I want to do this but I can't get myself to do it, I guess I'm too self-aware. Does this come naturally for you to do or did you have to push your self hard? How did you start?
I found the bad S/N ratio on LinkedIn to be freeing. I have a blog as well but often suffer from writer's block and trying to write really good content.
On LI the majority of the stuff is so bad, I have zero self-awareness and just write whatever comes to mind (ie. an approach more like what you'd do in a comment like this one, than a "proper standalone post"). Many of my posts are just commentary on what's going on in the niche (eg. comments on a new AI model) which doesn't require a ton of extra research.
I also try to have a weekly/monthly cadence: at least one LI post a week, and one blog post on my own domain per month.
Hm? The self-awareness is the advantage. Instead of just regurgitating cringy bullshit, write something sincere, something you actually find interesting, something you liked writing and something you'd enjoy reading.
Like any sincere creative work, it takes effort. You may have to push yourself hard, yes. But like most things, it does get easier with practice.
I'd like to think that the era of AI slop will cause more people to become more sincere and thoughtful because it's a competitive advantage!
I just continually see people I very much like and respect posting stuff on there and the whole thing makes me want to vomit my lunch. I have a profile but wouldn't ever consider posting, liking, boosting, whatever it is you do. I'm very lucky in that I don't (currently at least...) need to promote myself, but I've been kind of shocked that all these people I know seem to be extremely active, and in a not-very-self-aware kind of way.
I guess it's the only place on the web now where people can post updates / follow people that isn't 1. so niche only 3 people are on it (federation), 2. twats and bots (X) or 3. narcissists (insta)
Every single self employed person must put themselves out there and market/advertise. It isn’t a lack of self respect that leads people trying tactics to bring inbound it’s quite the opposite
I recommend the book 1491 by Charles C. Mann to those of you who find this interesting. I loved it!
From wikipedia:
> The book presents recent research findings from different fields which suggest human populations in the Western Hemisphere—that is, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas—were more numerous, had arrived earlier, were more sophisticated culturally, and controlled and shaped the natural landscape to a greater extent than scholars had previously thought.
This concept of knowledge degenerating between generations is relevant for software developmnent of today, since many junior developers have a hard time finding a job and if they do they just prompt the AI until they get a result.
Can't blame them. What they need is a senior dev as a mentor to pass down tacit knowledge and experience. They might not get that even if they can find a job.
Then they not only stagnate but simply have to prompt to even deliver anything.
It could just be that the US realized that it's better if only US companies have access to this model due to how powerful software developers in general get with it. US companies will get an insane advantage due to how much faster and better you will create software. I've felt like a software god this week.
Ok so it’s five years now? I’ve heard for the last three years that software developers will be out of job within the next 6-18 months. I’m glad to hear I’ll have a job for a little bit longer.
I guess this is off topic, but my best advice to parents that worry about their kids screen time:
Restrict kids screen time hard. My kids are only allowed to watch a movie in the weekend, plus a couple of episodes of a show they enjoy. No ipads, no phones. Fill your home with books and comic magazines, you can buy used ones online for very little money.
My kids are 6, 4, and 4 years old. I understand that restricting kids screen time gets harder the older they get. At the same time, they are able to go out to play when they get a bit older.
...assuming all design needs are currently being met. Countless companies would benefit greatly from hiring a designer but haven't been able to, because the cost has been too high relative to the gain. If design becomes cheaper and faster, those companies enter the market — so lower cost per project doesn't necessarily mean fewer designers overall.
Would you like your hammer to have a new and innovative design, or do you want it to look exactly like any other hammer? The majority of UIs exist for the user to perform a task as effectively as possible, and they benefit from being familiar.
¹ Only to have Steve take it away. Jef left and created the Canon Cat, an opinionated computer that eschewed the WIMP interface in favour of anchoring n incremental search. Steve would also leave and create NeXT, and Canon would invest in NeXT as well.
More accurate to say that he was forced out. We (Mac nerds) were shocked when he came back. My father told me that I was super excited talking about his return, though I don't remember that. I do remember having a Mac Addict magazine with SJ portrayed as a priest on his return. Internet Archive ftw.[0]
When there is a boardroom battle over control, I think almost any take is fair. Sculley kicked him off Macintosh. Steve then tried to oust Sculley, who gave him a "window seat."
Sculley had the Board's support, and Steve resigned rather than quietly sit in the corner playing with "New Product Development" toys. The Board refused to accept his resignation and encouraged him to rescind it, but no they didn't give him meaningful authority, so he carried on to Plan B and negotiated the right to make "Education" computers.
Did he jump? Was he pushed? Yes!
And back to the point I was making... His trajectory had something in common with Raskin's trajectory, right down to raising money from Canon.
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p.s. Fellow OG Mac developer here. I still have the SE/30 I used to write a classified ads app for QuarkXPress and Aldus PageMaker back in the day. I would describe classified ads software in the 90s as, "faster horses about to be eclipsed by automobiles."
