What if AI’s Impact on Society is actually exaggerated?
We think no matter what side of the fence you’re on when it comes to AI, we can agree that it’s a game-changing technology. Whether you embrace it as the new way that humans will live longer, faster and easier lives, or you distrust the ‘big brother’ implementations or even fear the ‘terminator’ films idea of how mankind is practically wiped off the planet by the fictitious ‘skynet’ AI, we’re here to tell you that, “…the rate at which it will change the game/change your society is greatly exaggerated.”
“What you’re going to see is AI machine learning is going to be used to enhance processes, not replace processes.” For example, take self-driving cars: the literature is that they are almost 95% fully automated but the last 5% is super tricky, there’s a lot of nuance and human -in the field/happening right now/this is bananas- complexity to contend with. “…what they have done they’ve used AI machine learning to enhance the driving experience; so lane warning detection that slows you down or stops if it sees something in front of it, etc, etc.”
The VLOG goes into way more detail and gives us an overview of what we can actually expect from AI in the years to come. “Our brains are designed to over-exaggerate fears, our brains are designed to over-exaggerate risk. Why? think about it in an evolutionary way: if you’re a cave-person running through the jungle and you hear rustling, you’re immediately going into hyper-alert [because] if that’s a predator, …you’re toast”. Unless an AI knew you were obsessing over this and sent you this VLOG to lull you into a false sense of security…? -Enjoy!
Netflix uses Python in the ways that Python is commonly used. It’s a good way to look at common Python applications.
Whether you’re waiting for Disney or WB to roll out their new streaming site, you can’t deny that Netflix is a giant in the streaming game – and depending on how every Media corporation now having a streaming media initiative that we’ll have to pay for goes – the catalyst/scapegoat for how this will all play out…
But we’re here to talk about PYTHON and specifically how NETFLIX use it in their day to day. Now, this is somewhat connected to a VLOG we covered recently and if you need citations, here’s the original article, but, “Netflix as you might imagine being a pretty big company with 140 million users they have all kinds of systems writing, and so what they do is they use PYTHON to reinforce the security of the systems…to analyze alerts and data reports coming off the systems; like activity reports and so forth. They leverage PYTHON’s AI capability and machine learning capability to do things like analyze movies, and to optimize the streaming, and to pull out images as an example to display thumbnails to people, etc, etc.” It’s really pretty interesting and amazing that PYTHON is being used in this way, because we definitely don’t think about it when we’re binge watching NARCOS, GLOW, or any other guilty little pleasures we might be ashamed to admit…
Get ready for a meaty and technical VLOG filled with, but not limited to the PYTHON libraries used, how Amazon’s servers are involved, and even security. It’s illuminating, if not a little dizzying to think that something we almost take for granted has sooo many moving parts (well, not moving parts, but you know what I mean)… -Enjoy!
…and other wide-ranging subjects in this ‘car-talk’ vlog…
Alright, usually there’s an intro and then we maybe make a joke about something (mostly RUBY) and then we go into the subject matter, but this time I’m really going to recommend you just watch the VLOG. We jump from subject to subject with no real connective tissue to any of them, including a shoot-from-hip review of “Avengers: Endgame” and a chat about our lizard brain… I mean, it’s super fun and you’re gonna have a good time, but from a writing standpoint, it’s like herding kittens: cute and cuddly but hard to pin down…
One major cool piece of news: We’re going to be offering certifications for our courses very soon; it’s in the works. Not only do you get the benefit of all that knowledge and experience after completing our programming courses, but now you have a piece of paper for those sticklers that demand physical proof -take that, suckas!
Really, just check out the VLOG, maybe have a cuppa coffee and sit back and feel that smile just slowly make its way up… -Enjoy!
Python is the Fastest Growing Language of 2019. In some cases it’s even more popular than JAVA.
Don’t believe the hype? Here’s the link to the PYTHON article… Now it’s important to note that the article is saying that it’s the fastest growing language; it’s not better than JAVA, please don’t DM us with arguments or nerd rage. But yeah, so far PYTHON is the fastest growing language of this year by about 2 million new developers.
A pretty good reason for this is, “…most of that growth is in AI machine learning development…Python is a language that glues systems together, so PYTHON is used to automate back-end processes, …monitoring system alerts, making sure processes just work well – it’s one of those great general purpose languages”.
Other things that may contribute to PYTHON’s growth is its popularity in the community, the libraries available, and the ease at which it can be learned. And on that note, it’s shameless plug time… We offer a PYTHON course that is quick and efficient and fun (although that last part is up to you.). Links to that and another great web development course are down below the video.
Check out the VLOG for our quick and dirty ‘code on the go’ segment on PYTHON as well as some more details and facts about PYTHON and it’s sudden rise in popularity. -Enjoy!
