In defense of hiring the generalist
Specialization has been the right career shape for twenty years. I think that just ended, and my own weird résumé is the argument.
Specialization has been the right career shape for twenty years. I think that just ended, and my own weird résumé is the argument.
The highest-value thing I do with an agent is read its output in real time and stop it the second it says something incongruent. Every trend in tooling pushes the other way.
Most agent setup work is procrastination with excellent tooling. The tell is that the builder cannot name a single shipped outcome it caused.
Nobody is running the control arm, including me. Every productivity number in this field is therefore unfalsifiable, and we should say so.
I ran digital for three national campaigns. Election day is set by law, and it taught me more about shipping than any methodology has.
Staying in the code was the compromise I was quietly embarrassed about for fifteen years. The economics just made it the correct position.
I have written PHP since 1999, on version 4. Twenty-seven years of watching confident practice become embarrassing is a specific kind of training.
Team structure, headcount planning, and career ladders were all designed around a constraint that no longer binds.