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Not everyone is using AI for everything

gabrielweinberg.com

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Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#221

Post by spacechild1 »

retired wrote: post #129
hypfer wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acknowledging that my perception might be skewed because there are still a ton of social safety nets in place. The same might not be true everywhere.

Last time I was in Germany I saw elderly people going through garbage bins in the park I sat at. I think you overestimate the safety net in Germany. In my European country the elderly sit at cafes drinking coffee, not going through bins. Update: Every street corner has a yellow garbage bin for recycling. That is where your plastic bottles go. Seems like a better system than having elderly going through bins.

Keep in mind that not every old person who searches garbage bins is actually poor. Some of them just have dementia. I personally know such people in my home town.

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#222

Post by wk_end »

vibe_that_works wrote: post #189
hypfer wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any long-winded answer to a question is immediate out and has been for years. Why? If the winding path is actually interesting and gives you insights into how the person works, why would that be a bad thing?

Often the hiring manager will have the person to be hired somewhere in his report chain. So if a person can't effectively communicate and can't properly respond to a "I only have 2 minutes, shoot", then I am getting a future liability into the company that will slow down all future communications. I much rather prefer someone who needs 3 seconds to triage a question and tell me: "This is X, I know this, here is the s…

I absolutely do want to work with people who want to think jointly about interesting questions for a couple of minutes. Give me your long-winded (thoughtful!) answers. Let me see how you think. Let me see how well I (and others) can think through things with you. That's what the point of an interview is, IMO. And I've been gainfully employed in tech for 15 years now with that attitude, often in environments with other like-minded folks, often involved in the hiring decisions that have led me to work with those other like-minded folks.

So in the same interest of helping post-grad job seekers, do what you've gotta do to get yourself paid, but maybe don't presume that vibe_that_works speaks for every hiring manager.

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#223

Post by ipaddr »

simonw wrote: post #152
furyofantares wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think honesty is still probably correct - if you're struggling to figure out how to hedge. I think you'd rather have good odds at some companies and 0% at others, rather than abysmal but non-zero odds at all companies. And as an added bonus, you might get hired at a company where you're actually a good fit, rather than one you weasled your way into, and get to pay rent, food bills, and other expenses through employ…

It's pretty easy as an interviewer to spot when a candidate is hedging on a question, and it's the kind of thing that might get discussed in the post-interview debrief. "Wouldn't give a straight answer on question X" isn't an instant no-hire, but it's not a positive signal.

This doesn't make sense in practice. He hedged so not sure need to look at other factors vs he picked a side and he selected the opposite of what we wanted no-hire or he answered what we wanted small positive signal need to look at other factors.

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#224

Post by ccppurcell »

reg_dunlop wrote: post #183
emodendroket wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume it's because he is seeking to pay rent, food bills, and other expenses through employment.

It's possible to work for an employer, and not have to compromise your values and or professional integrity. The attitude suggested by your response suggests you haven't lived that reality yet. Either way, I'd rather be rejected by an employer for speaking my truth, than lie to be somewhere I'd rather not be.

The job market being as it is, a lot of people simply don't have that luxury.

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#225

Post by awkwardpotato »

vibe_that_works wrote: post #189
hypfer wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Any long-winded answer to a question is immediate out and has been for years. Why? If the winding path is actually interesting and gives you insights into how the person works, why would that be a bad thing?

Often the hiring manager will have the person to be hired somewhere in his report chain. So if a person can't effectively communicate and can't properly respond to a "I only have 2 minutes, shoot", then I am getting a future liability into the company that will slow down all future communications. I much rather prefer someone who needs 3 seconds to triage a question and tell me: "This is X, I know this, here is the s…

> I do absolutely not want a "Well let's think jointly about this for a couple of minutes".

But why?

Most of my most fulfilling experiences in tech have come out sitting down and hashing out a problem with someone else (including with managers/leaders).

It sounds like a miserable org if I am not expected/allowed to have an actual back and forth conversation with my boss. If I'm employed to be on a team working on an aligned common goal, why would I not use that collective skill and experience to my fullest advantage?

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#226

Post by trallnag »

nutjob2 wrote: post #48
sriram_malhar wrote: post #3

Anyone who does a Google search gets a satisfactory looking answer as the very first entry. I daresay most people don't go beyond that, not even the entries on the first page, let alone go to the next. I argue that this is at the level of everyone for everything.

When was the last time you used Google? The first entry (and a few after that) is always spam. Anyone who does a search and accepts the first answer just doesn't care much or is incompetent. Anyone with any critical thinking whatsoever does way more than that if they want a correct answer.

Pretty sure he's talking about the summary / AI answer and not the first search result

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#227

Post by anukin »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #24

> AI has gotten so good that despite any misgivings, “everyone is using A.I.” In my experience, it's a mixed bag. I wrote this comment[0], yesterday. It reflects my current work, and how I am integrating an LLM. I have used it for two parts of my project: 1) The backend (PHP), and 2) The frontend (Swift) It has been a huge help, in both, but #2 is a cautionary tale. It really needs adult supervision, in developing na…

My experience was different. I found it extremely good at fronting technology like react while I had to hand hold it for the backend tasks. Even with fable it was the same.

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#228

Post by ACCount37 »

hypfer wrote: post #163
ACCount37 wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would being truthful improve my chances of being hired?

If whoever is hiring is actually good at their job: yes. That is of course assuming that they're looking for some long-term stable team member. A skilled interviewer smells dishonesty. However, and to be fair, whether and how they act on it depends on the specific situation.

What is this "skilled interviewer" thing and where have you seen it?

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#229

Post by cflewis »

bethekidyouwant wrote: post #144
jacobgold wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At some level everything an agent does is through a "programmatic interface" (tool calls). Some people might use skill-based scripts, MCPs, or some kind of raw access to a database. My point is that well designed CLIs are the optimal programmatic interface, for many reasons.

Sorry what other option is there? Is it going to create an API call from scratch every time after reading a page of documentation? Wait raw access to the database? That’s one of the options for issuing a refund?

Yes, it can do.

At Big Tech Company I Work At the LLM is quite happy to make raw API calls. If it thinks the data is big, then it'll write a Python tool to do it.

The reason crafted backing CLIs are useful is you can guide the LLM towards stuff that is immediately useful rather than hoping the nondetermism can separate the wheat from the chaff.

Take CI: is it interesting to know which tests passed? Maybe, but probably not. What is really interesting is what failed. Instead of having the LLM go out and talk directly to the CI system, write an intermediate CLI that filters out less actionable stuff by default, and have a flag that'll deliver the full dump if necessary.

It's a skill to do this stuff, and it's a lot of hard won experience than something I think is easily teachable. You kind of have to feel out your model and how it "thinks" about solving problems.

And then a new model version comes out and you have to learn it all again!

Re: Not everyone is using AI for everything

#230

Post by ipaddr »

thatjoeoverthr wrote: post #168
hypfer wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Acknowledging that my perception might be skewed because there are still a ton of social safety nets in place. The same might not be true everywhere.

Last time I was in Germany I saw what appeared to be homeless children

Did they look Ukrainian or Syrian? Germany let in millions of people over the last few years and never built enough housing.
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