This trend of using sparkles (✨) as the visual metaphor when slapping “AI” onto our products has been bothering me lately. It’s not just sketchy to pass off large language models (LLMs) as something magical. There are also deeper implications here about how design plays into Big Tech’s desired narratives.| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
This README is an attempt to succinctly explain who I am, how I work, and my personality quirks. For the reader I hope it helps expedite any potential interaction between us. I also hope it helps me triangulate and refine how I present myself in work settings.| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
Meetings aren’t evil in and of themselves. They’re fundamentally just people talking, right? And yet we hate meetings with a contempt that often borders on irrational rage. Probably because it’s people talking.| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
The advice I’ve consistently given to developers who want to grow might seem counter-intuitive, but it’s always held true for me—the first step to being a great developer is recognizing that your job is not to write code.| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
Countless technical interviews are conducted every day that are little more than theatrical self-sabotage for everyone involved. To say that this process is deeply, truly, fundamentally flawed is an understatement. We need to do better.| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
There’s a slight problem with the standard definition of a hack. It says more about why you wouldn’t want to use one than why you might. What if—now hear me out—hacks are fine?| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
In web development it’s a common trope that working with legacy code is considered boring, painful, or even beneath us. Only the shiniest new framework or tech stack will do! The truth, however, is that legacy code is impossible to avoid. But don’t worry, that’s actually a good thing.| Matt Hogg FYI Essays
CSS is often belittled because it’s naturally global—which we've been trained to avoid—but doing so betrays a failure to understand CSS’ basic premise and greatest strength.| Matt Hogg FYI
We all want to do awesome things and make an impact at work. However, what we call “work” is a relationship between employer and employee that's inherently and persistently designed to benefit the former over the latter. How do we meaningfully contribute, earn a living, and maybe even enjoy ourselves when the organization simply does not care about us?| Matt Hogg FYI