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522 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 523 </label> 524 525 <nav class="md-nav" data-md-level="1" aria-labelledby="__nav_2_label" aria-expanded="false"> 526 <label class="md-nav__title" for="__nav_2"> 527 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 528 529 530 Workplace 531 532 533 </label> 534 <ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix> 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 <li class="md-nav__item"> 543 <a href="../think/" class="md-nav__link"> 544 545 546 547 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 548 549 550 Think for Yourself 551 552 553 554 </span> 555 556 557 558 </a> 559 </li> 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 <li class="md-nav__item"> 571 <a href="../startup-best-practices/" class="md-nav__link"> 572 573 574 575 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 576 577 578 Startup Advice 579 580 581 582 </span> 583 584 585 586 </a> 587 </li> 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 <li class="md-nav__item"> 599 <a href="../failure/" class="md-nav__link"> 600 601 602 603 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 604 605 606 Failure 607 608 609 610 </span> 611 612 613 614 </a> 615 </li> 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 <li class="md-nav__item"> 627 <a href="../meetings/" class="md-nav__link"> 628 629 630 631 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 632 633 634 Meetings 635 636 637 638 </span> 639 640 641 642 </a> 643 </li> 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 <li class="md-nav__item"> 655 <a href="../engineers-and-sales/" class="md-nav__link"> 656 657 658 659 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 660 661 662 Listen to Sell 663 664 665 666 </span> 667 668 669 670 </a> 671 </li> 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 <li class="md-nav__item"> 683 <a href="../slack-github/" class="md-nav__link"> 684 685 686 687 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 688 689 690 Why I Avoid Slack 691 692 693 694 </span> 695 696 697 698 </a> 699 </li> 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 <li class="md-nav__item"> 711 <a href="../write-short-blogposts/" class="md-nav__link"> 712 713 714 715 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 716 717 718 Write Short Blogposts 719 720 721 722 </span> 723 724 725 726 </a> 727 </li> 728 729 730 731 732 </ul> 733 </nav> 734 735 </li> 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 <li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--section md-nav__item--nested"> 756 757 758 759 760 761 <input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle md-toggle--indeterminate" type="checkbox" id="__nav_3" > 762 763 764 <label class="md-nav__link" for="__nav_3" id="__nav_3_label" tabindex=""> 765 766 767 768 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 769 770 771 Open Source 772 773 774 775 </span> 776 777 778 779 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 780 </label> 781 782 <nav class="md-nav" data-md-level="1" aria-labelledby="__nav_3_label" aria-expanded="false"> 783 <label class="md-nav__title" for="__nav_3"> 784 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 785 786 787 Open Source 788 789 790 </label> 791 <ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix> 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 <li class="md-nav__item"> 800 <a href="../scipy-mission/" class="md-nav__link"> 801 802 803 804 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 805 806 807 SciPy Mission 808 809 810 811 </span> 812 813 814 815 </a> 816 </li> 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 <li class="md-nav__item"> 828 <a href="../stability-bias/" class="md-nav__link"> 829 830 831 832 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 833 834 835 Stability Bias 836 837 838 839 </span> 840 841 842 843 </a> 844 </li> 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 <li class="md-nav__item"> 856 <a href="../maintainer/" class="md-nav__link"> 857 858 859 860 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 861 862 863 Maintainers 864 865 866 867 </span> 868 869 870 871 </a> 872 </li> 