ABEND dump #23
Book reading philosophy, browser trust issues, career pendulums, and space BBQ.
Welcome to the ABEND dump #23.
If you wanna know what is the “ABEND dump”, I’ve got you covered.
You can check the previous ABEND dump here:
It’s been a while since I sat down to curate another dump, but here we are: book reading philosophy, browser trust issues, career pendulums, and space BBQ. The usual eclectic mix that somehow makes sense (or probably not) when you’re done reading. Let’s go!
On reading books
I tend to agree. BUT, and there’s a reason for it being a big “BUT” here, you must try hard when you’re reading to acquire knowledge before dropping the book, and potentially returning to it later if you failed in the first try.
You can totally drop difficult and boring books if you’re reading just for fun or curiosity, and I’d be the first one saying “don’t do it”. For knowledge acquisition, I’d stick to it a bit more, unless there’s a better alternative available.
Gergely on AI browsers
I agree, except that I don’t trust any browser with my passwords and credit cards. One more vector to leak important information. No thanks, I pass!
Speaking of which, I’ve been trying Zen Browser, and it is a refreshing version of Firefox.
Code Complete with Steve McConnell
That’s an interesting interview:
I have this classic book on my list to read for a loooong time. Maybe it’s about time to finally read it.
The Engineer/Manager Pendulum
This is a nice write-up from Charity Majors, that I like to read once a year and reflect whether I should try management or stay as an individual contributor.
I believe I had the luck of working in places where, in many occasions, I could be a manager of one -- myself. Which is nice. Because I’m not naturally inclined to do managerial work 100% of the time, at least, I don’t feel like it full time yet, but still being a manager of one exposes you partially to many things that you should be aware of when coordinating work and expectations.
The Recovering Programmer
I realized I was looking at everything backward, from an implementation point of view, not from the perspective of a finished application, not considering the user first. And I realized that the inherent bitterness and negativity of programming arguments and technical defensiveness on the web were making me bitter and negative. I’ve consciously tried to rewind, to go back to when programming was a tool for implementing my visions, not its own end.
It’s interesting how this thought can be flipped depending on the context and biases you’re exposed to. I’ve definitely seen the lack of UX and software design together more often in the realm of web development, and sometimes caused by myself. The important point, IMO, is to be aware of your current context and do your best to assess the right trade-off -- easier said than done, but we can always get better with practice if we are attentive.
Chinese astronauts had BBQ in space
Ok, we can have BBQ in space. Now we are talking going to Mars XD
