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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

#71

Post by apsurd »

cj wrote: post #23
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 was a workaholic from 18-26. 12+ hour days for months/years on end. It absolutely was not healthy. Toxic is not an inaccurate label. But I don't regret it. Those years are the foundation of the career I have in my 30's. Back in those days, when I wasn't at a computer, I was listening to non-fiction audiobooks on business and software. I don't know how I had such motivation bvack then, but I'm glad I capitalized on…

There is a subtle "misery loves company" at play even in one's own trusted circles. Criticizing someone for working too much tip-toes into that realm. It can be well intentioned: everything in moderation, life is about more than work.

But also it can be alienating and dismissive. I have the habit of working every single day. Weekends, holidays, on vacation. Over the years more than one roommate and family member would eventually call me on it. I felt judged. I took it harder than they intended.

I think to them it was a sacrifice. My work ethic was a cost. I could have been out with friends, on the beach takin in the sun. But instead I felt it necessary to toil away toward some Capitalistic superficial goal.

But it's not a toiling cost to me. It's a healthy habit in the way that a morning workout is a healthy habit. It's lucky that enjoying one's work can also "pay off" in the traditional sense. I think that's the key: only you know why you're working. If it's toil toward some Capitalistic superficial goal, just make sure you're aware of your tradeoff.

If it's your morning coffee, I see you buddy! Enjoy your day.

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

#72

Post by npodbielski »

hylaride wrote: post #14
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.

Exactly what I thought! And then I read that some guy is working while driving. Jesus Christ... Next time it will be post: I am talking to my phone about my code while I shower and I never felt more productive!

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

#73

Post by analogpixel »

godelski wrote: post #11
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…

on your drive you could:

a) listen to a useless podcast of two people blathering on about nothing.

b) come up with an idea, and have a coding agent start implementing it; maybe go back and forth on how to improve it.

seems like b is a better use of time.

or c) just stare into the void and let your thoughts consume you; this is my favorite, I don't like listening to stuff when I drive.

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

#74

Post by analogpixel »

cloche wrote: 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!

I'm sick of "AI posts" that just talk about AI the tool.

I like posts about, because of AI, I built this cool idea I was thinking about. (or not even saying AI, just show us the cool things you made, that are hopefully not just "a tool written by ai to do ai")

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

#75

Post by infogulch »

This week I built https://github.com/infogulch/caddy-zone-manager, "A Caddy app that performs desired-state synchronization of DNS records to a target zone using Caddy’s existing libdns DNS-provider ecosystem."

I thought that since caddy is already managing dns records anyway to pass DNS-01 ACME validations and update HTTPS records, wouldn't it be nice if I could just have it manage all of them and keep my desired DNS state checked into git?

This is exactly the duct tape scenario. There are a bunch of systems that bound the problem: Caddy's app lifecycle, the Caddyfile configuration system, libdns interfaces, DNS semantics, the Go language. Sure, there are a lot of little decisions that need to be made that fall into the "taste" category (no promises), and the sync engine itself is a new brand component, but by and large once the idea was formulated the problem domain is narrow enough for an LLM to stitch the systems together.

It was done in about two days of personal time. I read through all the code and rewrote a good portion of it manually. I probably could have written it from scratch myself with two weeks of full time effort (honestly I would have stumbled a bit on DNS recordset semantics which I was not very familiar). Instead it cost me $100. (I will reconsider my LLM usage patterns for the next project...)

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

#76

Post by thewebguyd »

analogpixel wrote: post #73
godelski wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

on your drive you could: a) listen to a useless podcast of two people blathering on about nothing. b) come up with an idea, and have a coding agent start implementing it; maybe go back and forth on how to improve it. seems like b is a better use of time. or c) just stare into the void and let your thoughts consume you; this is my favorite, I don't like listening to stuff when I drive.

or d) just drive.

Surprisingly difficult to do. The assumption is that there are some things we do in our life that act as a blank space that must be filled with something. Productivity, or deep thought, or whatever. People go through life always doing something so there's never a "wasted" moment, but I'd argue thats a recipe for burnout and unhappiness.

There's a buddhist concept of suchness, seeing things exactly as they are in the present without judging them or trying to change them. Doing anything else but "just driving" is trying to live somewhere other than where you actually are. Where ever you are, and whatever you are doing right now is what life is, your life isn't somewhere else in the future, and you don't need to escape from a mundane task and rush somewhere else to experience life. All of it is life, even the boring parts.

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

#77

Post by Rumudiez »

infogulch wrote: post #27
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

In my experience the driving-behavior part of my brain can run virtually autonomously, like how you don't really have to spend 100% of your brain to walk down the street. This means that the words-thinking part of my brain is almost completely free, with the exception of short high-attention spikes for risky maneuvers like onramp merging. This is why listening to music or podcasts is a very popular driving activity.…

Daydreaming or zoning out while driving is reckless behavior. You should be fully occupied by the task at hand. If you aren't, find a parking lot to doze off in instead please, or call an Uber

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

#78

Post by gedy »

peab wrote: post #62
MeetingsBrowser wrote: post #18

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 keep seeing this question asked, and I don't understand. Have you tried it? It's so easy to build useful things for myself now. I've been able to build things that I otherwise would not have been able to build, in the free time that I have: - a VST audio plugin - a wedding website with RSVP functionality - a relaxing game for my wife At work, I've been able to build much more than I would have been capable of in th…

I think he's talking about professionally, not various hobby ideas.

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

#79

Post by fragmede »

louthy wrote: post #57
don-code wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Why are you jumping to the worst possible interpretation? Who would you kill? America is full of long stretches of double digit hour drives through cornfields where you're not going to run into anything. At worse you'd hurt yourself. Obviously if you're in a city and there are people, even kids around, and you're not giving driving the attention it needs, you're an asshole. Fuck you. But how about not jumping to the conclusion that OP is an asshole?

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

#80

Post by MeetingsBrowser »

peab wrote: post #62
MeetingsBrowser wrote: post #18

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 keep seeing this question asked, and I don't understand. Have you tried it? It's so easy to build useful things for myself now. I've been able to build things that I otherwise would not have been able to build, in the free time that I have: - a VST audio plugin - a wedding website with RSVP functionality - a relaxing game for my wife At work, I've been able to build much more than I would have been capable of in th…

> Have you tried it?

I've used agentic tooling at work for almost a year now, to great affect.

Tools are helpful, but in my experience they are not to a point where building things useful software is easy or simple.

Most of the things I have seen or heard described are neat demos that someone might play with a few times before forgetting about.

Of the projects you mentioned above, how long did you spend building them relative to how long they've been regularly used? Are you using them on a regular basis? If so, are they published somewhere for other people to use as well?

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