ISTM that above-average communication skills are an essential part of the programmer's job—always have been. The days of locking a developer in a room and throwing meat under the door once a day are over. To me, programming has always been a social skill, even more so if an AI is involved. Communication, especially active listening and iterating towards a common understanding, is not optional. Communicating what we've learned, both to each other and to the computer (perhaps via an LLM, perhaps not), _is_ the job.
I find direct programmer-to-customer communication to be essential. Unfortunately, many organizations erect barriers. For example, rather than serving as a customer surrogate, it's better for a PO/PM to facilitate direct communication between customers and developers. PO/PMs are connectors, not guards.
One reason that some people push back against using AI is that the nature of the programmer's job needs to change to use it effectively, and many feel ill-equipped or are disinclined to make that change. The weights of the skills in our toolbox change. When the proportion of heads-down coding goes down, the need for other formerly neglected skills, like effective communication, goes up. Rejecting that change seems counterproductive to me.
Australia Fuel Outage Checker is now live!
⛽️🔗 = https://t.co/ycb5dOGMD9
PetrolCheck shows current outages, prices & overall fuel supply stats based on publicly-available API data.
Users can report fuel outages and submit new data.
See below for more details 🔽
Anthropic is expanding to Australia & New Zealand. We’ll soon open an office in Sydney—our fourth in Asia-Pacific after Tokyo, Bengaluru, and Seoul.
Read more: https://t.co/qJYOSfWOkf
Manchester City vs Liverpool FC at the Etihad Stadium. That’s the FA Cup quarter final draw.
Arsenal fans will still tell you City always get the easy draws.
1) We’ve played Newcastle United five times this season and knocked them out of two domestic cups.
2) We’ve got Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
3) And now we’ve drawn Liverpool in the FA Cup.
We keep getting these heavyweight fixtures because we’re one of the very few teams left (alongside Liverpool) that actually deliver proper entertainment. End-to-end football. No corner routines/no set-piece gimmicks. Just the game played as it should be.
These draws come because facing the biggest sides is a privilege and a powerful source of motivation for this group.
Beat Liverpool. Win the FA Cup. Simple as that.