It’s funny how we have tech and automate a lot of stuff, add some monitoring for the tech, then employ people to watch those monitoring tools. It’s like the more we have or develop, the more we lose sleep over, especially companies that want to stay ahead of the curve or protect massive data. With the introduction of AI, it’s not even getting better, especially for industries which parade and wear it like a badge: “We use AI to blah blah blah…” Firstly, I think only a small number of the AI market benefits the end user, and companies who depend on real humans for revenue should not be singing AI at the top of their lungs. After all, they’re serving humans, not robots.
A thorn in one Bolt driver’s side in South Africa caught my attention. The driver was frustrated by the sudden closure of Bolt’s physical offices and moving their services towards AI. Folks, we know what that means: removing humans to leave customers to interact with AI chatbots. The poor driver was left with Fred (AI chatbot), frustrated with the lack of context comprehension to his service request and not pleased with the tone detection instilled in Fred, which gave readings that he’s angry when interacting with Fred. As a bystander, that is not a good move. Starting from the top, being a driver is not easy—from customers to other drivers on the road causing chaos throughout your day. Then AI is not good at detecting different English dialects that are influenced by African languages. We do not speak the Queen’s English in Africa, as our languages are rich in expression and it’s hard being constrained to the English language pack. Back to Fred: I felt bad for the poor driver as I’ve had my fair share with AI bots calling me and trying to use them to search for information (score still zero, never won). Bolt should ask Duolingo what happened when human-serving employees were removed/reduced from the equation—definitely the other side didn’t balance at all.
It is 00:13. I am writing this because of a two-hour session I had speaking to Google Gemini. Please don’t judge me; I won’t judge you. What I have concluded reminds me of a few years back when I was in the integration space. Our project management tool (not dropping names, but it starts with J, ha ha) was very slow. For several weeks there was an investigation. In the end, one team created a script that went berserk and created millions of insertions to the tool, which is in a shared space within the different units. This was hilarious for me, because all these tools we create keep us up at night, and automation—when it goes wrong, you won’t know immediately, as it’s watching the system, but there is no one watching the watcher. And if there was, then who will watch the watcher of a watcher? See where this is going? Hint: Tower of Hanoi (recursion). Guys, we’re going to lose sleep over this. Can we just think for a moment: who are we serving? And insert AI where it makes sense, with robust guardrails that do not impose themselves on our finances.
The cloud, AI, and rushing to modernize everything is just hurting real humans. We need to take stock of ourselves and think thoroughly: is this for good (including morally good profit) or experimental with no blast radius contingency? After all, we all serve humans and we are also humans.
“Open the flood gates of heaven” ~Michael W. Smith
It finally rained two times in a day. Oh man, we miss this nourishment from above; there is nothing like rain. The grass outside is joyous of the rain, for it radiates green to show it quenched from the much-needed water. Nothing compares to rain; as I walk outside, those who water their grass with hosepipes can be seen. Green is their grass, but not golden green; only rain can provide. I wish for this joyous season of rain to continue and rain where the reservoirs collect water, because we were approaching day zero with the water restrictions. No provision from above is greater than rain; all provisions are given freely, but rain is the most appreciated.
I love rain, for it removes my worry about water scarcity, for I have experienced mild drought when I was young; it has always stuck with me till my adulthood, but just like the rainbow, I am reminded of his faithfulness by the pouring of rain. Thank you for rain; without it, all life dries out to death. Rain rain, for the Lord has open joy to thee earth; let all seed flourish by the nourishment of rain; let the sweet aroma left by the dry ground quenching thirst be a testemant of his provisional way to our life.
I am apart with the use of AI. I always considered myself a purist, with no adoption of AI, especially in its early state. I continued using Google Search for debugging at work, while my team members used ChatGPT. I have a fear that my creativity will be dependent on AI or greatly reduced by the use of AI.
