So one of the effects of being really into using AI to create portfolio management tools and streamlining my work is that I actually think that it's now warranted to pick up new technical skills. But these are not the traditional coding skills that engineers need to do their work. To utilise AI to become a stronger builder, one has to pick up skills in technical architecture, which is too steep a learning curve for me, as I lack the basic foundations to start.
So naturally, I turned to AI to suggest a plan for me based on where I am and where I needed to go as a builder.
And AI pointed to The Pragmatic Programmer by Thomas and Hunt.
This turned out to be an enjoyable, relaxed read, and the advice is so powerful and general that I suspect the skills transfer across domains. After all, a legal contract is just a piece of code in English, ultimately parsed and compiled by a human judge or the counterparties. Simple maxims like "Don't Repeat Yourself" and Orthogonality are useful even in contract drafting or hardware systems design.
Looks like I might have to find an excuse to teach my Data Analytics students this if they aspire to higher education.
( For folk in Law, the equivalent text is Learning the Law by Glanville Williams, which Min Shan recommends every law student read 4 times before embarking on a legal course. I must be so mediocre because I read it only once. There is, sadly, no equivalent in finance; The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham is great but does not come close. )
Of course, that's not the only book that was interesting.
Dungeon Crawler Carl is the flagship offering in the LitRPG genre, and the author likely has years of gaming experience to write a work as absurd and entertaining as this series.
The story is about a guy named Carl and his girlfriend's Persian Cat called Princess Doughnut, going on a dungeon crawl and starring in a reality show watched by almost every alien in the universe.
The most exciting thing about this book is that I was raving about it so much that my 10-year-old son has started reading it.
Parents who read the book will note how violent and vulgar it is, but I'll do anything to get my own to read a book that is just words.
Ok, this summarises the personal updates on my blog. We will get back to regular programming on this blog after this.