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880 881 882 883 <li class="md-nav__item"> 884 <a href="../minimal-bug-reports/" class="md-nav__link"> 885 886 887 888 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 889 890 891 Craft Bug Reports 892 893 894 895 </span> 896 897 898 899 </a> 900 </li> 901 902 903 904 905 906 907 908 909 910 911 <li class="md-nav__item"> 912 <a href="../avoid-indirection/" class="md-nav__link"> 913 914 915 916 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 917 918 919 Avoid Indirection 920 921 922 923 </span> 924 925 926 927 </a> 928 </li> 929 930 931 932 933 934 935 936 937 938 939 <li class="md-nav__item"> 940 <a href="../write-dumb-code/" class="md-nav__link"> 941 942 943 944 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 945 946 947 Write Dumb Code 948 949 950 951 </span> 952 953 954 955 </a> 956 </li> 957 958 959 960 961 </ul> 962 </nav> 963 964 </li> 965 966 967 968 969 970 971 972 973 974 975 976 977 978 979 980 981 982 983 984 <li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--section md-nav__item--nested"> 985 986 987 988 989 990 <input class="md-nav__toggle md-toggle md-toggle--indeterminate" type="checkbox" id="__nav_4" > 991 992 993 <label class="md-nav__link" for="__nav_4" id="__nav_4_label" tabindex=""> 994 995 996 997 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 998 999 1000 Personal 1001 1002 1003 1004 </span> 1005 1006 1007
1008 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 1009 </label> 1010 1011 <nav class="md-nav" data-md-level="1" aria-labelledby="__nav_4_label" aria-expanded="false"> 1012 <label class="md-nav__title" for="__nav_4"> 1013 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 1014 1015 1016 Personal 1017 1018 1019 </label> 1020 <ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-scrollfix> 1021 1022 1023 1024 1025 1026 1027 1028 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1029 <a href="../camino/" class="md-nav__link"> 1030 1031 1032 1033 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 1034 1035 1036 I Walked across Spain 1037 1038 1039 1040 </span> 1041 1042 1043 1044 </a> 1045 </li> 1046 1047 1048 1049 1050 </ul> 1051 </nav> 1052 1053 </li> 1054 1055 1056 1057 </ul> 1058 1059 <!-- Recent Articles - uses same nav markup for consistent styling --> 1060 1061 <ul class="md-nav__list recent-articles-section" data-md-scrollfix> 1062 <li class="md-nav__item md-nav__item--section"> 1063 <span class="md-nav__link">Recent</span> 1064 <ul class="md-nav__list"> 1065 1066 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1067 <a href="../frisky-xarray/" class="md-nav__link">Frisky and Xarray Example</a> 1068 </li> 1069 1070 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1071 <a href="../ai-2026-06/" class="md-nav__link">Updated Thoughts on AI</a> 1072 </li> 1073 1074 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1075 <a href="../stepping-back/" class="md-nav__link">Stepping Back</a> 1076 </li> 1077 1078 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1079 <a href="../winner-take-all/" class="md-nav__link">Saying Goodbye to Winner-take-all Software</a> 1080 </li> 1081 1082 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1083 <a href="../claude-chic-week-2/" class="md-nav__link">Claude Chic: Week 2</a> 1084 </li> 1085 1086 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1087 <a href="../articles/" class="md-nav__link more-articles-link">⦠More articles</a> 1088 </li> 1089 </ul> 1090 </li> 1091 </ul> 1092 1093</nav> 1094 </div> 1095 </div> 1096 </div> 1097 1098 1099 1100 <div class="md-sidebar md-sidebar--secondary" data-md-component="sidebar" data-md-type="toc" > 1101 <div class="md-sidebar__scrollwrap"> 1102 <div class="md-sidebar__inner"> 1103 1104 1105<nav class="md-nav md-nav--secondary" aria-label="Table of contents"> 1106 1107 1108 1109 1110 1111 1112 <label class="md-nav__title" for="__toc"> 1113 <span class="md-nav__icon md-icon"></span> 1114 Table of contents 1115 </label> 1116 <ul class="md-nav__list" data-md-component="toc" data-md-scrollfix> 1117 1118 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1119 <a href="#beginning-again" class="md-nav__link"> 1120 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 