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Exploring Music

Carl Setzer6 Comments
vinyl disk on loudspeaker

My friend Bill wrote a post a few days ago about the passing of Damo Suzuki, singer for the German rock band Can. I’ve always had a thing for quirky and eclectic music, so I was a bit bummed I hadn’t so much as heard of Can before now. So I commented such, and Bill recommended this album to me to learn more about them.

Tago-Mago by the band Can

I doubt many of you know that my first major in college was music. I listened intensely, absorbing how the instrumentation and chordal structure were communicating emotional energy. Sadly, I got out of practice for that kind of listening ages ago. But, back in the 80s, I studied lots of artists in depth. Not just pop, but Jazz, latin, classical, funk…my list was pretty extensive. I would give anything to have notes back from those days.

Can has a solid funk feel to me. I really enjoy the driving, repetitive bass tracks, and fluid drumming.

What struck me even deeper, though, was how easy it is to discover new music. Bill made a post, shared a YouTube video of a song. I listened, made a comment on his blog, Bill recommended an album to check out, and YouTube served that up to me instantly. All within a few-minute timeframe.

I remember getting together with friends and listening to records/CDs, and tapes. If I really liked the song, I’d see about borrowing a copy until I could buy one. In my little Seattle suburb, getting anything other than Top 40 generally meant a trip to Seattle. There was a cool record show really close to UW, and I believe the iconic Tower Records was serving Seattle’s music community back then. I love how easy it is now to discover new (old?) music.

Onwards!

Sigh…”Job Cuts in Big Tech Continue Unabated”

Carl Setzer
code projected over woman

The news about big tech’s layoff woes are hard to miss. In my feed today came this article: “Job Cuts in Big Tech Continue Unabated“. Yeah, more glum news for those of us trying to make a career in tech right now. I really appreciate Sheharyar’s insights into what’s going on. Things like:

  • “The last commonly held belief for layoffs was that businesses hired way too aggressively during the COVID-19 pandemic…”
  • “artificial intelligence has now sparked a demand for professionals that can tame the beast and help make products that companies can then sell to others, or, just make them better at what they do. Hiring specialized professionals isn’t cheap, so of course, companies are letting go of people that don’t necessarily possess the skills that they’re looking for while bringing on those that do”
  • More succinctly “while some jobs are being made redundant, others are springing up all the time.”

Big tech companies don’t seem to be struggling, though.

  • “Meta’s results stood out, so much so that its stocks jumped a whopping 20%…”
  • “Over at Alphabet, the Google parent saw Q4 revenue of $86.31 billion, up 13% year over year…”
  • “Apple posted quarterly revenue of $119.6 billion, up 2% year over year…”
  • “Microsoft….booked an 18% year over year increase in quarterly revenue to $62 billion…”
  • And Amazon? Their “Q4 net sales increased 14% to $170 billion while net income increased to $10.6 billion…”

This all reinforces the notion that tech has simply overhired. The video below talks about that, too.

Of course, the billion dollar question is “how long will this last?” At what point do we expect these thousands of tech workers to get re-assimilated into the machine? Late in 2023, I was hearing pundits predict that 2024 was going to see the end of layoffs and a rebound in hiring. Well, that hasn’t happened…not yet, at least. Of course, we’re only two months in.

Also, I think that the notion of specializing might be less than optimal for your tech career. Building out as much complimentary skill as you can seems to be wise. And, in the short-term at least, developing skills with AI seems a solid bet for finding employment. Will AI find itself in the dust bin of the latest hypecycle? Hard to say, though it’s stayed the course stronger than crypto and Web 3.0.

What do you think? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Carl Setzer4 Comments
AA Milne quote featuring Winnie the Pooh: "One of the advantages of being disorganized is that one is always having surprising discoveries".

I adore, have always adored Winnie the Pooh and the work of AA Milne. But I can’t imagine anything more stressful than the surprises that come with being disorganized. Hence why I make significant effort to keep organized. I have my lists, notes, and calendars to keep me on task, to make sure nothing important slips.

That ethos helped me be rather successful as an executive/administrative assistant. And also explains why I have always liked that work. I’m lucky that way, I suppose.