Link archive: April 5th, 2019

Simon Collison | Identity at Dot York 2018

After two decades in tech, I realise phones and social media won’t be going away, so we work with them. My take is that I now need to seek positive digital tools that connect more of us to the non-digital world and really benefit our lives.

Why Computer Programmers Should Stop Calling Themselves Engineers - The Atlantic

This article by Ian Bogost from a few years back touches on one of the themes in the talk I gave at New Adventures:

“Engineer” conjures the image of the hard-hat-topped designer-builder, carefully crafting tomorrow. But such an aspiration is rarely realized by computing. The respectability of engineering, a feature built over many decades of closely controlled, education- and apprenticeship-oriented certification, becomes reinterpreted as a fast-and-loose commitment to craftwork as business.

You probably don’t need that hip web framework - Charged

This is a bit ranty but it resonates with what I’ve been noticing lately:

I’ve discovered how many others have felt similarly, overwhelmed by the choices we have as modern developers, always feeling like there’s something we should be doing better.