And just like that, we are 4 weeks in. I’m writing this on my birthday (35!) with a rum and reminding myself of the things I have to be grateful for. Waking up every day and building is a genuine privilege. Let’s look over this week of agents and why async is the future of coding, and writing tips, and how social norms need changing.
Writing Code Is Easy. Reading It Isn’t.
Link: https://idiallo.com/blog/writing-code-is-easy-reading-is-hard
One of the challenges with PRs and doing proper reviews is that loading the changes into your mental model of the system is the hard part. How do we solve this? I think as you step away from writing every line of code, perhaps you can pull your head out of the sand better and have an easier time with an architect’s view.
Steve Jobs’s Miracle Year
Link: https://blog.awais.io/jobs/
Steve Jobs showing us all that you can just Get Shit Done. He returns to Apple on its knees, learns the state of play inside and out, and then makes hard calls that everyone else was too scared to make. No 4D chess master plan, no careful orchestration - just research, clear thinking, and the willingness to move once you know what needs doing.
The rise of async programming - Blog - Braintrust
Link: https://www.braintrust.dev/blog/async-programming
When I started working on Rivets, my primary motivation was this - moving the act of writing the code to be asynchronous. The value of a developer has always been the problem solving and solution design, not the act of typing out code. I’m so interested in this space and where it leads. And Rivets is coming along too, with my own take on making this process more effective.
You're being rude. Put away your phone. - by Robinson Meyer
Link: https://www.theargumentmag.com/p/youre-being-rude-put-away-your-phone
I personally hate my phone and try to avoid using it as much as possible. I work hard to be present and resist the siren song of Twitter. It is rude, but I fear the ship has sailed - it seems we’ve all just accepted that we’re all going to be staring at these things constantly, to the deteriment of the actual conversation with real humans right in front of us. I can only imagine it gets worse once these things bake in conversational AI to everything too!
The Socratic Journal Method: A Simple Journaling Method That Actually Works
Link: https://mindthenerd.com/the-socratic-journal-method-a-simple-journaling-method-that-actually-works/
I’ve never been able to get into the habit of writing consistently, outside of the copious notes I take at work. The habit just doesn’t seem sticky enough for me. Maybe having some more guidelines and a new approach to why I’m doing it could help - this idea of treating it like an interview rather than just staring at a blank page is a good reframe. Either way I really liked this line - “The moment your journal becomes a tool for self-judgment, it loses its power. It should feel like a conversation with a supportive friend, not a performance review with your toughest critic”. Inside my head is not the nicest place to be sometimes, and it always feels like I was supposed to be profound or insightful, when really I just needed a way to get thoughts out of my brain without any pressure.