Life 👨🏻‍🦰

So work took a big tumble once again - another round of layoffs. It's always going to be a tough time for everyone involved. I'm grateful to have made it through, but it's hard to see so many talented people leave. It's a reminder of how volatile the industry can be and how important it is to stay adaptable and resilient.

In other news - I hit 100km ran in January! For the first time in my life I maxed out my monthly running distance and it was with ease. Aside of doing my own training plan for Londons Winter 10k I've been doing a lot of running with my partner. It's been great to have someone to run with and it's been a great way to spend time together, its something we both look forward to doing.

Thoughts 🧠

I've been thinking a lot on Gen AI and its impact on writing code. It got me thinking, will there ever be a need for a high level programming language? Will we ever get to a point where we can just describe what we want and the computer will write the code for us? I think it's a possibility, but it's a long way off. I think the biggest challenge will be the ambiguity of human language and the complexity of the problems we're trying to solve. It's an interesting thought experiment and I'm excited to see where it goes.

What I've read.. 📚

In the spirit of self-improvement and self development I'm going to be dedicating my time to trying to read more. I'd started with Distributed Systems With Node.js by Thomas Hunter II. It's been a great dive into the building complex distributed systems with NodeJS, most of the content I already implement at work but it's always refreshing to read more on the topic whilst apply the principles to my day to day. One thing thats great about this book is that you can follow along and build out an app from the book examples, adding layers along the way.

Next up is System Design Interview Vol 1 & 2 by Alex Xu. Theres always no harm in making sure you're fully prepared for the unexpectected (redundancies) and these books are a great way to keep your skills sharp. Plus the case studies are great, highly recommend his content if you're looking to brush up on your system design skills.

What I've watched.. 📺

Rewatched Severance in preparation for Season 2 with the other half. Brought up the ‘would you undergo severance and split the work you from the real you’. Who would want to make 8 hours a day disappear. UK winters would result in your outtie getting zero sunshine in the week days.

Season 2 started off with a bang - check out how they filmed the intro scene. It apparently took 5 months!

Speak no Evil had me and my partner at the edge of our seats, it's a great thriller with a nice twist. I'd recommend it if you're looking for something to watch. James McAvoy is a great actor and plays the evil role surprisingly well.

Heratic was an interesting one. Without going into too much detail, the first half is really good but then I felt the ending was a bit of a let down. Hugh Grant, however, was fantastic and I think thats his first role as a villain?

Subservant. Just don't even bother. It's a waste of time.