I Like to Make Things

I like to make things. I make things with wood, solder things for electronics, craft things with fabric, and build software to solve problems.

My career has covered several industries and many programming languages, and seen a lot of tool changes along the way.

Lately I’ve been learning to use AI tools in my workflow. I like using tmux so I can switch between different tools and applications, so I’ve been learning how to operate AI tools in that. There are also IDE plugins, AI-based IDEs (shout-out Cursor), chat-based interfaces, voice-based interfaces, and all sorts of glue involved.

I am not sad. I still get to build things, and the ramp-up time to different stacks is much shorter than it used to be.

When this comes up, I get two responses. Some people I talk to are excited to hear that I’ve been keeping up. Some are just surprised. For both, I want to clarify: my motivation isn’t the specific languages and IDEs. It’s the act of making things. I find satisfaction in making things, and also when what I’m making is solving a problem for someone else.

I think a good career is guided by always learning what works and what you can do. Not finding one thing and repeating it forever. The tools will keep changing. The making is the part that stays.