Sightsource, LLC

This is the last article in our series about the impact of AI on what we do. Check it out for the final conclusions(plus some charts! Everyone likes those).

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LLM methodologies have been out there for a couple of years now. Consistent, heavy capital investment has reliably yielded incremental performance and feature improvement. In that backdrop it's telling that the big news from DeepSeek in recent days was a story about dramatic cost reductions and not one of an innovation breakthrough. Are we seeing a near term limit in what the current LLM-approach to AI can do for us? Regardless of where the technology is going next, this is great news for everyone except the tech giants. A price war will only accelerate the commoditization of AI for the rest of us and when value is both ubiquitous and nearly free everyone wins. If you're interested in hearing more about AI, check out the latest post in our series on the subject. Today's article focuses on understanding whole systems as well as the quality, completeness, security, and maintainability of AI code generation.

I've considered writing this article for over a year, hesitating due to the likely backlash from questioning AI's assumed universal benefits. You’re receiving it today because the real-world insights from those experiencing AI-related transitions need to be acknowledged, particularly regarding workforce development costs during AI adoption and related expertise gaps that will become a blight on this discipline if left unchecked. Read the first part in the series here.

Should be a good webinar for any business owners looking to learn a little more about their SEO!

We had a great time at the Forsyth Country Club with Rotary International's Scott Ertl, David Hanein, and all the rest of District 7690!

Tips For Cleaner Code Software development can get pretty complicated sometimes. You are often working in a large codebase that has a lot of connected, moving pieces. Not only?should you strive to write code that works well but code that is also "clean", or easily understood and maintained and here are just a couple of tips to do so. The first tip I have is to comment your code. There are a couple of reasons why you would want to do this, for instance, when you finish writing and deploying some of your work, you?of course are going to know why everything is written the way it is. Flash forward six months later when you (or one of your team members) has to return to this feature?and you can save yourself a decent amount of time where you are relearning how it works and why certain things are there if you left yourself a little note about it. Now?I don't recommend making a comment over every function you write, but when something gets more complicated or you think it might not be obvious why some code is the way?it is or was even written at all, then that seems like a good time to leave yourself a comment. The next habit I recommend picking up is making sure that you are using descriptive names for your code. In a similar vein as commenting this will save you and?everyone else a lot of time when you can instantly know what something should do right as you look at it. For example, if you are trying to familiarize yourself with some code and you see a "getUsers" function vs a "usersFunction", one of those will tell you its purpose and the other will require you and others to do more reading to?find out. The next one I want to talk about is making sure that you are not copying and pasting your code. This is a principle that programmers refer to as keeping your code "DRY" (Don't Repeat Yourself). It's not like the code won't run if you do this, but if you build your codebase this way it will be far less maintainable. Imagine ?you have sprinkled that same code in ten different places and it works just fine, but then a week later a manager or client decides they need it done a different way,?now you have ten different things you have to change instead of just one. The solution to this is to design code in a way where it is reusable. You build one component and then import it wherever you need it so if (and definitely when) you have to change it, it takes much less time and you don't run the risk of forgetting any of the?places you have it. These are small tips but they really can prevent a codebase quickly becoming a mess and adding tons of development time to your endeavors.

The Importance of Soft Skills for a Software Developer Software development is a career that requires a myriad of skills from professionals. There are countless programming languages to learn, tools to use, and packages?to install (and inevitably uninstall), not to mention the logic and reasoning required to make sense of it all. It takes a lot of practice and study over time to become?proficient with a given set of these and become an effective engineer. What isn't talked about as often however, is how valuable, and necessary, soft skills are to?your professional success and I'd like to mention just a few of these. The first is that you will need to make sure that you are a team player. It is rare that a developer is an island and you will almost certainly be contributing to a?project as part of a team. This means understanding how your work fits in with everyone else's so you can harmoniously build something together and not step on people's?toes or make things a mess for everyone. For this you might need to brush up on your communication skills, especially if you've only been coding in your bedroom for the?past six months. You might have great ideas for a team's project, but if you can't effectively get its value across to your colleagues, then it might go to waste. Similarly,?developers often have differing opinions or ideas about how code issues should be fixed or how new features should be developed. Its important to actively listen and?value your team members' input while still being able to explain your thought process in both a respectful and effective way. Its natural for discussions like this to?come up, but teams that can't get past them in a healthy way won't last. One more skill that is valuable to have is good time management. Often times developers have several duties, tasks, or tickets to complete throughout a day and these are?often crammed between team meeting, client meetings, code reviews, and other responsibilities. This means making sure you buckle down and focus to get things done when you?need to. You'll sometimes have to police yourself to not get sidetracked when looking up some coding syntax and then almost get sucked into reading a related article?about that cool new programming language coming out, and sometimes you'll have to know when to ask for help from a teammate if you've been stuck for too long on a ticket. All in all at the end of the day its a developer's coding skills that gets the job done but working on your interpersonal skills makes it easier, more enjoyable, and makes? you a better team member.

