Things that made us go?? #6/24

?Here's our selection of things we’ve read, watched, learned and enjoyed at?TakeFortyTwo.

?? Is it art if it wasn’t your idea? *

Christopher Butler , Chief Design Officer at Newfangled, offers an insightful and endearing account of a family art project and deep reflections inspired by a documentary about Peter Vogel **.

"All art is a response to something. Sometimes an artist will see a beautiful landscape and try to express that beauty with paint on canvas or by taking a photograph. It’s a copy, in a way, that becomes something else because it goes through the mind, heart, and hands of the artist. What it’s really a copy of?—?bearing in mind the limits of the word?copy?—?is how the artist feels about what they saw".

?? * Sure, because ultimately, Everything is a Remix. Creator of the amazing video series, and acclaimed TED speaker, Kirby Ferguson created an on-demand video course focused on text generation to make the most of the inevitable.

?? ** The inspired and inspirational documentary by Jean Martin and Conall Gleeson is called The Sound of Shadows (2011), and you can find it here. A must-watch for anyone intrigued by the intersection of technology, art, and sound.

"Fascinated by the work of English neurophysiologist William Grey Walter (1910-77), who invented small robots (called Machine Speculatrix) that simulated basic neurophysiological behaviour, Vogel was intrigued to discover that, with the help of sound and light sensors, such machines could react to the world". Jean Martin

?? HackerRank recently published their 2024 Developer Skills Report, with data from the platform and a survey conducted among 4,000 developers, engineering managers, talent acquisition professionals, executives, and students. The report offers a comprehensive analysis of the software development industry, highlighting key trends, challenges, and insights into developer skills, upskilling, and -of course - the impact of AI. Here are a few takeaways:

• The latter half of 2023 showed signs of recovery in tech hiring after an initial slowdown, with a notable increase in developer test invites and new test creations indicating a resurgence in demand for developer skills.

• Despite a general optimism for 2024, with 68% of developers expecting a better year, a significant portion (52%) remains concerned about layoffs. Interestingly though, only 6% reported being laid off themselves.

• Java and Python remain the top languages recruiters are looking for, with a noticeable narrowing in demand between them in 2023. Java was still the most in-demand language, but Python saw a significant increase, indicating a potential shift in the coming year.

• Over half of developers (52%) and a similar portion of students (49%) believe college does not adequately prepare students for the tech industry. There's a growing consensus that a college degree may not be essential for technical roles, with 60% of developers and nearly half of recruiters sharing this view.

• The top five most in-demand roles in 2023 are back-end developers, followed by front-end developers, data scientists, data engineers, and full-stack engineers.

• While not the primary factors attracting developers to new roles (those would be remuneration and opportunity), team dynamics and company culture are significant reasons developers choose to stay with a company.

• AI's integration into daily workflows has skyrocketed, with 76% of developers now using ChatGPT for work. The creation of new tests for AI-related skills has increased 2.5 times after July 2023, underscoring AI's growing influence on the tech industry.

Check the full report here.

?? B2B Bites coming soon

BigCommerce 's Lance Owide recently announced the launch of a video repository with expert interviews, trends analysis, how-to-guides and step-by-step videos, as well as success stories in B2B sales and marketing.

?? In the in-between

The unsolvable paradox is that commercial projects will often require us to deliver meaning even if it's not there, which burdens writers, designers and creatives to bestow on products or services a purpose they lack and, in turn, lowers our expectations for sincerity.

"If we don’t expect sincerity, what we hear and see doesn’t need to make much sense. And, if we don’t really expect something to actually make sense then commercial interests can be as loud as they want about anything they want. However, this lowers expectations further. And since there is no sincerity, nor is there meaningful surprise to be had, there really is no reason to engage".

Liminality refers to a state of transition, a phase of ambiguity between significant stages, where old structures or norms are left behind but new ones have not yet been established. It also refers to a boundary, or a threshold.

In this piece, Johan Liedgren delves into the relationship between sincerity and design, and presents the compelling argument that liminality, more than just a transitional phase, is a fertile ground for the much needed innovation and authenticity in design practices.

The challenge is to embrace the uncertainty and fluidity of liminal spaces, as these in-between moments hold the key to creating more meaningful, sincere user experiences and offer an opportunity to break free from conventional boundaries to explore new narratives and solutions.

?? In a related story, in this video, XPLANE founder Dave Gray explains?the pyramid of belief, and how experiences lead to assumptions, conclusions, and ultimately beliefs, and introduces the concept of liminal thinking as a crucial skill for leaders in the 21st century to connect people, expand understanding, and improve communication.

?? Aaand that's a (falafel ) wrap!

#liminality #design #dev #AI #ecommerce #B2B

Credits & Acknowledgements

• Cover artwork generated with Midjourney and edited by our design team.
• Text generated by humans. You can read more about our Generative AI Policy here .

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