Top all-time · #19533
Calvin Correli
Personal blog · calvincorreli.comprogrammingcareer
Calvin Correli's personal blog at calvincorreli.com covers programming and career. Since 2016, 4 different Hacker News readers have linked it 4 times. The last post was in 2022, but the archive is still widely read.
Too few sampled comments (3) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters cite this blog's posts, including one on knowing which screw to tighten, as support for points about consulting, AI replacing jobs, and REPL-based command-line work. No comment praises or criticises the writing.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 3 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
Most-linked posts?
- /blog/1397-knowing-which-screw-to-turn3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2019-02-28
What Hacker News says?
I agree. I think a REPL (which I consider the command line to be one of) and something like Excel to be immensely useful no matter what the language or proficiency. I think code is much sturdier and I'm more likely to experiment if I can iterate over code after typing every few words instead of (even in a language I'm proficient at) writing a whole page of code, then running it to correct my typos and errors. I work…
Comment linking /blog/1397-knowing-which-screw-to-turn
on “The hard part in becoming a command line wizard”Submitted I've had to admit that I really truly don't care that much about software as a story · 1 points
HN discussionThe course notes for MITs Statistics For Applications are online, so you can learn all you need to know what you need and to write the right prompts! Right? Consultants prove their value in knowing which screw needs to be tightened, not in tightening the screws. ( https://calvincorreli.com/blog/1397-knowing-which-screw-to-t... ) LLMs won't replace that until they can guide a complete novice to the answer.
Comment linking /blog/1397-knowing-which-screw-to-turn
on “"McKinsey in a Box": The End of Strategic Consulting?”A lot of jobs don't need a human for anything from 80-99% of their work tasks and can be replaced by an LLM or other form of AI/ML. As an employer, you hire the human for the 1-20% where you actually need the experience - to quote the punchline of an old but gold joke [1]: > The revised bill arrived: $1.00 for turning the screw; $9,999.00 for knowing which screw to turn. In many a company, the "old neckbeards" and "…
Comment linking /blog/1397-knowing-which-screw-to-turn
on “I'm Tired of Talking to AI”