diff --git a/public/blog/be-the-outlier/narwhal.png b/public/blog/be-the-outlier/narwhal.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b7d5aef Binary files /dev/null and b/public/blog/be-the-outlier/narwhal.png differ diff --git a/src/pages/blog/be-the-outlier.mdx b/src/pages/blog/be-the-outlier.mdx new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb751f4 --- /dev/null +++ b/src/pages/blog/be-the-outlier.mdx @@ -0,0 +1,94 @@ +--- +layout: "@/layouts/global.astro" +title: "Your Job Now: Be The Outlier" +author: kixelated +description: Embrace the median and be the outlier. Not MoQ related, but advice for software engineers instead. +cover: "/blog/be-the-outlier/narwhal.png" +date: 2025-06-07 +--- + +# Your Job Now: Be The Outlier + +I've been [working on a startup](/application-first) for the last month. +I'll have an MVP very soon, but until then, I thought you could use a short LinkedIn cringe post. + +## Median Pilot +Humans have been operating machines for a while now. +We use them for all sorts of things, from mass producing bobbleheads to flinging us through the air in a metal tube at a speed that I'm still very uncomfortable with. +They're fantastic, and we're going to keep utilizing machines more and more until we meet some fiery end. +And that's my job as a software engineer. + +We've always aimed for the median. +You want a car that drives straight. +You want 2+2 to equal 4. +You want the metal tube in the sky to stay level in the sky. +Outliers are identified and eliminated. + +LLMs continue that trend, doing an amazing job slurping up the internet and finding a (rough) median. +We don't want hallucinations. +They're the outliers that models are getting better at filtering out. +Every day models get more and more accurate, and more and more homogeneous. + +## Outlier Pilot +Our job now is to introduce outliers. + +AI is getting extraordinarily good at generating *boring* code. +There's nothing wrong with boring code. +Boring code flies a plane. +Boring code collects a paycheck. +But boring pilots are the first to be automated. +They don't add value, and a pilot that doesn't add value is often just a liability. + +If you want to make something special in `current_year`, then you need to learn *when* to introduce outliers. +You have to ignore the AI sometimes not because it's wrong, but because it's too boring. +In a sea of fish, you want to be a narwhal. +Sure, the horn doesn't make a whole lot of sense and they're a boring shade of gray, but they are undeniably unicorns. + +My humble advice is to vibe code...whatever that means. +Absolutely hit tab on the boilerplate and non-consequential stuff. +Automate the boring parts so you can spend more of your time on other things. +Choose some components to be the outliers so your application is *different*. +It doesn't matter if your outliers are "worse" than the median, they'll still stand out. + +For example, I used ChatGPT to spit out a [pretty good controls UI](/watch). +I was going to do the same thing for my new project, but I realized, "fuck that". +I don't even like emojis, why am I copying that style? +Is it because every `README.md` does it, or worse, because ChatGPT *loves* emojis? + +- 📌 A bullet point list. +- 😄 With an emoji in front of each line. +- 🔥 Is super easy to do. +- 👴 But gets old fast. + +I'm not an artist, but the least I can do is draw a narwhal instead. +That's my outlier, and you'll remember it. + +
+ ![Narwhal](/blog/be-the-outlier/narwhal.png) +
Damn, that's a good narwhal.
+
+ + +## The Skeptics +One last note for the software engineers who don't want to vibe. +I know you exist, I see the complaining on Reddit. + +Look, I'm not trying to sell you anything. +I'm not founding a startup marketing itself as "Cursor for X" and collecting my riches. +I've been doing live video for a decade now, I like it, and it's nice being an expert at something. + +But, if you're not using tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Cursor, etc., in your day-to-day work, then you're dumb. +They're the new Google, the new Chat Overflow, etc. +Your job as a software engineer is to copy-paste boring code from the internet no matter the source. + +In many regards, nothing has changed. + +## Conclusion +What does this have to do with Media over QUIC? + +*Absolutely nothing.* + +I would set up a personal blog but I'm too busy right now. +Hope you enjoyed something different like comment subscribe. + +![@kixelated](/blog/avatar.png) \ No newline at end of file