In my mind, AI is created through the use of existing data or information produced by humans like me, speaking on generative AI. With all the legal battles going on over who gave permission for their work to be used and 3rd parties selling information or AI engineers using illegal data to train their models, it’s a whole dimension of crime happening; a market arises of thefts, to put it simply. This poses a question: if AI is made with human image, then why do the fights exist?. Let’s look at it in a physical sense: if I steal your piece of work, especially a researched article you prouduced and used it to write a better one, what are the consequences of that act? If it were in varsity, plagairms would be the charge, but this is not my point to argue; all I am saying is that I will be stealing someone’s art in using the product that is made with their effort and not being incentivized for it.
When it comes to AI, herdmentality comes to mind. I have compared ChatGPT with Claude on small queries, and they seem to be all from the same school of information, while the other got an edge that is not that outstanding in any way. The question is this: is it good for our generation to have that herdmentality in our AI use? Of course there is specific task AI, but they will always get competition, which they will only edge with contextual data indigestion. With this point, I am very skeptical to be vendor locked into heard mentality context generation.
Oh the data sharing hinderence, at work we stopped using AI a bit when the data sharing that it used pose a threat to trade scrrets, not sure how that was solved, coming back to ask ourselves, with the use of our own data pasted on the query, the inclusion of that data makes it better for others, is that right?. One could argue the internat was built that way with people’s contibution, which leads me to my other point to follow on the contribution.
The internt stopped being watered with new information, a decline I have seen in stackoverflow responses; people no longer submit answers to questions, as it’s better to solve it with AI and leave it there, not to share with the world, so the adverse hindrance of data sharing seems to be justified to preserve this growth of the internent.
I could say more to my arguments, but back to my biggest fear, a diminshment on my creatveity due to lack of exercising the muscle, as everything you just type and it responds. Someone can point me to another perspective to look at AI with the same lens of computers processing power increasing to the better for enabling humans to advance and archive more, but I just feel it doesn’t touch the soul of creativity like generative AI.
I recently adopted Copilot because of a lot of ESQL mapping spaning 2 thousand lines at work I had to do. The code completion is very helpful in producing a big cunk, but I was 70% done in the project while doing this, so it seems it used my previous hundreds of lines to put these predictions it impressed me with. There is a potential to cut the time at no cost in creativity, I guess.
Speed—those AI are fast. One thing I have to hand to them is that they make people produce things faster. I wonder what’s going to be the next interview measure as everyone is going to use when AI can be prompted to do someone’s work. Let me not continue this route and conclude here my arguments on AI usage.
I remember there was a time bursting with creativity and hope for the future. Bright the future was, not knowing any boundaries. Oh Lord, what is this drop on my candle? Something happened that changed the course of life. The creative side was suppressed and starved of growth. Risks were not avoided, but now that’s all gone, none are taken. Dead is the art, as it does not pay rent, but it feeds connection to the soul. Our maker did not make us without it, for it’s a friend to life’s journey. Can we get back to the solitudes of life, where we look forward to the next day, for the present work is guaranteed to brighten tomorrow? So many projects are dying a painful death; already the graveyard is full of bodies. We scroll our lives away infinitely on social media and wait our lives on others slow statuses. Can this get worse?. Never ask that when the government is still sinking us into debts while corruption and crime keep on making sure nothing grows beyond sustainability. Is there a way out of this gruesome cycle of life? Not without heartbreak of the close friends losing their jobs and facing harsh life of uncertain income. I repeat, is there a way out? . Exodus!, the Lord can only be the only way out, the truth, and the light to what we lost. We can only try to go back to the unfitting, overgrown, and irrelevant moments in our lives, just to patch what it was or what it could have become. Strive for stewardship of what the Lord has given. He waters what is inside, for it can be suppressed but never be taken, used but never be useless. Let us heal from all that is lost in time in our very own eyes.
