This is the kind of thing that comes to mind every time I read about vibe coding. I work on systems that are generally considered critical, there's no way we'd use vibe coding to develop and maintain them. When our systems go wrong, people can die, and very expensive infrastructure can fail (and would cost billions to repair/replace).
I always wonder what kind of things people would want to use vibe coding for because there's no way it could be for anything serious, I'd hope.
some responsible yet still "serious" uses would include:
1) throwaway code where the "work product" is not a software system, but rather the outputs of the code which you can verify yourself.
the classic example for me is producing plots. I can easily verify that data is loaded correctly, and that the end result is correct, I just don't want to learn the complex API to make all the ticks and colors and fonts look perfect.
2) prototypes, mockups
3) simple tools (often with a web interface) for your own use
Any time I have taken shortcuts because "it's just a prototype" I have always come to regret it later. This may not be the "serious" use that it initially feels like.
Only there exist no prototypes, in the sense of throwaway. Prototypes become the product, as rarely something is really build up again from the ground to account for best setup.
I agree this is true (for mainly political/interpersonal reasons) if you’re writing code inside a typical software engineering organization, which orients itself to producing software products.
But lots of people write computer programs outside such contexts. Then it’s perfectly possible to prototype something and actually rewrite the full version.
For every critical system out there, there are thousands of trivial ones. The vast, vast majority of programmers aren't writing code for fighter jets, spacecraft, surgery robots, pacemakers, and what have you.
Honestly, I don't even want a pacemaker "engineered" by standard pre-"vibe" software engineering practices as I've seen them in the real world.
The worst outcome of all of this stuff could be that instead of dealing with exploding complexity and coming around to best practices that reduce it, we'll just let complexity and resulting confusion multiply because "the machines" will be the ones "thinking" about it, and not us.
I’m sure all of this will be played out in spectacular fashion in the courts of British Columbia in the coming months. Directors in BC are liable for unpaid wages to employees. No doubt they pulled the rug just in time to ensure people got their statutory severance. But beyond that, anyone hoping for more will have to get in a long line behind secured creditors. Man this sucks.
In a situation like this, someone with a contract not receiving consideration mere days after signing can probably just not pay. It would be very difficult for a company in the midst of shutting down to fight anyway.
It would indeed be foolish to pay an invoice to a company that has very publicly declared insolvency. Many if not most contracts I have ever signed contain a provision voiding the obligations of the parties if either party is insolvent.
I'd be shocked if you didn't get reimbursed. But if you don't, let me know and Afino might be able to mitigate a portion of your losses with a friendly discount. That just ain't right.
When a company goes bankrupt, there’s a specific order that everyone who’s owed money gets paid out in. I wouldn’t be surprised if “operational costs” like refunds are low on the list.
I signed up with Capchase on a 12-month contract, too. Does this mean my contract is with Capchase and I’ll have to pay for the next 12 months even if I don’t get the service? Feels like a great scam. Sign a whole bunch of new customers in 12-month contracts and get paid upfront from Capchase in full and leave us paying off our debt to Capchase. I’m so frustrated.
I guess we now know that the price of a bookkeeping and tax preparation service that won’t shut down without warning is the 2x pilot are charging of what bench were charging.
And how does this compare to a local accounting firm?
Hint: ask the salesman what happens in the event of an IRS audit. A good local CPA will go to the wall for you. Will the service you're considering do the same?
I wanted some features for shipping and receiving and ability to find closest assets. I'll be importing zip codes which have lat lng needs to be stored and queryable.
We're sorry to hear about Bench shutting down, particularly coming into tax season.
As a company that specializes in solopreneur finance (formation, accounting, tax and payroll) we know that this time of year is stressful as is. If Collective can support or help you and your business in any way, please reach out at http://collective.com, join one of our Q+A sessions, or reach out to me at hooman@collective.com.
If we're a good fit for your business, use the code HERETOHELP to get a discount off of your membership.
We have years of experience working with former Bench customers and our team is working through the weekend to help any small businesses who need urgent help. We're here to support you.
If you're an employee that was impacted, we also have lots of job openings at www.collective.com/careers.
