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Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

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Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#11

Post by godelski »

Otek wrote: post #5

> What I wanted was to say “hey Siri, call Claw Phone” and have the audio system in my Toyota become an IDE. So I build it. Or just focus on driving? Why we are doing it to ourselves? It seems so toxic to fill every possible little moment with… productivity? Is it even productive? This comment is too emotional but i just felt so sad while reading this

I wonder if these people just need to talk.

I wonder if these people are just avoiding thinking about the tough things in their lives.

I wonder if these people are just scared of being human, so reaching for any distraction they can get.

I've tried to stop taking my phone with me when I go to the bathroom. When I shower. When I go to bed. Because I think we all have these same addictions. There's things that suck in life. But maybe if we put our phones down we can work together to solve these things.

- Written on godelski's iPhone while pooping

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#12

Post by bluefirebrand »

I tend to call this sort of "I glued a bunch of external services together to make a useful tool" Software Plumbing, not Engineering.

Anyways I think what you've demonstrated that it's actually a really bad time to be a "Duct Tape Engineer" because anyone with a bit of knowhow can coax the AI to build them some pile of loose data pipes and leaky abstractions that appears useful. The market for this sort of software builder is about to get very crowded

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#14

Post by hylaride »

Schiendelman wrote: post #6

This is just an advertisement, it's not about being a "duct tape engineer", and the various coding agents are already great duct tape engineers, so I can't imagine someone writing a compelling blog post about it anyway.

Agreed. I was expecting something more along the lines of "now is the best time to be somebody capable of glueing together and fixing all the messes that AI agents have created, on top of being aware enough of security issues.

This was the exact opposite.

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#15

Post by catgary »

Otek wrote: post #5

> What I wanted was to say “hey Siri, call Claw Phone” and have the audio system in my Toyota become an IDE. So I build it. Or just focus on driving? Why we are doing it to ourselves? It seems so toxic to fill every possible little moment with… productivity? Is it even productive? This comment is too emotional but i just felt so sad while reading this

I think you should just focus on the road because most of us are just trying to get home safely to our families. Some of us are even biking beside the road on a lightly-protected bike lane.

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#17

Post by gobdovan »

Otek wrote: post #5

> What I wanted was to say “hey Siri, call Claw Phone” and have the audio system in my Toyota become an IDE. So I build it. Or just focus on driving? Why we are doing it to ourselves? It seems so toxic to fill every possible little moment with… productivity? Is it even productive? This comment is too emotional but i just felt so sad while reading this

I started reading the first part of your comment before opening the article and thought you were mocking AI bros. I then read the rest of your comment and was sure you're misrepresenting TFA. I clicked on the article and started at it in disbelief.

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#18

Post by MeetingsBrowser »

I see this sentiment constantly. AI tooling is better than ever and its making building things easier than ever. I have respected coworkers who say that are maxing out multiple $200/month subscriptions.

But I have yet to see any results? Where is the useful stuff?

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#19

Post by tired_and_awake »

I feel as if a lot of this what Google home (or other "home like" products) could have been and they have failed miserably. As a Google home user I find it can't answer the simplest questions that would require even the hint of an integration within Google's own ecosystem.

Re: Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

#20

Post by [deleted] »

Otek wrote: post #5

> What I wanted was to say “hey Siri, call Claw Phone” and have the audio system in my Toyota become an IDE. So I build it. Or just focus on driving? Why we are doing it to ourselves? It seems so toxic to fill every possible little moment with… productivity? Is it even productive? This comment is too emotional but i just felt so sad while reading this

[deleted]
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