On this week's episode of the podcast, freeCodeCamp founder Quincy Larson interviews The Primeagean. He's a software engineer who streams himself programming. He recently left his job at Netflix to stream full-time.
We talk about:
- Prime's journey from his teacher telling him he'll never accomplish anything in life to working as an engineer at one of the most prestigious tech companies.
- Prime's love of "Nintendo Hard" video games, and how his love of challenge propelled him to "get good" at coding
- What it's like to live stream coding in front of more than 1,000 people for a dozen hours each week
- Leaving San Francisco to move his family of 6 to a horse ranch in South Dakota
- Prime's thoughts on AI and how he thinks it will actually create more developer jobs than it destroys
I had a blast talking with this guy. Though I don't agree with everything he says, I am right there with him on AI and how it's useful but over-hyped. We'll see what future versions hold and whether a "Moore's Law of AI" is really at work here, or whether it will plateau.
I also agree with Prime that devs need to slow down and improve their foundational skills. There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going.
Can you guess what song I'm playing on my bass during the intro? It's from a 1996 rock song.
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Links we talk about during the interview:
- Prime's Twitch, from which his YouTube videos are derived: https://www.twitch.tv/theprimeagen
- Prime's Harpoon library on GitHub, which he talks about maintaining: https://github.com/ThePrimeagen/harpoon
- A speedrun of Battletoads by The Mexican Runner, to show you how "Nintendo Hard" this game really is. 36 minutes is an excellent time for a non-pro speedrunner like Prime to achieve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTPGpA0ha9Y
0:00:00 Introduction and Background
0:02:10 Childhood Influences and Video Games
0:08:28 The Impact of Losing a Parent
0:13:16 Unleashing Potential- Are We Settling for Less?
0:29:29 The Importance of Taking the Time to Learn
0:47:22 A Life-Changing Moment and Transformation
0:55:29 The Myth of Working Smart, Not Hard
1:02:38 Creating Routines and Maintaining Discipline
1:03:37 ThePrimeagen's Daily Routine and Lean into Night Owl Nature
1:05:49 The Process of Streaming and Building Projects
1:08:50 Twitch vs. YouTube- Live Interaction vs. Asynchronous Communication
1:12:25 The Responsibility of Sharing Opinions on the Internet
1:14:00 Knowing When to Let Go of Projects
1:18:09 Interest in Real Estate and Potential Career Shift
1:26:56 Using Copilot and its Impact
1:50:16 The Integration of AI into Industries
2:00:26 Prioritizing Experience and Project Building
2:02:16 The Marathon Mindset for Success
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