Some Things To Expect With Your First Software Developer Job When you first find yourself fortunate enough to make the jump from studying or learning programming on your own, either through schooling, one of the myriad of?online learning opportunities, or through a developer bootcamp you'll likely be ecstatic that you get to turn your hobby into a career. This is a wonderful step?your journey and here are some things that you'll likely encounter when you step into a professional environment. First of all is the sheer amount of technology that you will need to learn for the job. It's likely your learning covered a lot but not everything you will need?for a professional environment and nearly every software developer position will come with lots of on the job learning. Perhaps you learned a lot about Angular?and Python before you showed your promise and were hired, but now all your companies' projects are written in react, c#, and sql server. Part of being a developer is being?adaptable and that means being able to use the logical skills you acquire throughout your journey and apply them to whatever toolset you are working with. Another?aspect of professional development that stands out is the fact that you are working on stricter timelines, often in sprints, for your tickets/features. You may be? used to taking hours sitting in a coffeeshop to figure out your latest coding puzzle but when a client or a management team sets a date for a body of work to be?completed, it may take a different approach to how you complete your work, and may even be a little anxiety inducing, but that is nothing to worry about when considering?my next point. And that is that you are now most likely coding with a team of other developers with different levels of experience. No longer will you have those long nights of struggling on?your own to learn your latest concept or figure out that bug that's been a thorn in your side for too long. This is one of the best parts of doing this professionally, learning?from your colleagues and joining them in their endeavors to share your successes adds a whole new level of joy to programming. Not to mention how much it accelerates your?rate of learning. But with all of that, I think one of the biggest differences is that now other people will be using the code you are writing in their day to day lives.?Whether you are working on a project for a client or proprietary software, seeing your code actually being used by others and hearing positive feedback from them adds a whole other?level of joy to this field. Your first developer job will be a huge leap with many changes and every day will be different with lots of learning so just make sure?to enjoy the experience. Happy Coding.

Imposter Syndrome Software Development is a field that attracts certain kinds of individuals. People that want to be creative, solve problems, and build things that make positive, tangible changes in peoples' lives. The opportunities to do this with software are endless and it takes a multitude of skills and qualities for?someone to achieve this. Patience, an eye for detail, communication, and most certainly passion are all imperative to thrive in development. Its this passion?that pulls developers to take the extra time and care to think of edge cases, test relentlessly, build for efficiency and quality, and craft elegant code. Its this passion and all the joys of a successful coding venture that can lead to happy career or hobby. However, as many developers are aware, development is?a challenging field at times, for sometimes different reasons. These challenges can impact our work, and in time, lead us to doubt our capabilities, regardless?of ones experience or skill level. Repeated frustrations with a work of passion can lead to a developer doubting their skills. Whether its tickets being rejected,?introducing an unexpected bug in an important feature, or just taking much longer on a body of work than was anticipated, we as developers can succumb to seeing?ourselves as less capable than we really are, especially if its coupled with notable successes of our peers. The truth is that many people, in many fields, experience this Imposter Syndrome, where someone feels as though they aren't good enough for their?position, that their peers have surpassed them, or that they are a fraud not deserving of their position. Its important to know that this is a temporary feeling?and there are things that you can do to overcome it. One of the most helpful things you can do, is just communicate how you are feeling. Tell your coworkers, your?boss, your friends, or anyone in your social circle about your difficulties. More likely than not, people will understand and often also have similar feelings to?share about a time when they felt the same. It can help people know that its a normal experience and something that people get through and come out the other side? successful. Software development is a difficult but rewarding career and hobby, often coming with many ups and downs. Its important to celebrate your successes as well as share and learn from?your struggles. Your peers are there to help you just as you have aided them and we all go through times of doubt. The sun still rose for the folks at Crowdstrike. Your build will compile. Happy Coding.