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Now is the best time to be a duct tape engineer

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51–60 of 94 posts

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

#51

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?

The results are in existing products being built out faster, in more internal tooling that would have previously not been cost-effective. Almost every software engineering shop is just doing the same thing as before but faster, as AI doesn't really give you an edge in the product side of things.

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

#54
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

Always relevant https://youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U&pp=iggUQAFKEDlhR21Pa...

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

#55
post #25

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?

I don't know what those people are doing, but I built a personal day-to-day notes manager at work, for work, for under $20 in credits. Yes, I could have just used text files but this is less friction which means I'll actually stick to it. Nothing exactly like this already existed. It was built in under a week in small portions of spare time, and it probably would have been more like a month if I had to choose all the…

You have build "a stuff". But no one knows what the "stuff" is, and your comment is not exactly describing it.

That's why it's so hard to converse with the AI proponents. They don't want to talk about what they've built and why it's awesome (at least for them). They just want you to take it at face value.

If you're sharing something, just give enough details so that others can contrast to their own experience and learn something from it.

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

#56
post #44

I get that many people are tired of too many AI posts and there's an influx of negative comments but I think this is genuinely amazing. Think about watching Star Trek in the 60s and seeing people talk to computers and them understanding and being able to communicate back. We're literally living in the future!

"Understanding"

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

#57
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 find driving to be one of the most useless ways of spending my time, and if it's for more than half an hour, I do try to figure out some way to increase the value of that time. I have a weekly commitment that leaves me driving home (~40min) at 9pm, and I usually eat dinner (just a sandwich) while I drive. That also has the advantage of making it so that I'm not eating an hour before bed. If I know that I need to ca…

> take meetings while driving as well, though I stopped because it was perceived poorly by others.

The lack of self awareness here is astounding. You’re in control of a two ton bullet, please concentrate on the road. Killing somebody because you’re not paying full attention is not a good look.

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

#59
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

Aw jeez. Just take it in the spirit it was intended and stop trying to score "more spiritual than thou" points. We are all deep one day and shallow the next. We are all workaholics and also smelling the roses. You know nothing about the author - you're hijacking a thread to grandstand.

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

#60
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…

> I wonder if these people just need to talk.

No. I need to create. That energizes me, and I have far too little time for it.

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