“Unlocking knowledge is like discovering the limitless horizon of the unknown.” ~ Aristotle
Embarking on the exhilarating path of software development, I plunged headfirst into the realm of full-stack wizardry, leaving no stone unturned. This journey was a symphony of exploration, where every note of coding and design was played, but only briefly savored. It’s a rite of passage I recommend to every budding developer, a whirlwind tour of the software development life cycle (SDLC) that provides a panoramic understanding of the digital landscape being woven. The full stack, a canvas where mastery of all trades is attempted; but remember, while Jack famously struggled, there are modern-day artisans – Jill, Henry, and James – who have cracked the code to full stack brilliance.
Yet, the secret to mastery lies not in casting a wide net, but in channeling focus and embracing experience. The fear of the unknown kept me from appreciating the masters of specialization – the enigmatic Database Administrators (DB Admins). As a full-stack conjurer, conjuring databases was routine magic. But the true magic lay in understanding the DB Admin’s spell, mastering the art of data security, and conducting the symphony of database performance. This revelation dawned after a rendezvous with database essentials, humbling me in the face of their expertise.
Jill, Henry, and James are our modern-day bards, weaving sagas of mastery through experience. Full stack development, an orchestra of disciplines including backend and frontend, demands an encore of experience in each. To be the maestro, you must harmonize with the principles and patterns of these distinct domains. But fear not; levers await to facilitate your mastery. Behold, the framework, an orchestra conductor guiding a symphony of tools to compose a complete application masterpiece. And as you dabble and refine, your mastery grows, your mind a Stradivarius of software craftsmanship.
Now, in roars the Ferrari of the middleware world – Apache Camel (AC). It’s not just a route; it’s the Purosangue route, where messages traverse protocols like a racecar hugging curves from FTP to HTTP, and JMS to FTP. In this realm of Middleware development, AC stands as the ultimate gearshift, a gearshift backed by Enterprise Integration Patterns, ready to conquer any integration conundrum. The canvas is infinite – a message ballet that grants you the lead role.
In the midst of this technological ballad, my tryst with AC unfolded. FTP, HTTP, JMS – three protocols choreographed in harmony with Springboot and AC. The result? An integration virtuoso, a middleware minstrel. I played AC true to its notes, abstaining from importing extraneous dependencies. This experience wasn’t just a drive; it was a transformation. AC molded me into a middleware virtuoso.
Thus, I opine with conviction – Apache Camel isn’t just a tool, it’s a chariot to middleware mastery. With a bustling community of troubadours, you’re never alone on this winding path. Every pothole is but a footnote, every hurdle a mere prelude to a solution.
So, heed the call of mastery. Let your journey traverse full-stack vistas and middleware galaxies. Channel your inner Jill, Henry, or James, and let frameworks be your guiding star. Unleash your inner AC driver and become a middleware virtuoso. The digital realm is your canvas – paint your symphony of mastery!
I wanted to cry, but you are in a better place than what earth can afford you ~ pained heart
Mma is an African name for mother, I used that to call my grandmother because I grew up with my aunts and uncles and they would always utter that, to differentiate between the two I would call my mother Mama, which is another African language word for mother.
Mma passed away after a 3-decade battle with sugar diabetes, her healthy deteriorated drastically after her Doctor, my aunt passed away. My aunt was a nurse but to my grandma, she was her doctor because she kept her well for the longest time, now I get to think about it, how did she do it? cause the things she would do were fundamental and out there, like taking meds and eating healthy. I feel there was a more vital force between the two and that my grandma passed on because of the broken bond, talk about Broken Heart Syndrome.
Mma was a full-house person, she had all the features anyone could think of, right outside the box she did everything for us, from raising us and installing good ethics with good manners to complement them to hustling for us as a tycoon businesswoman with a variety of small businesses ranging from mini tuck shop at school, knitting cloths, selling floor polish before tiles were a thing, selling chicken anatomy(chicken feet, intestine, and heads) as the staple food for the township community and cool drinks. She had a brilliant mind for local business and understood her market very well. My grandma is from farming and domestic work experience wise, but she possessed the wisdom of a business tycoon, we always wondered if she went to school, where would her business ambition be today.
