Hi I'm Otis 👋 I am currently working as a senior software engineer at The Conqueror Challenges. I am also a co-founder of Bookbear which I work on part time.
I'm interested in finite state machines, functional programming, and static site generators.
I am currently learning about Effect and LiveStore in my own time to keep my programmer brain stimulated.
AI has fundamentally changed the way software engineering works and while I may be mourning my craft the industry marches onward. I don't have anything to say that hasn't already been said by others:
- I miss thinking hard
- The diminished art of coding
- The programmer identity crisis
- Thoughts on slowing the fuck down
- Why craft-lovers are losing their craft
- Faulty Towers, vibe sickness, and the vibe bobsled
TL;DR Not using AI feels like career suicide in the current climate so while it completely removes the joy from my work I use it as a means to an end.
99.99% of the thought leaders in the space are talking utter bullshit and should be ignored, the best advice I can give is to play with the tools and figure out what works for you.
I use a bare bones pi install with OpenRouter and a workflow very similar to this.
- XState
- smolweb
- Soupault (this article gives a great overview)
- Parse, don’t validate
- Cognitive load is what matters
- That's Not an Abstraction, That's Just a Layer of Indirection
- Locality of behavior
- Optimize for disposability
- Constraints foster innovation
- Be a pragmatist not a purist
- Strong opinions, loosely held
- No "yes." Either "HELL YEAH!" or "no."