Hot Takes

Orbital Salvage is gathering thoughts and opinions in an ongoing project to predict what comes next, one word at a time.

Category: Career

  • You need to be the kind of person who gets off on attaining knowledge.

    Garry Newman, creator of the sandbox game “Garry’s Mod” (Wikipedia) (Steam), answers a faq in How do I get into the Game Industry

    There is some great discussion around Garry’s blog on Hacker News.

    What the Skibidi?

    When asked (relentlessly, I’m sure) whether he’d sue over Skibidi Toilet’s appearance in Fortnite, he explained that it uses assets associated with but not created for his game, and finished with:

    “Plus I’m lazy af, he could be using a photo of me on the toilet and it wouldn’t outweigh how much I can’t be bothered” (Twitter)

  • The thing I’m relatively good at is knowing what’s worth building, what users like, how to communicate both technically and humanely.

    James Somers supposes that the AI future is going to be good for a certain kind of coder:

    As coding ... begins to matter less, maybe softer skills will shine.

    Full excerpt:

    “Computing is not yet overcome. GPT-4 is impressive, but a layperson can’t wield it the way a programmer can. I still feel secure in my profession. In fact, I feel somewhat more secure than before. As software gets easier to make, it’ll proliferate; programmers will be tasked with its design, its configuration, and its maintenance. And though I’ve always found the fiddly parts of programming the most calming, and the most essential, I’m not especially good at them. I’ve failed many classic coding interview tests of the kind you find at Big Tech companies. The thing I’m relatively good at is knowing what’s worth building, what users like, how to communicate both technically and humanely. A friend of mine has called this A.I. moment “the revenge of the so-so programmer.” As coding per se begins to matter less, maybe softer skills will shine.”

    Full article in The New Yorker: A Coder Considers the Waning Days of the Craft (Archive)