- AI won’t replace engineers until AGI, and AGI changes everything anyway.
- AI makes the easy parts easier and the hard parts harder — lean into the first, avoid the second.
- Think of it as the next step from assembly to C to Python: now we program in English.
- The real bottleneck was always human willpower, not the computer — AI eases that bottleneck.
- Configure your
agents.md, plan ahead, and experiment with what you thought was impossible.
- You can create an encrypted, cloud-synced Obsidian vault using macOS encrypted disk images.
- Mount the encrypted DMG, open Obsidian, then eject to trigger a sync of the encrypted file.
- Automation via shell scripts and the Obsidian Shell Commands plugin reduces the workflow to one click.
- The setup is free and leverages Apple’s built-in encryption, but only works on macOS.
- Deleted notes go to the system trash unencrypted by default — a security gotcha to address.
- The concept of buried pirate treasure traces back to a single incident: William Kidd on Gardiners Island in 1699.
- The treasure was quickly handed over to authorities.
- Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island almost single-handedly created the popular image of pirates burying treasure.
- You can geotag DSLR/mirrorless photos using your Google Maps location history.
- Download KML files from your Google timeline, then use exiftool to match GPS data to photo timestamps.
- If GPS data is too far from the photo time, extend the matching window with exiftool flags.
- Always negotiate your salary — ask for more money at every opportunity.
- Ask “why” before jumping into solutions; understand the problem, not just the task.
- Impostor syndrome is normal and never fully goes away.
- Invest heavily in communication, honesty, and people skills.
- Protect your work-life balance and polish career leverage points like your CV and interview skills.
- Review your own code thoroughly before submitting it for review.
- Be polite in reviews — frame feedback as suggestions, not criticisms.
- Code reviews are not the place for style debates; those belong in team-level discussions.
- Tailor your review intensity to the author’s track record.
- Perfect is the enemy of good — focus on what matters.
- Recruiters can discover your email from GitHub commit history.
- You can batch-clone all your public repos using the GitHub API.
- Use
git filter-branch to rewrite committer and author emails across all repos, then force push. - Always back up your repos before rewriting history.
- Overuse of acronyms increases cognitive load and hurts understanding.
- In code, you would name a variable
pageTitle not pt — the same principle applies to communication. - Use acronyms only when your full audience knows them.
- Write for your audience: maximise understanding, not brevity.
- Use mirroring and labelling to build rapport and extract information.
- Good negotiators want to hear “no” — it makes the other party feel in control.
- Use open-ended calibrated questions starting with “how” or “what” to shift positions.
- Follow the Ackerman model: start at 65% of your target and raise in decreasing increments.
- Keep emotions in check and always summarise until you hear “that’s right.”
- Clarity is the top priority in business writing; never waste the reader’s time.
- Use formatting (bullet points, white space, bold) to make text easy to scan.
- Use active voice, cut unnecessary qualifiers and adverbs, and keep one idea per paragraph.
- Start with your purpose, not the justification; lead every paragraph with a strong topic sentence.
- Read your work aloud to preserve your natural voice after revisions.