A Ndebele woman with multiple talents, my grandma also used to do Ndebele patterns patting like Ester Mahlangu, but got stopped by my grandfather to focus her energy somewhere else as he didn’t see how would it profit us back then. Another thing my grandma enjoyed is knitting, she used to do a lot of knitting of hats, gloves, and other things until she stopped cause her hand was giving her issues, think knitting people know this issue, but a few years back during covid, her knitting love was rekindled when my wife showed her some of the knittings she has been doing during covid and it sparked a fire after my wife left her with some wool and needle, from there on we got her more wools as she was knitting something and unknitting to do something else as she had no wool to play with, her last work was covers for her sofas.
I had an ultimate subscription to my grandma during my childhood and grew up in her house till I left after varsity, oh boy it’s not all sweets grandparents will spoil you as the grandchild affair, that works when you are a visiting grandchild. Other than my shenanigans, one thing I remember is that my grandma had an elephant memory, my mom used to come by once a month as she was working very far, and she would visit for two days during the weekend most of the time, the first day/night would be a happy day with gifts and everything, come the morning my grandma would give my shenanigans in bullet point to my mother and would get double jeopardy beaten(with a belt or fence tree), cause when I did them I also got a beating and a note from her that she will also tell my mother and they surely did when she came by, I did not know the law of double jeopardy back then, could have raised it with them, but been an African child, it doesn’t apply, guess you get the double discipline benefit.
I was a child full time with my grandparents, my grandma made sure of it, I never had to worry or sleep hungry, but on numerous occasions would switch to a vegetarian lifestyle and see meat weekend, ha ha. My grandparents took school very seriously and everything that stands in your way and school they would do everything in their power to remove it. As am typing this am in my bed in my cold house, but at Gandma’s house everything is central to the coal stove, especially in winter, we were always warm and in the kitchen, eating, doing homework, and just being family, during power outages we would not worry about tomorrow, in fact, we were looking forward to making it as an excuse to not go to school, but you would wake up with hot water ready(prepared early by grandma using paraffin stove) for you to bath and go to school. During school projects we used to get their extraordinary help, even with science projects, I remember my grandma enjoyed the seed germination project, cause she had a garden and experience during her farming times, and also arts and culture projects to showcase our culture.
A tribute to my grandma :
Not all heroes wear capes, but my grandma wore her duku diligently like a cape, at 1st site of our in-laws, she would rush to save the day and present them with some cool drink and tea for the relatives, she took it a step further and took my NY(New York) hip hop cap, with her duku under, looking like a durant and went to mochainna with it, after that I lost street credits, can’t blame her, it was a hot day.
4:30 pm was every kid’s favorite time during the Era of Dragon Ball Z, but my grandma found a way to generate money during that time at the expense of my fun time by sending me to mochainna, every single day of the week, I could only watch the recap, thanks to that I am good at making up stories or just watch the trailer of the movie and am set. Going to mochainna at least I got the weekends off like a proper worker, she would be on my aunt’s case to clean during the weekend like proper African parents, while listening to some Lundi, Helngiwe Mhlaba and Deborah Fraser gospel at its golden time.
A chef ahead of her time, my grand produced a classic dish only found in top restaurants, one day she cooked chicken with cinnamon, and we all thought it was a mistake, only years later when we could afford these high places we found the dish. At heart she was a business tycoon for our sustainability, she sold floor polish, chicken anatomy (malana, maotwana and ditlhogana), and coke drink, which got nurses from the clinic coming back for more.
Heaven has gained a manager for abundance, cause on earth she gave to all and was charitable to everyone, visitors will miss that mudende hamper from my grandma of the big pink soap bar and vaslap that loses color with each wash to remind you to change it, clever grandma, your wisdom will forever be between my ears.
This song comes to mind when I remember her, I will forever be grateful and will try to pass her teaching all over.
To the Pastor’s wife that she was, grateful for her prayers during my childhood and now, will continue and pray for others to be saved by our Lord and Saviour.
