Bas' Take on Tech: Work From Home, AI, DNA, Dominik's Thoughts
Hi there,
thanks for reading my tech newsletter about the recent buzz, Python, and DevOps.
In this issue, Dominik Sumer gives an insight into his current project and shares his goals for the year.
Have a great week ahead!
š± Helping People in Turkey and Syria
The tragedy that happened in Turkey and Syria on 6 February killed tens of thousands of people. An earthquake is usually not something youād expect in a tech newsletter. I want, however, to share a heartwarming story about Tech Volunteers who were rolling out apps to help locate people and distribute aid quickly.
On a personal note, please always be careful with choosing organisations if you like to donate. As a Rotarian, I might be biased, but the Rotary Foundationās Disaster Response Fund has gained my trust.
š Work From Home
Reporting a new layoff did become pointless at this time. However, there is an interesting aspect of GitHubās recent layoffs: They will go mostly remote. Itās hard to call it a trend, as Iāve written about the return to the office in December. Tech hub cities like San Francisco or New York desperately need tech workers to survive economically. Bloomberg reports that Remote Work is costing Manhatten $12 Billion a year.
In Europe, on the other hand, Work From Home is actively engaged. In the Netherlands, for example, working from home has been a legal right since last summer. In France, the government is prioritizing WFH to improve quality of life in light of labour unionsā response to plans to increase the retirement age.
š¤ AI Wars
Many people have argued that conversational AI, like ChatGPT, is changing search. As I pointed out in a previous issue of this newsletter, I do not see ChatGPT as a revolution but rather as an evolution to personal assistants like Amazon Echo or Appleās Siri. In my predictions for 2023, I also pointed out that we might see some major flaws in the hyped AI technologies. To some extent, that has already happened: Bing can spill out its secrets. Will we see another new profession? After āprompt engineersā, will we see āprompt security consultantsā?
Does anyone remember the 2013 bug in Xerox printing machines? Due to internally used compression algorithms during the digital capture process of scanned documents, Xerox copiers āmanipulatedā numbers on paper copies and digital scans. There is an exciting thought piece in āThe New Yorkerā that compares this bug to ChatGPT. And indeed, the āgenerativeā AI we see now is not āgenerativeā at all. Itās rather sheer computing power thrown at recompiling existing pieces.
Back to search: The economist questions Googleās 20-year dominance in search. And Microsoftās CEO Satya Nadella is excited about the rebirth of OpenAI-enabled Bing. Forbes, too, suspects that Google may fall behind in the AI boom. There might be something to it as Google employees criticise CEO Sundar Pichai for rushing a ChatGPT competitor.
All in all, there is more to search than a content-summarizing digital assistant. Also, Google has pioneered the AI field with Deep Mind. Itās hard to imagine that Googleās management is āsurprisedā by something like ChatGPT. On the other hand, it was also hard to imagine that Yahoo could decline. And the financially potent partnership between OpenAI and Microsoft could really change the game.
šļø Buzz
Will TikTok be banned in the US? The concern is that private data of Americans cannot be protected from the Chinese government. TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew is reported to testify in House in March in light of a newly revised legislation initiative to ban the social network.
Outside of the software bubble, some pieces about DNA caught my attention.
Italian researchers found that a gene called BPIFB4 might protect individuals from cardiovascular damage. The researchers mutated this gene into older mice resulting in the rewinding of biological heart age markers.
Another research suggests that 40% of early child deaths may be caused by a genetic disease that can be reversed by genetic editing.
For somewhat less invasive methods of reshaping gene expression, I found a study that researches the genetic expression changes caused by intermittent fasting (time-restricted eating). Iāve been on intermittent fasting for more than a year now and have experienced significant benefits myself.
š£ļø Interesting Discussions and Perspectives
It becomes more and more apparent that the ātech winterā is indeed primarily caused by over-hiring during the pandemic, with Apple being an exception.
How Levels.fyi scaled to millions of users with Google Sheets as a backend
š§āš¼ Build Your Resume
There are a lot of people on a job hunt now ā obviously.
I have created a GitHub repository that allows you to create a professional-looking resume and have that hosted for free on Netlify, along with automatically updated PDF versions. You can learn a bit about GitHub Actions during the process.
Also, networking is essential. Here is my LinkedIn profile if you want to connect!
š Dominikās Perspective
Dominik Sumer is the co-founder of snappify, an online generator for graphical code snippets. I use snappify on my Twitter feed myself. I asked about his current work and his goals for this year. Here is his answer:
At the moment Iām fully focused on my product snappify. Iām working on it together with my friend Anki and this year we want to make it more widely known in the developer community. Itās a tool to present technical content: from code explanations to marketing materials and even the ability to embed interactive infographics into your website. Weāre still learning much on a daily basis. There are so many things when it comes to building a successful product and itās really challenging to get it out to the right people and find the best way to communicate its value to them. Iām trying to share my learnings on Twitter and other social media platforms if youāre interested
Apart from doing mostly marketing at the moment, Iām also getting my hands dirty with those new AI technologies. Itās also a good fit for our product snappify as it enables our users to easily create code explanations (the AI takes care of writing the explanation of the selected code snippet). Iām really excited about the AI space and how it will influence our lives in the upcoming years!
š What else?
I have changed this newsletter from āoccasionalā 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.Ā
I will ask people about their journeys in the tech world and also in life. Iām pretty sure there isĀ much to learn from listening to other peopleās experiences, and I am excited to share that with you!Ā
Of course,Ā I need your helpĀ with this.Ā
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What do you want to share with others about your life, your productivity, your career, and your health?
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Best,