Now NowNow

Summer was hot and joyful. Now it’s over, which means more time indoors doing one of my favorite things: sitting in front of my computer.”

I haven’t been doing serious coding work for a while now, so I feel like starting again with a fresh mind. I haven’t done much serious coding for a while, and I’m ready to get back to it with a fresh mind. But it feels strange to return to a field that seems to have changed so much in only a couple of months. It feels like software engineering has changed more in the past year than in the ten years before it.

Having AI write code for us can feel threatening. It’s also one of the most exciting changes I’ve seen in software engineering.

What a time to be working with software. With the right mindset and a bit of determination, anyone can build almost anything now.

Look at Felix Rieseberg’s 3D website (disclaimer: he’s an EM at Anthropic). In the past, this would take weeks of creative exploration, design, 3D modeling, and coding. It took him 48 hours from idea to the finished site.

I find that building with AI unleashes levels of creativity I haven’t been able to achieve otherwise. Many ideas were simply not economically feasible. The question I keep asking myself isn’t “Will this make me obsolete?”. It’s “Am I ambitious enough?”.

Earlier this year, I left Packhelp after several years of riding the startup rollercoaster. Instead of chasing the next thing, I decided to give myself a real break—a time think about what I want next.

I came across a study on sabbaticals that described a pattern I liked: recover → explore → practice. I’m using that as a loose guide (source).

With AI changing how we work, I want to stay open-minded and flexible. This might mean a time with less income, but in the long term, staying happy and avoiding burnout is what matters most to me.

So far, I’ve spent some of this time on a fun side quests:

• Finally got a real camera (Fuji X100). Taking photos more deliberately has made me more observant. I notice more interesting and beautiful moments, and I’ve come to appreciate other photographers’ work more. I also played around with video editing in DaVinci Resolve.
• Redesigned how I store and manage photos. For years, I used Apple Photos and watched my library—and my Apple bill—keep growing. I’ve now moved to an automated, file-based setup using an SSD and cloud storage. I might write about it separately.
• Moved my notes from Bear to Obsidian. I like working with plain-text files: they’re durable, simple, greppable, and quick to work with. I set up my vault with AI and agents in mind. I’m still figuring out the workflow, but it’s already proven useful a couple of times.