I feel the same pain as if I were watching the movie when the leading actor said “It hurts”, My friend and I always used this saying to indicate the last tier of hurt we feel when something happens and it hurts.
Death Be Not Proud has been always my go-to poem when there is a death and I need comfort, 2022 It was a useless tranquilizer to the pain I got when I lost my big aunt, she was indeed a rare jewel as they come, I can not express how unbelievable it is and the pain that comes with it, my mind be finding ways to cope by creating a feeling that she will be back when we at the tip of the boiling point with her funeral arrangements and say we did good, there is no need to go further, she was just testing us and we passed. Life can only go forward from here on.
I can comfortably say I know one or two things about death, lost my aunt and uncle in a short space, in both times it hurt like nothing you ever experienced because it’s new and will always be a unique pain, I can only imagine the immediate family as for me I am an onion skin layer away from the much pain epicenter. Thanks to a bible plan I came across while searching for why we die, Thanks to Tony Evans, in his bible plan about hurting, It is made clear that the Lord said we will get hurt and nothing can stop that from happening, even if you been in very good terms with the Lord, one gets to understand life greatest purpose is for the Lord, not that we pawns in his master plan, but we are essential in carrying out the master plan that would eventually save everyone.
During the ceremony at my Aunts funeral, the pastor opened Revelation 14 ves 13, which echoes that the Dead who were right with God are resting for their works will follow them, this gives comfort knowing that the pain is no more for the passed away loved ones, but is crucial for us all to be right with God, for we are assured a life of rest been right with him.
I say to all the people who lost loved ones, dudu(Sorry), stay strong in the Lord and introduce family members to our Lord and Saviour, through sharing his words and being an example through our works
We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children.
My child, am borrowing the resource of the world for my grandchild, your future child, its a risky transaction, but I hope I will be able to pay you back in abundance. Right now am looking into two places, that cause so much pain for me, but am hopeful you wont have to do, I will cover you by the sigh of my eyes as the eyes of my heart have done. The past I dwell too much on it, good memories and regrets of not knowing better in decisions made, it brings so much pain, but not as the future, as its unknown and scary when the past didn’t take shape to feed the future prosperously.
During the course of my youth and adulthood, I lack, what I try to find, I fear what I don’t know, all my hope lies with the world of the Lord that A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous, hence I borrow the raw resource of Earth to build what must stand the test of time.
The present, I have not known, its a place that has no pain, nor sorrow, for the rest of my repayment to you, you will be in the presence with me and I hope you will look only in my past to learn for your future and we will tackle your future together for a brighter one
Written as an interpretation of the profound African proverb and a life time hope of parents to their children’s future prospects.
I’m no good at goodbyes #Post-Malome, I find it very weird that humans have to say goodbye every day to each other if they are going to see each other again or communicate with each other later on. I recently joined a new company and had to say goodbye to my then colleagues, it’s hard saying goodbye to good people and a great company, reading through google you might find motivation and understanding stating that it’s all business and business is just business, don’t take it personally, hard pill to swallow, we all relational beings after all.
It’s easier to say goodbye to a bad experience in a company, than to a good one, someone asked a question at Quora, that how do you reject a counteroffer after resigning, even if you loved the company, the response was interesting, someone wrote that you ought to have thought of it before resigning, so technically you already dealt with the hard part deciding quite. Back to my story, I left for growth, which I felt I so much needed cause I was growing only horizontally I felt, but not vertically, it’s hard explaining that to team members who supported you and contributed to what you are today. So I sat down and wrote a piece of poem, but it’s technically a very short story, it felt better after that, hoping it will stick with them and let guilt trip not eat me up.
I recommend all people resigning to write a short story or email with a unique touch to the people they contributed to their journey and send them, cause everyone can say goodbye, but not everyone means it.
Hope you enjoy, caution, brutal grammar and inside references ahead.