Paraphrasing Seth Godin: do you want your heart surgeon greeting you before surgery by authentically telling you about the big fight he just had with his wife this morning?
I increasingly use podcasts much as I use any other informational resource: selectively, and with search as a key modality.
Some podcast apps (Podcast Republic, in my experience) feature a comprehensive search over all known podcast episodes, by both title and description (of the channel and individual episodes). Searching for an obscure reference to turn up related episodes is quite useful.
That's not actually my principle app (I prefer the FS/OSS AntennaPod), but it is useful functionality.
Otherwise, there are podcasts I subscribe to and listen to most episodes, others that I'll pick and choose at, some that I just check out a few episodes on. What I typically do is go through and curate a set of episodes that look like they'll be interesting, putting them on my listen queue and/or downloading those to play later.
As with anything, there's much that's low-quality and/or not of interest. That doesn't mean that the good stuff isn't really good, though.
(Listening to David Runciman right now, who's had a numbere of serial podcasts, one of which I'd discovered through a comment here on HN a month or so back. His discussions of political philosophy and its history are excellent. Relevant, without being painfully topical.)
(And I think TFA's premise is ... ridiculous on its face. Podcasts are appropriate in some cases, completely not in others.)
Instead, sometimes you come across short articles or snippets of videos or snippets of audio, where a podcast is mentioned. Or someone might link you to a specific timestamp in an episode.
And that’s how you discover one or two podcasts that you really really like, and you decide to listen to more episodes from those podcasts.
I'm definitely curating as I scan my library. The first thing I look for is the potential for insight due to a host-guest paring that I may not have seen before - or that I have and it was pretty good last time.
If it's a news-driven podcast, I'll look for topical content I've been interested in lately.
After that, it's just what every topic I'm interested in at the moment.
I would also recommend very liberal use of the pause button. If the conversation is bubbling specific thoughts up in your head and those thoughts seem more interesting than the conversation - PAUSE IT. Nothing will be more relevant than your own insight on the topic. Once you've synthesized the thought, unpause and see how your thoughts compare to the podcasters. This is probably my favorite thing about the medium.
Generally I layer podcasts on top of work that doesn't involve auditory processing, such as driving, grocery shopping, working out, laundry, etc. If you target those moments in your life when your hands and 'physical brain' are occupied, but your 'language brain' isn't, even busy folks can find time for this. It also helps to listen at a speed higher than 1.0.
Some people can do this during nearly all of their working time due to the nature of their work - welders, truck drivers, landscapers, etc. IE, not thought laborers. I think it's something of an untapped market for audio content to focus on these folks.
Agreed, I run regularly and it's great thinking time, I find it so much more valuable to just have rote exercise to keep me physically distracted and let my mind wander. I'd consider it counterproductive to listen to anything.
I do understand your point but that rings as sort of a tautological question to me? Either don't claim this time 100% for audio content or just think at some other time. Lately I prefer to intentionally meditate in the early morning, that is where my most productive thoughts come from. That and the shower.
I mean, I freely admit that sometimes when I'm lazy it's like 15%, but that's higher than zero! If I focus on active listening and cognition and try to write down or discuss key points afterwards (driving with a partner is great for this) I can get a lot more information retention.
Back when I was commuting I would start my working day by summarizing the podcast that I had just listened to in a text document - good way to sort of boot up my brain in the morning, without coffee.
I actually find my favourite podcasts are the ones that take the fact I’m not retaining 100% of the content into account!
Adam Regusea’s podcast [0] I think is a great example. He’ll leave pauses in and (because of the listener-questions format) will reiterate context pretty often. (“So, [name], you asked if it’s good to [verb]… while when I [verb]…”)
Agreed, Adam Ragusea's podcast is great. I think it comes from his background in public radio production. To that end I like NPR podcasts a lot. They're good about using music, audio cues, different performers etc to separate information into digestible chunks.
On the other end of that scale are very information-dense podcasts that have transcripts. I like those a lot because I find I can read the transcript after listening (or vice versa) and I get more information retention than either just listening or just reading.
My example for this is Alie Ward's 'Ologies' wherein she interviews doctors and scientists about their work, there are many excellent transcripts available [0], including this one: [1]
