As usual, we’ll talk about the week’s tech events and what they’ve been up to recently, and I’ll probably talk about joining NetFoundry and working as a developer advocate promoting OpenZiti and the AI platform that builds on it.
The video features the How Computers Work “Under the Hood” presentation that I gave at a Tampa Devs meetup on November 15, 2023.
In the presentation, I start by talking about the CPU chips in our computers, phones, and electronic devices:
…and then proceed to talk about the building blocks for these chips, transistors:
Then, after a quick introduction to the 6502 processor, which powered a lot of 1980s home computers…
…I introduced 6502 assembly language programming:
Watch the video, and learn how your computer works “under the hood!”
If you’d like to follow along with the video try out the exercises I demonstrated, you can do so from the comfort of your own browser — just follow this guide!
(YouTube titles and thumbnails can be changed even after the video is posted, and many YouTubers change them as they figure out which versions attract “search” and “browse” viewers.)
Selected moments from the video
Near the start of the video, I suggest to viewers that they try to come up with their own mantra to help them through their layoff journey:
I also remind viewers that there’s a difference between being fired and being laid off:
Here are some layoff stats to reassure you that if you’ve been laid off, you’re not alone:
Making things worse is the fact that shareholders love layoffs — they’re cost savings, which can boost stock prices:
Remember this motto:
I also go through some of the items in the Life Events Inventory, a ranked list of the most stressful events in life. Guess where getting laid off is in the list — I won’t show you kere, though; you’ll have to watch the video!
Here’s the most pithy advice I have for expressing the emotions you may have in the aftermath of being laid off, courtesy of Scott Hanselman:
I talk about the benefits of exercise…
…remind the viewer that it’s always 5 p.m. somewhere…
…and yes, I make a reference not just to “That Site,” but That Site’s identifying drum riff:
You don’t need a unicorn gratitude journal to make it through a layoff, but you should practice gratitude to help you through the process:
I suggest that it might be therapeutic to get rid of at least some of your (former) company swag, but hang on to the stuff that’s useful. I’m hanging on to the Patagonia sweater they sent to me (ironically, a week or so before they laid me off) because it’s nice and warm, and I’m willing to put up with the “VC Bro’ vibes it gives off:
And finally, here’s one of the images I use to explain that if you need therapy or counseling, get it:
How did the CrowdStrike Bug of July 19, 2024 take down 8.5 million Windows systems and cause the biggest global outage of all time? I’ll explain in this video, where you’ll also learn about operating systems, the kernel, device drivers, and more!
Some techies hold the attitude that “what I do is important, and what you do isn’t,” and the more socially savvy ones don’t say the quiet part out loud.
But Mira Murati, OpenAI’s CTO, did just that onstage at her alma mater, Dartmouth University, where she said this about AI displacing jobs in creative lines of work:
Some creative jobs maybe will go away, but maybe they shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
The laws of time, effort, and experience make it very clear: I’m in the middle of making my worst videos right now, and you’ll want to subscribe to see how bad they are!
…and the second is a blast from the past — a promotional video featuring images of a lot of top-tier developers, followed by an image that’s supposed to represent you, the everyday developer…and guess whose image they used:
There’ll be a mix of short- and long-form videos, where I’ll cover software development topics and technology news in interesting, unusual, and amusing ways.
I’m spending the month of June working on the first set of videos, which I’ll release as quickly as I can, so you know they’ll be bad. And if you’re thinking “But HOW bad?”, there’s only one way to find out: visit the channel and subscribe!