…That’s ‘Positive Mental Attitude’ for ‘Progressive Web Apps’…
We keep on getting requests to cover PWA/RWD’s and because we’re not DJs or that small band at the back of the bar that’s playing ‘only originals’, we’re taking those requests…and 5-6-7-8…
So a PWA is a progressive web app and an RWD is a responsive web design. How are the two related? Well first off, “RWD is basically writing your HTML5 and your CSS code so that the layout of the site will flex and change depending on the size of the screen of the web browser that is visiting your site. So if you have a smartphone or a 75 inch flat panel TV, a properly coded responsive website or web app will look just fine.” So the idea being that fonts, images, layout, etc. will change size depending on the size of the screen you’re viewing them on. As you can imagine, with the way consume data and media, it was a pretty big deal.
Okay, but where does the PWA come in? “…A PWA is basically taking RWD to its ultimate highest level. Essentially…you can think of it as RWD on steroids, because it brings in all the power that comes with native HTML5 and CSS (and you throw in some JavaScript to add some extra capabilities, of course…).” “The big advantage of using a PWA over native is you have one code base, so instead of having to write one app in iOS with SWIFT, and then having to write the whole app again from scratch for android in JAVA or KOTLIN. PWA is a lot cheaper to get your app out there, and [while] you don’t get the full benefit with a PWA that you get with native, you get a lot of the benefits.”
Now the VLOG will go into really good detail weighing the pros and cons of PWA or native (and believe me there are way more pros), but as a dev or a freelancer you should always be thinking about where businesses are coming from. Most of the time they’re not interested in the “nerd” implications of the languages, frameworks, etc. that you use, they just want to get up and running fast and get the product or service out there and PWA is your best bet. -ENJOY
JavaScript needs no introduction… even a quick google search will give you all you need to know. But at one time JS had a rival, a new kid on the block and it was called CoffeeScript (You can google it if you want but don’t bother…). “A few years back people were like ‘oohhh, CoffeeScript!’, the hipster nerds were, ‘Ooooh, CoffeeScript runs faster than JS, it’s better – you gotta use CoffeeScript!’.” And the sad thing was CoffeeScript did have some advantages and was actually slightly faster than JS but, “Rule of thumb: when you have a technology, whether it be a programming language or framework but it’s extremely dominant in the marketplace, for it to be replaced there would literally have to be some paradigm shift for that to happen. It is very very rare that you see a very established technology replaced by something that’s maybe 20% or 30% better…It has to be 5 times better! …or more.”
“Now CoffeeScript was faster blah blah blah, JS was so dominant that all JS people had to do was come in with es6, which is the latest version of JS…and CoffeeScript is now {indicates ‘thumbs down’ motion and ‘failure’ sound effect}…no more.”
This falls into something we talked about herenot too long ago, called ‘the shiny tech trap’, which is abandoning more mature/tried and true/old technology for something that’s brand-spanking new and purports to do things slightly faster and better. Unless it’s a HUGE leap forward the absolutely changes everything for the better, it’s generally not going to happen…
Take a sip of the steaming-hot cuppa VLOG to really get a sense of what we’re talking about and as a bonus, we talk about RUBY but not in a terrible way…I mean not a great way, but not terrible. Check it out. -Enjoy!
We touched on this in a previous article but thought it needed expanding upon. You younglings might wanna listen too, this could help you envision what your golden years could look like… . Freelancing, making money on the side and working at your own pace with clients you want to work with is a great way to stay sharp and keep a little “action” in your life, whether it’s coding or anything else, really.
If your 50+ freelancing is a “…super viable option for you that way because you…could work remotely, you can choose when you work, how you work, with whom you work, which clients you have (firing clients, by the way, is one of my favorite advantages of being a freelancer…).”
Love it or hate it the 9-5 full-time job landscape is shifting and while there are still some strong holdouts, it may just be a matter of time until most jobs realize that to stay competitive, they might have to hire out to freelancers. “…with my business I hire freelancers because there’s certain jobs that I have that don’t require a full-time employee, there’s just no reason for it.”
And if you need more incentive to become a freelancer, “Freelancing is the easiest type of business to get into, by the way; quickest to get up and running, cheapest in terms of cost…so if you’re older and you have a lot of domain [industry] knowledge: you may be a bookkeeper, you may be an expert in X, Y or Z, you can come in as a consultant, as a freelancer…maybe you can combine that with basic web skills and help small businesses get online or improve their web presence.”
The VLOG really does this subject justice and you can check it out below. Also (and yes, here’s the pitch…), we offer a really great, immersive course called, “the Complete Freelancer“, that takes advantage of almost 3 decades of experience. You don’t have to take it, but it helps… -Enjoy!
The belief that the cutting edge tech must be the tech you use in your projects.
