NeverFade (u/NeverFade)

NeverFade commented on Software engineering job openings hit five-year low? blog.pragmaticengineer.co... · Posted by u/m3h

ipnon · 6 months ago

We are in a period analogous to the end of the Dotcom bubble. The Internet is obviously going to change the world, but right now all it can do is pets.com, etoys.com, kozmo.com. People are out of work, and those with other alternatives or preferences will leave the tech industry. In 10 years entire new platforms and modes will exist that generate even more opportunities than before. Some variation of this wave has been surfed up and down since the invention and industrialization of computation.

NeverFade · 6 months ago

The internet created vast new opportunities for software engineers to create value. Generative AI is about replacing software engineers in creating that value. These are very different things.

NeverFade commented on Google workers arrested after protesting company's work with Israel washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/greyface-

edanm · a year ago

> By every available poll, the Palestinians want to kill them all.

I think that's a big stretch. Many/most Palestinians want "their" land back, and many/most might want Israel gone. But that is not at all the same as saying they want all Israelis killed. Some might want a one-state solution that gives them rights without necessarily infringing on Jews's rights, some might think that most Jews will have a place to go if they get their land back (with the settler-colonialism framing), etc. There are many valid things people can think that aren't "we want to kill all Jews".

(I'm purposefully writing Jews and not Israelis, because I assume we both agree that most would explicitly not want to kill the 2 million or so Israeli-Palestinians!)

NeverFade · a year ago

Hamas is the favorite to win an election in Palestinian state:

> If elections were held today, Fatah would lose to Hamas 17 to 34 percent.

https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/03/22/poll-hamas-remains-p...

They are also the party that won the last (and only) election held by Palestinians, as well as the current rulers of Gaza.

Their explicit goal is to kill every Jew in Israel, and they have acted it out in the genocidal 10/7 massacre.

So not only do Palestinians support a party that promotes the genocide of all Jews in Israel - by all available evidence, this party is currently the favorite to control a Palestinian state.

Not to mention there's pretty solid ground to believe that if Fatah (Hamas's only viable rival) controlled a Palestinian state, they'd also support the genocide of Jews. Just look at the education they provide to West Bank children, describing Jews as subhuman monsters that must be eradicated.

NeverFade commented on Google workers arrested after protesting company's work with Israel washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/greyface-

cad31 · a year ago

It is because the CIA is not using AI to create strike target lists.

NeverFade · a year ago

You'd rather Israel doesn't have the technology to target terrorists with precision, and instead will be forced to use crude methods to carpet-bomb large areas where they hide?

NeverFade commented on Google workers arrested after protesting company's work with Israel washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/greyface-

NeverFade · a year ago

They didn't just "protest" their company's work with Israel.

They took over company offices, including the office of Google Cloud CEO in Sunnyvale, and refused to vacate them for 9+ hours.

NeverFade commented on Google workers arrested after protesting company's work with Israel washingtonpost.com/techno... · Posted by u/greyface-

dunekid · a year ago

Land of the free. Indeed it is.

NeverFade · a year ago

In what form of government is a vocal minority of activist workers allowed to take over their employer's place of business?

Please don't say "communism" as they would be sent to the gulag or worse in every communist regime that has ever existed.

NeverFade commented on What the The end of 0% interest rates means for software engineers newsletter.pragmaticengin... · Posted by u/oumua_don17

seadan83 · 2 years ago

You're talking about the US economy?

The "by any metric" statements seems false. A "not doing fine" does not have 54-year low unemployment rate @ 3.4% [1]

US GDP growth for since 2022 Q3 has been in the 5% range (very strong) [2]

Median individual income is at an all time high, poverty rate is at a 10 year low (2% decrease from 2014 to now, not huge percentage wise, but that is still 6 million people)

On the flip side - yes, home sales are at a low. Increased interest rates and a real estate market that saw a price correction in 2011 and 2020 with the corresponding economic recessions, has not made housing any more affordable at all.

> Tech CEOs don't control the interest rates. The interest rate effects their ability to get free and cheap money.

True, though that free & cheap money means more people can start companies, grow their companies faster - and that in turn creates bottom-up economics where more people have more disposable income and can then buy homes.

My second mortgage is now absurdly expensive.. But yeah, we are seeing the result of the Fed policy to try and _cool_ the economy as much as they can. One of the big levers they have - interest rates. The Fed intentionally made mortgages more expensive.

Further yet though, housing inventory is a big factor, which you then need to look at local governments and zoning restrictions for why there is not more housing built.

In sum, the wider economy IS doing fine by several metrics. Inflation AFAIK was not really a factor for home prices to increase. That was caused by the Fed, a a deep pandemic-induced recession, and all of the same forces that have caused housing prices to increase since essentially the 70s & 80s [4].

[1] https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2023/02/news-unemployment...

[2] https://www.bea.gov/news/2024/gross-domestic-product-fourth-...

[3] https://datacommons.org/place/country/USA?mprop=amount&popt=...

[4] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS

NeverFade · 2 years ago

Employment is high, but real wages have been trending down for more than 2 years: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Real_wages#/media/File:Wages_i...

So the average working person is in fact worse now economically than they were 2-3 years ago. It's not just a subjective feeling, and the other positive metrics don't change that.

NeverFade commented on What the The end of 0% interest rates means for software engineers newsletter.pragmaticengin... · Posted by u/oumua_don17

matrix87 · 2 years ago

Why don't you set an example for everyone and go into a trade then?

NeverFade · 2 years ago

Actually doing it is of course only for other people.

NeverFade commented on Houthi anti-ship missile systems: getting better all the time iiss.org/online-analysis/... · Posted by u/nradov

whatshisface · 2 years ago

Win? With what, missiles that can only damage merchant ships?

NeverFade · 2 years ago

Yes, they're already crippling international shipping: https://apnews.com/article/red-sea-yemen-houthis-attack-ship...