similar path (my original background was in consulting/sales) after I realized I loved the subject of computer science. I really benefited and appreciated a more formal academic setting. Funnily enough, I discovered this love after building my own product. (Which was terribly constructed, but a great experience!)

In the end to truly achieve a high level of proficiency takes time. I'm coming up on six years and only recently feeling exceedingly competent.

Remember that no bootcamp or university "owns" the knowledge and satisfaction of programming, it's out there accessible for anyone willing to put in the time. =) You'll have to have a deep look at your motivations and decide what is best for you. For me, learning programming and computer science was one of the best things I ever did.

This article is a classic and might be a nice read for you: https://norvig.com/21-days.html

Edit: Another great resource to self-study: https://web.mit.edu/6.001/6.037/sicp.pdf

cmbothwell | 2 years ago | on: Bun v1.0.0

The proposition of replacing the layered morass of node-based tooling (node, ts-node nodemon, tsc, jest, ts-jest, webpack, BABEL, 2 incompatible module specs, UMD insanity, 3 package managers!) and the Cambrian explosion of config files that it leads to is super compelling.

The tooling situation around JavaScript is certainly my biggest pain point around it and turns a really very capable and pleasant language (ES6 + TS) into a complete chore. Here’s hoping that Bun can deliver.

It has to be a similar feeling as going from CMake to Cargo.

cmbothwell | 3 years ago | on: Launch HN: Outerbase (YC W23) – A new UI and editor for your database

From a quick glance this could be the missing piece for going all in on SQLite for small apps. Most plug-in admins only work with remotely accesible databases like Postgres.

How would that work, does Outerbase run locally on my server instance?

If it had some functionality for backups and a nice Auth story it could really be a good side project secret weapon.

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