AB Ship
A maverick, 5 core engines and multiple threads Navigating through Fintech like a hot butter knife, cutting through unsalted butter All rainbow teams coordinating to break through tides and leaving no area unexplored The Green team letting in cooling effect through part of the ship via credit department Oh hoy Purple team with captain Deepti spearing through tides fiercely with swift coding skills While Vice Anji, taking 1 storm encounter at a time with the speed of thunder, Usain bolt fast While Team purple members soldering on from behind with no cover at the back to get the job done One man Team Dharma, “I am the only one who gets the job done, I don’t know anyone who can cover for me”, Ebankit needed a bridge to come in on board, Dharma offered an escalator, nobody knows how he does it. Row forward the AB ship goes, meeting mist in uncharted territories, what’s that ahead? An unknown request coming from North, May Day! Call captain Ebe from the Security department “This is captain Ebe speaking unknown request source identified, my right-hand man, will take care” Mr. Moosa, cooking bullets to neutralize the threat one commit at a time, gun loaded, fire!!! We live to see another day, “Nothing from my side, Dynatrace all green 200 OK “. Forward we go into the green pastures we seek, one Sonarqube story at a time Message from Commander Khan, “Crew we are heading to an ice-berg, breaks can’t save us now” Can someone call captain Madi of the mechanic’s team, we need to lose some weight to make a sharp turn, it’s better than crushing the Iceberg. “What’s up guys”, crunching API standards and ethics for the bank, “Hold on guys, this maneuver Would set us 3 moons back”, as the open API standard is broken to loosen some weight for the sharp turn, day saved another release is cooking in Jenkins and Gitlab pots, enough to feed Nock and Midrand while adding to our technical dept. Oh, it’s been rocky sail mates, please drop me at the next port, need to gain more stamina for the next voyage.
“You guys will never see me leaving until something I coded breaks” gammer4live
I once read an article about compounding, it fascinated me so much that it became a theme for me in life and new years resolution. In the article there was a talk on how something just shot off the roof in just a few years or months, don’t remember the details but I just recall the answer was, the whole time, the item at question was compounding. That widen my mind, compounding can be heard used in the financial world, where they talk about compound interest. Some while back I was reading up on retirement annuity and the term was splashed everywhere, that it would be the magic that makes your RA grow and compound interest will be a catalyst in enjoying your money in retirement. Putting the financial perspective aside, I was more interested in the human application of this compounding phenomena.
A unit of human nature compounding example that I have long stretched came from a movie called “Back to the future”, in the movie, one thing that stood out the most , was the fact that, at all cost we must not change anything in the future when teleport to the future, cause this will change the course of the future in the present and the future you saw will change drastically, exponentially or even at a compounded rate. Sitting on this fact I encountered a motivational video where the speaker stated that people are so concerned with not changing the future, but they don’t realize that small habit change in the present, can produce fruitfulness in the future. This has led me to formulate that individual compounding is the little things we can change now in the present, which can yield significant outcomes in the future, more like compounding interest.
Compounding and Ephratah
I firmly believe in Eric Thomas when he resonated that All men are created equal, some work harder in the preseason. ( my version just says, all man are created equal and some work hard in four seasons), from there on I draw out that just like ants we must have some season we work hard, compounding in a way, that we work on our self, which is the most important work, even you don’t get paid for it(Big Sean). Throughout all the seasons we worked, our ant nature of letting harsh season pass while we feed on other seasons gathering of food will be substituted by us been Fruitful.
Ephratah
Ephratah is such a profound word that I also adapted to be a theme for me this year. Adopted from the bible, I would amend our small works in the present also to give off radiant of some fruitfulness, in every effort of compounding that an individual generates, there needs to be some fruitfulness to the labor. It doesn’t have to be a big sparkle, but must be a sense of measure or direction to some positive effects of compounding, this will ensure we pointing to the right direction in compounding to be more successful in the future.
This year I challenged myself to be compounding and Ephratah at the same time and will be releasing my all in all master plan, watch the space. … I Am a software developer, wear me softly individual, wear me softly.
