Bas' Take on Tech: AI, Cloud, Rodrigo's Thoughts
Hi there,
thanks for reading my tech newsletter about the recent buzz, Python, and DevOps.
In this issue, Rodrigo Girão Serrão shares his thoughts about his plan to focus on Python in 2023.
Have a great week ahead!
🗞️ Buzz
What’s the hot topic in Tech? It’s probably still about layoffs and AI. As for the economic situation, there was an interesting take on the Trendline newsletter: The idea here is that the layoffs we see now are the result of over-hiring after the pandemic. I still suspect that the main driver behind this is economic uncertainty, as it is unlikely that all major tech companies set their expectations and planning wrong simultaneously.
Meanwhile, Microsoft announced a massive layoff of about 10,000 employees after announcing unlimited PTO last week and planning on extending the OpenAI partnership into a multi-billion dollar investment.
Google sees OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a threat to their business and called Larry and Sergey to help. Sounds a little like Apple’s story when they brought back Steve Jobs.
I briefly mentioned the flaws of AI becoming apparent in my 2023 predictions. And this is obviously something Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO, is worried about, too. In an interview, he tried to manage expectations: Circulating numbers about the extent of training data are exaggerated, he claims. Altman also warns against projecting too much into AI solutions like ChatGPT in general. The conversation also deals with future visions of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), i.e. an AI that breaks out of its programming and can understand and learn every intellectual task. Altman advises that society should nevertheless set limits to such an AGI.
☁️ Cloud Architecture
If you want to learn about Cloud Architecture, I have some news for you:
Tobias and Sandro recently released their AWS fundamentals ebook. It is a very great read and gives a solid foundation of the essential AWS services.
To get an idea of modern cloud-native application development, I also overengineered a Hello World app with Terraform.
☕️ In other news
Apple has released some products without too much buzz last week. In the last issue of this newsletter, I already mentioned that Apple’s MacBooks might get a touch screen in the future. This week, Bloomberg reported that Apple could bring a VR headset to the market – as an iPhone replacement.
Aldi has opened a shop where people can shop without needing to scan their products in Utrecht, The Netherlands. However, it did not work out for them. There are problems reported with payment (Dutch people use debit cards, not credit cards) and UX of the app.
🎥 Video Content
I started my Twitter account, where I share content about Python, DevOps, and Databases, almost exactly one year ago.
Now, it’s time to get to the next level: I want to share video content on these topics, too. I have a long list of topics I want to cover in some short 15-20 mins videos – now I just need to find the time to produce them.
If you want to be among the first to get notified when I release my first video, you can subscribe to my YouTube channel!
📝 Rodrigo’s Perspective
Rodrigo Girão Serrão is a mathematician and a programmer. Right now, he is working on Textualize. I asked him about his plans for 2023. Here is his answer:
In 2023 I am going to focus 100% on Python. I have some really great ideas for things I want to do and that I think could resonate well with others, but I'm going to filter those and keep only the ones related to Python. There was a book I really enjoyed reading, “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, that talks about the “hedgehog principle”. Long story short, it is somewhat like the ONE thing you do really well and specialise in, and I want mine to be Python. However, Python is a huge world, so I want to hone in on the “core Python”: the language and its standard library. So, 2023 will be a year to dot the is and cross the ts for some things I started this year, and then focus on learning more about the core Python and sharing it with the community.
On an unrelated note, the more I consume content online, the more I become a strong advocate for the fact that everyone should learn communication skills... But this is just a random thought :P
🚀 What else?
I have changed this newsletter from “occasional” to at least once every two weeks. The new format not only contains curated news and insights from the tech world but also sets the stage for fellow developers.
I will ask people about their journeys in the tech world and also in life. I’m pretty sure there is much to learn from listening to other people’s experiences, and I am excited to share that with you!
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Best,