You may have heard your dad or your grandpa say something pretty close to this while grumbling about cars, phones or television sets; and that’s ‘shiny and new isn’t always better’. “As beginners you hear about this new technology is so great, that new technology is so great, etc, etc, and you can get overwhelmed and caught up with all this. …It’s chasing the illusion of perfection.”
And no demographic is more vulnerable to this illusion than young developers. For ease (and fun) let’s refer to this demographic as “noob” developers. “…[Noob] developers will chase perfection in their application development looking for ‘the better language’, or ‘the better framework’.” No only is this a waste of precious time but also a brisk jaunt into the realm of madness. “Don’t get me wrong, there are frameworks that are more ‘mature’ [or] ‘better’ than other frameworks given the application that you want to build. [For example]…If you’re building an AI based system, you’re not gonna wanna do that with PHP…you could…people have done machine learning with PHP – I wouldn’t do it – no, no you do PYTHON because that’s where all the action is, that’s where the market share is: that’s where it’s ‘mature’. …[But] you’ll find that any of the prominent frameworks and languages out there today…they’re going to produce good work…whether the app is good or not is up to you.”
Break your foot off on this VLOG for a very in-depth (and tangent-filled) dive into the “new tech trap” and remember, “in general all these frameworks and languages have pros and cons and everything looks greener on the other side of the fence until you get there.” -Enjoy.
Life is a wonderful and complicated mess…at the best of times. Sometimes we think we know what we want right out of the gate and we follow it only to realize it’s not what we wanted after all. Then we find something else and maybe we do that for awhile, then something else strikes our fancy (or need to pay bills) and we gravitate towards that. The point is all these things cost us really is time. How much of it we’ve spent, how much we have left and what we want to spend it doing…man, this got serious and sobering real fast… So, is it possible to become a coder a little later in life? Say 50? It’s a nice round number, and the answer is ‘Yes, but…’
Alright, sirs and madames…I was trying to sound respectful but it sounds like I called you a bunch stuck-ups and brothel owners, apologies; let’s try again… Alright, I’m just going to jump into it. The answer is YES, you can become a coder at 50, BUT there are going to be some things that will be an advantage to you and others that will be a disadvantage:
Advantage: “When you’re getting into this game at an older age, you’ve probably got a lot more discipline, you definitely have a lot more life experience, and you may have a lot of domain [industry] knowledge.” By domain/industry knowledge we mean the business you were part of in the past. Maybe you worked in the coffee industry, maybe you were an accountant, etc. That insight into your previous business is worth a lifetime of experience and could help you to create a more streamlined/intuitive program for that industry. Companies would value that experience in a coder much more than a young nerdling with maybe a couple years programming experience and no industry knowledge…which brings us to the disadvantages…
Disadvantage: “A lot of companies will be reluctant to hire somebody in their 50’s or older because they know that this person is close to or closing in on retirement more often than not.” People are healthier these days which means they’re living longer (Although why you would want to live longer to work more is beyond me…).
An example is start-ups; they usually hire young coders that they can abuse or burnout but there are start-ups that have hired older and in their 50’s too for their specialized industry knowledge, it’s just a little more rare…
Honestly, there’s a lot more positives working in your favor than negatives, including going into freelance work which means you collect and retain clients at your own pace. The VLOG covers this in way more detail including some paths/specialties that we think would compliment your experience, so please check it out. Bonus: Some nice footage at the end of winter in Montreal at a devastating height… -Enjoy!
Marketing yourself as a developer is the best way to get the word out so you can build a reputation and secure work for yourself, especially if you intend on being a freelancer. Great, so what do I need to start getting myself out there? I’m Glad you asked…there are essentially 3 things you need to get started: 1- Skill Sets (both Technical and Social) – Skills you’ve developed through education/experience. 2- Reputation – The better it is, the better the chance you have of getting work. 3- IP (Intellectual Property) – What have you done in the real world. Projects you’ve worked on, jobs you’ve completed: for free or for pay.
Now, I know you’re looking at this and thinking these are all things that you get by doing real world work, how can I get real world if I don’t have these things? Ahhhhh…the catch 22, my friends…
The short answer is by any means necessary. Go out and do some free work/small project(s) for a small local business (not a long time, maybe 3 months or until the small project is done). At the end of that, yeah you may not have any money, but you’ve just got all three things you need to put towards getting a paying job (it might not pay much, but it’s a start), and when that paying job is done, you’ve got even more skill/rep/IP to put towards your next gig. From there you rinse/repeat ad nauseam and BOOM! work/life balance and a happy ending, LOL. Just kidding,, but it’s a good start.
Wriggity-wreck yo’self on the VLOG for some great advice on this subject from an almost 3 decade experienced ‘warrior of the code’ turned ‘diplomat of the code’, I guess… also a great analogy that might make you real hungry…you’ve been warned. -Enjoy
