John Dickinson

@notmyname
162 Followers
139 Following
397 Posts
I like working on distributed systems, and sometimes those are on computers
John DickinsonMar 16
Ben WerdmullerMar 16
Simon Willison is building a great, ongoing, work-in-progress guide for understanding agentic engineering. #AI https://werd.io/agentic-engineering-patterns/
Agentic Engineering Patterns

Simon Willison is building a great, ongoing, work-in-progress guide for understanding agentic engineering.

Ben Werdmuller
John DickinsonMar 14
This morning I hear turkeys, wrens, jays, owls, sparrows, and more
John DickinsonMar 13
Dare ObasanjoMar 13

This article strikes at the heart of the weirdness in the software industry right now. Programmers making $200K+ are no longer writing code but instead simply supervising Claude Code which writes the code for them.

But instead of being afraid for their jobs, they are excited by how much more productive they are.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/12/magazine/ai-coding-programming-jobs-claude-chatgpt.html?unlocked_article_code=1.SlA.udVF.I5aQFIDnpN1t&smid=url-share

Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It

In the era of A.I. agents, many Silicon Valley programmers are now barely programming. Instead, what they’re doing is deeply, deeply weird.

The New York Times
John DickinsonMar 13
sam henri goldMar 12
The MacBook Neo is such an interesting machine that it coaxed a thousand-word-essay out of me: https://samhenri.gold/blog/20260312-this-is-not-the-computer-for-you/
“This Is Not The Computer For You” · Sam Henri Gold

Sam Henri Gold is a product design engineer building playful, useful software.

John DickinsonMar 12
Alice McFlurry Mar 12
I understand that HOKA shoes are supposed to be really comfortable, but they all look like Skechers started making tugboats for your feet.
John DickinsonMar 11
Aral BalkanMar 11
When you post things on Instagram, Facebook, and X, this is what they look like to people who don’t use those platforms.
John DickinsonMar 9
Tim BrayMar 9

Seems painfully obvious that, whatever you think about #genai code, anyone using it is heading for a code-review logjam. Assuming that the org requires code review; if yours doesn’t, nothing I can say will help you. Anyhow, Rishi Baldawa writes smart stuff about the problem and possible ways forward, in ˚The Reviewer Isn't the Bottleneck”: https://rishi.baldawa.com/posts/review-isnt-the-bottleneck/

[My prediction: A lot of orgs will *not* do smart things about this and will suffer disastrous consequences in the near future.]

The Reviewer Isn't the Bottleneck

AI tools are flooding PR queues and the instinct everywhere is to call review the bottleneck. I think that’s the wrong question. The reviewer is the last sync point before production changes. The goal shouldn’t be how to remove the gate, but how to make it cheaper to operate.

Rishi Baldawa
John DickinsonMar 8

RE: https://mas.to/@carnage4life/116193223287360056

I can relate to this. Using Claude Code brings out the same feelings I got as a kid when I was first learning to code. That feeling was why I got into this career path in the first place.

John DickinsonMar 6
Joe Groff (1M Context)Mar 6
is "GPL" pronounced "gipple" or "jipple"
John DickinsonMar 4
Riker GooglingMar 4
does beard stroking improve thinking