1121 1122 Beginning again 1123 1124 </span> 1125 </a> 1126 1127</li> 1128 1129 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1130 <a href="#programming-feels-fun-again" class="md-nav__link"> 1131 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 1132 1133 Programming feels fun again 1134 1135 </span> 1136 </a> 1137 1138</li> 1139 1140 <li class="md-nav__item"> 1141 <a href="#learning-from-python" class="md-nav__link"> 1142 <span class="md-ellipsis"> 1143 1144 Learning from Python 1145 1146 </span> 1147 </a> 1148 1149</li> 1150 1151 </ul> 1152 1153</nav> 1154 </div> 1155 </div> 1156 </div> 1157 1158 1159 1160 <div class="md-content" data-md-component="content"> 1161 1162 <article class="md-content__inner md-typeset"> 1163 1164 1165 1166 1167 1168 1169<h1 id="were-all-beginners-again">We're all Beginners Again<a class="headerlink" href="#were-all-beginners-again" title="Permanent link">¶</a></h1> 1170<p>While interviewing early adopters of <a href="/introducing-claude-chic">Claude Chic</a> I heard two common refrains:</p> 1171<ul> 1172<li>"Oh, I'm not very advanced with AI"</li> 1173<li>"Programming feels fun again!"</li> 1174</ul> 1175<p>These feelings were universal. I thought they'd be good to share out loud.</p> 1176<h2 id="beginning-again">Beginning again<a class="headerlink" href="#beginning-again" title="Permanent link">¶</a></h2> 1177<p>Everyone was anxious sharing how they worked with AI, afraid of being judged for not being advanced enough. Here's the thing:</p> 1178<blockquote> 1179<p>No one is very advanced with AI</p> 1180</blockquote> 1181<p>No one I spoke with was using multi-agent swarms or GasTown or whatever. But everyone <em>was</em> doing something different. The space is wide-open and no one has the answer yet. This should make us fearless.</p> 1182<p>We're all beginners again, and that's what makes it fun. It's like being twenty years old at university, the world full of possibilities.</p> 1183<h2 id="programming-feels-fun-again">Programming feels fun again<a class="headerlink" href="#programming-feels-fun-again" title="Permanent link">¶</a></h2> 1184<p>Everyone is in good spirits, despite the anxiety.</p> 1185<p>To me this feels like Python did 15 years ago when there was so much to build and so much new ground to cover. We were in a green field inventing the future against all odds, rather than maintaining legacy software under an increasing weight of success.</p> 1186<p>Today I see people working on personal side-projects, goofing around, playing.</p> 1187<p>I'm reminded of these quotes from director Francis Ford Coppola during the making of his recent film/boondoggle, Megalopolis</p> 1188<blockquote> 1189<p>"You know why I'm doing this? I have money, I already have fame, I already have Oscars."<br/> 1190"What do I get that I want? Tell me."</p> 1191<p>"Fun! I wanna have Fun."</p> 1192</blockquote> 1193<p>and</p> 1194<blockquote> 1195<p>"All the great things in life come from play, never from work, never from toil".</p> 1196<p>"Toil gives you nothing. Play gives you everything."</p> 1197</blockquote> 1198<p>We're having fun again, and that's fantastic.</p> 1199<h2 id="learning-from-python">Learning from Python<a class="headerlink" href="#learning-from-python" title="Permanent link">¶</a></h2> 1200<p>I had the privilege to experience the growth of the Python data ecosystem from the inside, before it became cool. The way I feel now reminds me of how we felt then.</p> 1201<p>Not everything is the same though. I think we could improve our culture of communication. What I'd like to see more of:</p> 1202<ul> 1203<li>More casual sharing of <em>how</em> we work (not just the tools or products we've built)</li> 1204<li>More questioning and critical thinking about popular directions (are multi-agent swarms really the way of the future?)</li> 1205<li>More chats over beers without an agenda</li> 1206</ul> 1207<p>
1207With COVID and remote work we've gotten too efficient with our communication. We need more un-conferences and hallway tracksâthe unstructured spaces where real ideas emerge.</p> 1208 1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1223 1224 1225 1226
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