Words are good, so here is our history.
Hacking past the age of 40
By Jeffrey M. Barber
One year ago to this day, on my birthday, I left Meta as one of the few unicorn engineers to focus on living a good life (whatever that meant). While I miss the monotony of my balance sheet going up and to the right, the freedom to do what I want (or nothing) has been fantastic. The urge to do a performance review has been creeping, so I thought I would check in and share things. Beyond a rundown of statuses, there is one bit of wisdom that I want to share and focus on: faith. I mean faith in a multi-dimensional sense.
Infrastructure for Hippies
By Jeffrey M. Barber
Are you sick of all this cloud bullshit? Do you hope blockchain drowns in crypto-bro tears? Are you hoping that K8s just dies in a massive data-center fire? Are you tired of technology fads coming and going? Are you weary of the corporate hell-scape? Well, so am I.
I’m cranky old man that aspires to be a dirty hippie. Sadly, I got addicted to these infernal machines.
ChatGPT is just better than me.
By Jeffrey M. Barber
I’m playing with this ChatGPT thing, and I’m super impressed. For my needs, it is a better copy writer than I am and I wanted to share some examples.
Describe an online platform for building online board games?
The case for a new kind of game engine runtime.
By Jeffrey M. Barber
I’ve switched gears as I set a simple goal for 2023: ship a single game… the hardest way possible. Look at me, I’m being an adult with goals and strategy (it may be a bad strategy, but it’s mine)! I’ll have more details on the game in 2023 as it becomes playable, but I’m building a new runtime for games. I want to explain the reason for the emphasis of runtime over engine, and then I want to make the case for such an investment.
Infrastructure for the Metaverse
By Jeffrey M. Barber
I’ve worked at Meta, and I’ve thought a great deal about the metaverse. The core question that I’ve been asked by people as I pitch my platform is of two forms. First, there is how on earth did Zuckerberg spend that much money. Second, what on earth is Zuckerberg thinking? I generally give a pithy answer to the first question, but the second question has a simple answer. It’s his company, and he believes in the metaverse.
Critical mass and venture capital.
By Jeffrey M. Barber
I’ve had a few conversations with venture capital without myself soliciting them (this sales process made me feel pretty), but I’m not keen on giving up control nor having a boss at the moment. Freedom, as a company value, requires vigilance. However, it did get me thinking about the next step. What happens after I stop wandering. Do I get serious? Or should I continue wandering? For how long?