Senior Engineers Reduce Ambiguity, Combat AI Slop, and Flee GitHub

Resources

Resources & Recommendations

Articles & Papers

• "What actually makes you senior?" by Matthias Lima - This article discusses the core skill that separates senior-plus engineers from others, which is reducing ambiguity.
• "Zig moves off GitHub" by Andrew Kelly - This explains the reasons behind the Zig programming language's decision to move its operations from GitHub to Codeberg.
• "No free lunch in vibe coding" by Matthias Akila - This article explores the concept of "vibe coding" and how LLMs interact with programming complexity, suggesting that complexity is an inherent mathematical property that cannot be entirely removed.
• "Your SSD data isn't as permanent as you think" - This piece highlights the impermanence of data stored on SSDs, especially consumer-grade ones, when left unpowered for extended periods.
• "UX is your moat and you're ignoring it" - This article suggests that user experience can serve as a significant competitive advantage that is often overlooked.
• "Quit social media by posting more with Posy Party" - This article seems to offer an alternative approach to engaging online that moves away from traditional social media platforms.
• "How to write a good clod.md" - This resource likely provides guidance on creating effective "clod.md" files, which could be a documentation or project-related file.

People Mentioned

• Tega Brain - Creator of the "Slop Evader" browser extension.
• Andrew Kelly - Creator of the Zig programming language.
• Devon Zuegel - Key figure in the early success of GitHub Sponsors, described as an "angel from heaven" for developers' fundraising efforts.
• Matthias Akila - Author of the article "No free lunch in vibe coding."
• Jim Nielson (jim-nielson.com) - A listener who expressed his appreciation for The Changelog podcast through a classified ad.

Tools & Software

• Slop Evader - A browser extension for Firefox and Chrome that uses the Google Search API to filter out AI-generated content by only showing results published before November 30th, 2022.
• ChatGPT - A large language model whose public release in November 2022 is used as a benchmark for filtering AI-generated content by "Slop Evader."
• GitHub Actions - A CI/CD platform mentioned in the context of Namespace runners.
• Namespace (namespace.so) - A service that provides faster, optimized runners for CI/CD workloads, particularly for GitHub Actions, by offering intelligent caching, parallel execution, and infrastructure tuned for CI.
• Auggie (augmentcode.com) - An augment code tool that now works with Zed, Neovim, and Emacs thanks to Agent Client Protocol.
• WarpStream (warpstream.com) - Described as "Diskless Kafka with zero inter-AZ costs."
• Private Captcha (privatecaptcha.com) - A privacy-first, self-hostable proof-of-work captcha solution.
• Nostr (nostr.com) - A "really decentralized social network protocol with a chance of working."

Organizations & Institutions

• Google Search API - Used by the "Slop Evader" browser extension to filter search results based on publication date.
• Codeberg - The platform where the Zig programming language is moving its operations from GitHub.
• GitHub - The platform from which the Zig programming language is moving away due to concerns about engineering excellence, priorities, and aggressive pushing of Copilot.
• GitHub Sponsors - A product that was key to Zig's early fundraising success but is now seen as declining after the departure of Devon Zuegel.

Websites & Online Resources

• changelog.fm/sotl - The URL for listeners to send voicemails for the "State of the Log" episode.
• every.org - A platform suggested by Andrew Kelly for current GitHub Sponsors supporters of Zig to consider moving their donations.
• changelog.news - The website to subscribe to The Changelog newsletter for links and articles.