A series of vignettes from my childhood and early career

9 days ago

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The author reflects on their childhood and early career, sharing anecdotes about the evolution of software engineering.
In the 1990s, a wise adult predicted that programming would not be a viable profession due to the rise of object-oriented programming and reusable libraries.
Despite predictions, software engineering continues to thrive, with new problems and abstractions keeping the field dynamic.
The 'Multimedia Age' in the 1990s was a buzzword that eventually became mundane, with sound and video becoming standard features.
In 2000, a coworker believed IntelliJ IDE's refactoring tools would make programmers obsolete, but the author saw them as tools to enhance productivity.
The author automated a contractor's MUMPS migration task, reducing the workload significantly.
They also automated their own job of updating a mental health providers list, fearing discovery but never being caught.
Ethical considerations in NLP projects included respecting licenses, permissions, and robots.txt when collecting training data.
The dot com boom and subsequent crash led to the organic growth of Web 2.0, fulfilling the internet's promise without widespread fatalities.
The closing remarks critique the hype around large language models (LLMs) and their impact on the industry.

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