Seconded. I have been using nixos for a few years. I don't use it for everything, but I like it for dev. It was weird at first, and there were one or two early blocking problems I had to solve before I could do work. Like how do I set gpg pin-entry, but I forget stuff like that and have to search for it on any platform. At least on nixos is all written down somewhere even if I'm too lazy to take notes.
The installer is super easy to use; full disk encryption is baked in if you want it, the default desktop is fine, and the overwhelming majority of my config is just the apps I want installed by default.
I love this because it makes my desktop or laptop totally commodified: if I break my laptop I can get another one out of the closet and:
-- install nixos in 10 minutes
-- copy a couple of stanzas out of my nix config file into the new system one
-- untar a backup /home/user
-- `nix rebuild switch`
-- drink a beer
No installing a bunch of dev environment stuff. No greping internet for 'gpg pin-entry' or 'how to install docker' because I had to write that into a config in the first place. Basically I like nixos because I'm a lazy fucker and it makes me front end load the work so I only have to do it once.
Also, these days if I have trouble writing a nix thing I can usually just vibecode my way out of the problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Oddly, literally everything you just described is true about my pure remote software engineering position, except I had to get bachelors in computer science first.
Many years ago someone's caramel Ho-Ho's ended up in a bag of my groceries forgotten by a previous customer at the check out isle, I suspect. I didn't notice until I was home so I put them in the cupboard over the stove and more or less forgot about them. Some time later, when I'd had rather too much to drink, I found them and tried to eat one. It could not be done. They were somehow super-stimulating and totally vile at the same time.
I really think stuff like this is ambiguously between drugs and food, and I feel lucky to have been born without much of a sweet tooth.
I don't think I could get high enough to eat a Twinkie. This isn't meant to be morally superior in any way. I have plenty of other vices, and I think I just lucked out on that one.
Me too, processed food FTW! I recall as a boy, a LONG time ago in the 1950s, paying 5 cents for a 2-pack of Twinkies and loving every bite. I buy a package every couple years just for lulz and I STILL love them!
>> You find yourself in a dark house. You search your person and find nothing but a debit card and a luminescent tablet. Staring into the ceaseless abyss, suddenly you remember: you have parts to acquire for your new computer.
This is obviously the cheap simulation that the Muskian overlords will put me in when I have outlived my usefulness... or perhaps they already have? (-᷅_-᷄)
Love GMG, glad to see it at number one here. It's really quite amazing how much funnier and yet more profound it is without Garfield. If you like this, you might also enjoy Nietzsche Family Circus: https://www.nietzschefamilycircus.com/
I used to have one stuck to the door of my doom room. No one laughed. :(
I actually thought the same thing. Maybe the misunderstanding here has to do with what kind of manager. An engineering manager making 250k would be making less than many senior software engineers, but if this also includes many managers of people putting shit in boxes, or the average of the two categories, it would make more sense?
I don't know about that region, or whether they were trying to create a breakfast that would sound classy but credible to a Westerner.
However, I can say from first hand experience that home cooked Russian breakfasts in Vladivostok were mind bending. As an American, when I eat breakfast but it's a small and simple affair. A cup of oatmeal and some coffee, maybe eggs if I feel ambitious.
The Russians I stayed with made hela breakfast every morning. Like a huge potluck dinner made from recognizable ingredients in very unexpected combinations. While I'm sure they were spoiling me a little because I was a guest, it was always the biggest meal of the day. One memorable example was buttered noodles and meatballs, bread, butter, cheese, cucumber slices, coffee and tea with condensed sweetened milk, and even a little dark chocolate for desert. I'm probably forgetting more stuff.
Also the kids (10 and 8) drank coffee! I think they were mostly in it for the sweetened condensed milk though.
It's probably more that most Americans typically have very little for breakfast.
Around here, cornbread and sausage gravy, coffee (milk or tea for my teenager) is a not-uncommon Saturday breakfast. I think I made a variety of muffins last weekend. Or home-made corned beef hash with scrambled eggs, etc. You get the idea.
OTOH, during the week it's probably something simple like a sausage patty on a toasted English muffin, maybe with a scrambled egg (my version of a McMuffin). Or cereal if I'm not feeling it.
I have had Caesar and other salads for breakfast. Salads are really delicious when you don't want a heavy meal and they're quick and easy to make.
I’m okay with a heavy breakfast. It’s the mixture of Caesar salad, omelette and coffee that doesn’t sit well with me. I’ll take some cold romaine lettuce with my eggs, or some hot spinach, but something about Caesar salad - maybe the dressing? - feels distinctly “lunch or dinner only” to me.
I'm helping an enthusiastic young adult family member write an indie game in a similar space. I'm a professional software engineer in the full stack/security space but I don't have much experience in graphics or games. We would be thrilled just to get it implemented, and we're close, on steam, and get a couple real players. Currently it's running in the browser and on android.
I think he has very good taste in games, and is learning to code very quickly, so I'm acting in a supporting technical role.
-- What are the crucial skills, technical or otherwise, that I should learn to be effective in this space?
-- We're currently using the Godot environment, which feels a bit limiting to me (easy to start but: IDE is just ok, config feels GUI dependent/doesn't facilitate committing atomic deployment or other project changes...) Is there a different stack, or other complimentary tools I could learn that might be a better fit for a more professional dev workflow?
Unity is kind of the default, worth trying out at least. I’ve been using it for 6+ years for money-making hobby projects. It’s not without its problems, but there are a lot of perks to using the same engine that all the pro gamedevs are using.
I think this is about as reasonable as conflating all hippies with Manson, or all Christians with the Waco people.
I have met a few "rationalist" types, and I went to a "rationalist" meetup in San Francisco, although they called it something else and didn't care for that label, but couldn't really get other people to stop calling them that.
The overall vibe was like a tech meetup crossed with a church picnic. There were a lot of programmers and grad students there to do a little professional networking, talk about books they like, whether they should be donating to charity a little, which charities worked best, and how to avoid throwing away the leftover cookies.
The subject of AI millennialism was not broached in my presence, all though I did meet some people who were working on AI. If there were any psychos or cult leaders there (or trans people for that matter), I didn't notice, and no one tried to recruit me to anything. It was a totally normal and pleasant experience.
The installer is super easy to use; full disk encryption is baked in if you want it, the default desktop is fine, and the overwhelming majority of my config is just the apps I want installed by default.
I love this because it makes my desktop or laptop totally commodified: if I break my laptop I can get another one out of the closet and:
-- install nixos in 10 minutes
-- copy a couple of stanzas out of my nix config file into the new system one
-- untar a backup /home/user
-- `nix rebuild switch`
-- drink a beer
No installing a bunch of dev environment stuff. No greping internet for 'gpg pin-entry' or 'how to install docker' because I had to write that into a config in the first place. Basically I like nixos because I'm a lazy fucker and it makes me front end load the work so I only have to do it once.
Also, these days if I have trouble writing a nix thing I can usually just vibecode my way out of the problem. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