I’ve used both Claude and Codex extensively, and I already preferred Codex the model. I didn’t like the harness, but recently pi got good enough to be my daily driver, and I’ve since found that it’s much better than either CC or Codex CLI. It’s OSS, very simple and hackable, and the extension system is really nice. I wouldn’t want to go back to Claude Code even if I were convinced the model were much better - given that I already preferred the alternative it’s a no-brainer. OpenAI have officially allowed the use of pi with their sub, so at least in the short term the risk of a rug pull seems minimal.

In the 1980s, I was the sole developer/support person for an inspection system based on MS-DOS, Turbo Pascal, Norand corporation handhelds running code in PL/N (Their variant of PL/1). I wrote a set of libraries to do field based data editing, cooperative multitasking, and all the code for it all. I supported the system in the field, and learned a ton of things about software usability.

My moment of self actualization happened when I walked up to one of the customers locations, and I realized that no matter what... they were going to be happy by the time I left.

A/B testing. It was fast paced, high risk, you actually had to know how to program on the front end, and everything was measured. It’s what programming for the web should be but absolutely isn’t. It was like comparing special forces to being an army cook.

Edit for clarity:

When I say you had to know how to program I mean you know to know the environment and not fail. It’s not about knowing some tool, framework, or pretend gimmick. If your test executes properly you are helping the employer form massive revenue making decisions. When it break you break existing functionality in production and nobody will forgive you. If you know what you are doing you can squeeze absolutely anything you can imagine in an A/B test and most of it can be tested in a browser console.

I worked in a small inner-city video rental shop during the dying days of video. It had a staff of 4-5 amazing characters - We ate popcorn, drank vodka, watched hundreds of random movies (black spine chosen at random from the back of course).

We would stay after hours, well into the night, with film nerds and random people with nowhere else to go. Our boss, the manager of the branch was a nuclear physicist turned asylum seeker - who had our backs, brought us take outs and was an all around gent.

This was during college for me. I had some great, interesting, jobs afterwards both in tech and other random things. But I think this will always be my favorite. Those I keep in touch with seem to agree.