Product engineer Read more code
27 | India | he/him | wfh
Joined May 2020
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Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
Yaar, sometimes I genuinely don't understand people.
Yesterday, I went to a Dandiya night because one of my friends insisted. I wasn't even planning to go, but he was like, "Bhai, bas ek ghante ke liye aa ja. Tere ghar ke bagal mein hi toh hai."
So I thought, okay, why not?
Met a few people from different colleges, all final-year B.Tech students.
Out of curiosity, I asked, "Bhai, placements ho gayi tumhari?"
None of them were placed. Which is completely fine. Not getting placed isn't the problem.
What surprised me was how casually they were taking everything. No real preparation, no urgency, no clear plan for what comes next.
And just as I was about to leave, they started asking me, "Bhai, coding kahan se start karein? Kya seekhein? Kaise shuru karein?"
And I was genuinely speechless.
Bro, you're in your fourth year. College is almost over, and you're only now thinking about where to start?
I get that everyone has a different journey, and not everyone figures things out at the same time.
But at some point, you have to take responsibility for your own future.
I feel like we don't just have an unemployment problem in India. We also have a serious problem with a lack of ambition, urgency, and ownership among some students.
You can teach someone to code. You can give them a roadmap, resources, mentorship, and opportunities.
But you cannot force someone to want a better life for themselves.
As someone once said,
"Hunger can't be taught."
Anyway, I bought myself a cold drink, walked back home sipping it.
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
As you invite more agents to our work, and create software factories to be more productive than ever, you’ll soon outsource everything to an agent, even the thinking.
The work you will do will feel frictionless, it will feel amazing on the surface, but once you go a bit deeper, it’ll feel extremely shallow. It won’t reflect the struggles you went through, your decisions, and ideas.
It will no longer remind you of you and the work you aspire to.
You will turn into just another extremely efficient producer of things, but not a creator like you were before.
Invite friction to your work.
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
Dear Prime Minister Ambani,
Please accept my humble apologies for not realizing that you are the real boss of India.
Naturally, you would prefer to maintain your monopolistic exploitation of the great people of India, but would you nonetheless consider allowing Starlink to compete?
There are many areas of India, as there are in all countries, with no Internet access, which denies children the opportunity for education and for small businesses the opportunity to sell their goods to a global market. Starlink would change their lives for the better.
Thank you 🙏
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Just in case you need a better editor, @genmotionhq is always free to use 😅
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
Money doesn't buy happiness is probably the biggest misunderstood quote. It's true but it's misunderstood.
Its only applicable when you have made enough money not to worry about it. Lot of people use it as an excuse to stay lazy.
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
AI can write the code.
AI can write the docs.
AI can write the tests.
AI can even write the PR description explaining why the code is definitely correct.
What it cannot reliably do is decide what should be built, ask the uncomfortable question in the room, convince people to change direction, or notice that everyone is solving the wrong problem.
As the cost of producing output keeps dropping, the value shifts to judgment, communication, taste, context, and knowing what not to do.
So yes, soft skills matter. They are just becoming increasingly hard requirements.
Soft skills are not really "soft" anymore.
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
be curious. adapt. think AI first and multiply your productivity by building great systems around it.
manual coding is gone (in most cases), so, focussing on building a great verification system and making sure no bugs leak in your code and crafting great experience is what will keep people relevant.
earlier people could survive basis coding, but now it will be business impact, product thinking, and engg.
Criston Mascarenhas retweeted
unsolved problem in software: editing PDFs — what an absolute nightmare.
