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Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

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Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#531

Post by blitzar »

scottlamb wrote: post #213

> We’ll be concentrating around AI-native talent Is this code for "we're firing all the old people"? As I understand it, I can say I'll only hire proficient English speakers (a "bona fide occupational requirement"), but I can't say I'll only hire native speakers, as that would discriminate against various protected groups. This seems like the same thing—proficiency may be a bona fide requirement, but expecting they l…

Ai-native ... as in have never done anything without the assistance of an LLM.

This sounds suboptimal to me - probably the kind of employee I would avoid for as long as possible.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#532

Post by Ekaros »

archagon wrote: post #201
sokoloff wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a different layoff email that would leave you satisfied and happy?

"As the CEO responsible for the asinine decisions that got us here, I am stepping down immediately, without severance."

Not to forget. "I am also returning all of my pay to company."

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#534

Post by strogonoff »

pron wrote: post #435
adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #374

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am an engineer. I hire other engineers. I run a company that ships usable software for small businesses. We do this every day. I'm sorry to say, we are indeed shipping in days what used to take weeks.

The only way you could possibly know that is if you're reviewing the code, which means you're not "managing fleets of agents". If you're not reviewing the code (and you wouldn't be if you're managing fleets of agents), then you have no way to tell what you're shipping.

It’s under-appreciated that a proper review takes at least as long as the actual work: it’s all the same time spent understanding the challenge and coming up with the best solution, minus the time spent typing in your solution (almost never a significant amount), plus the time spent understanding their solution and explaining how to get from theirs to yours.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#535

Post by dasyatidprime »

scottlamb wrote: post #384
reverend_gonzo wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would disagree. I am among the oldest on our team and also the most in tune with AI. I see AI-native as those who have embraced it, and are learning to leverage it appropriately.

> I am among the oldest on our team and also the most in tune with AI. Congratulations. But you completely missed my point. I didn't say old people can't be in tune with AI. > I see AI-native as those who have embraced it That's not what the word "native" means. In the human language situation I referred to, it's about the language you learned first. It's not a synonym of proficient or fluent . If you learned to code…

I think this is just semantic drift (though I am broadly sympathetic to “boo semantic drift”). I see this business use of the term as treating the “mind attuned to being immersed in” and “habitually, automatically reaches for” sub-meanings as the relevant ones, which is (almost as you say, but skew) not quite the same thing as “proficient when the ability is actively engaged”. The more you're trying to navigate a dynamic environment rather than hiring for tasks well-defined in advance, the more that distinction matters in practice.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#536

Post by muzani »

shigawire wrote: post #510
keithnz wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same, I've been coding for 40+ years, and other people I know of similar length of time also seem real quick to adopt AI. I'm constantly having to show the young devs how to get the most out of their AI agents and also adapting my workflows regularly as things changes. Weirdly its some of the youngest who are most resistant, I think because they are learning coding skills, and just have got the hang of coding such th…

As a "young" coder I am hesitant because I don't have decades of skills to fall back on. It is even more abstraction, even harder to follow the code I'm "writing" with AI. Also I have a fear that if/when the AI tide recedes, I'll be the one caught with my pants down since I have been forced to vibe code the majority of my career. As opposed to greybeards who can fall back on their decades of knowledge.

I'm about the age where I need a walking stick and a cyborg arm to keep up with all these leetcode artists. AI couldn't come at a better time.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#537

Post by robocat »

abuani wrote: post #178
ericmcer wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Marketing team can vibe out PRs that engineers have to review and then shepherd out to production? Sounds tight I love the direction industry is heading lol.

I'm looking forward to marketing folks doing oncall and support work for the features they're shipping.

They'll use coloured pencils to design a Cortana avatar.

Your support will be provided by an AI bot almost as smart as Clippy because it was trained on the marketer's corpus of emails.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#538

Post by friendzis »

strken wrote: post #319
lkbm wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're getting laid off, the only thing that really matters is the severance package. I don't think this is true. Humans typically prefer "thanks for the hard work, here's your severance" to "you suck, here's your severance, loser." Humans like being treated with respect, and words are a big part of that. Money is nice, but it's not the only thing we care about.

The difference between the "thanks" email and the "loser" email is that the second one is intentionally disrespectful. I'm not convinced a polite but AI-written email hits the same note. At the very least it's unintentionally disrespectful, which isn't a direct challenge. Your boss doesn't care enough to write an email by hand, but also doesn't care enough to burn bridges and insult you.

> At the very least it's unintentionally disrespectful

There is ZERO CHANCE they have used ai unintentionally

> also doesn't care enough to burn bridges and insult you.

By actively using ai they are stating that you are so much beyond them that even a personal "eff you" is not worth the time. One would have to actively try and poke some personally hurtful areas to come off more insulting than use of ai.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#539

Post by friendzis »

kuboble wrote: post #525
glaslong wrote: post #507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So it isn't disrespectful, and neither is it respectful. A perfect nothing, not a thought or care involved. Like a 1-click eCard mailer.

Genuine question. Let's say you are bad with words. If you ask AI to generate hundred different paragraphs and choose the one which best conveys what you actually feel and want to communicate. Is it is still a perfect nothing?

> Is it is still a perfect nothing?

You do get how that's worse, right? The person rather spends their time arguing with the clanker than thinking about the person and putting those thought into words, however unstructured they are.

Re: Today I've made the difficult decision to reduce the size of Coinbase by ~14%

#540

Post by newphone733 »

oytis wrote: post #521
skeptic_ai wrote: post #486

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never touched kubernetes and in 1 week I have a few nodes running and i understand a lot of it. Not perfect but not bad.

I have recently learned Kubernetes without AI and one week is more than enough to understand most of it.

This is definitely not true. But I doubt GP understand "most" of kubernetes too. They probably have a good working knowledge of the important commonly used features.
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