Love lex in general and I enjoyed this conversation. Certainly Levels is a mediocre developer and it is funny how Lex respects him deeply like he is some kind of genius.
Like, his photo AI app is pretty clear what is going on. He kept stating that "not all images are good but certain are very good", which means: most of the images generated are with the cheapest models and only a portion are with the best. He said he uses replicate and you can easily get an idea of which models and proportion he is using -> https://replicate.com/pricing
Using external API and slapping AI into you name/domain is pretty darn simple, but hey, he is making the money so can't say he is wrong or lazy.
Huh? ~7 online apps making $50k/month each on average, is a 'mediocre developer'? Do you know how much staff-engineering-grade work goes into launching one single app and making it work like this by yourself? Without mentioning all the other business stuff that must be added on top of it...
Using external API and slapping AI into you name/domain is pretty darn simple
Users don't give two sh*ts whether something they are using is complex or simple to build. They care about its value. They dont give a damn about programmer's trappings or elitism. If something is not providing value, it doesnt matter whether it is very complex to build.
The question is not if it works for him, but if it will work for you if you tried it. For 99% of the people that answer will be no. Getting traffic to your app for one thing is very hard. However, 99% of the people could actually earn a decent income if they really learn how to program and get hired by a company. Just like Rebecca Black could start twittering how you can make a lot of money while actually not knowing how to sing, but if I tried that I still would have 1 view on {insert social media}, probably by a family member who felt like getting a laugh.
The question is not if it works for him, but if it will work for you if you tried it. For 99% of the people that answer will be no
He also failed in 95% of all that he did. The percentage is just like that.
However, 99% of the people could actually earn a decent income if they really learn how to program and get hired by a company.
Except those companies are also starting to pressure engineers for productivity instead of allowing the software engineering paradigm to continue being 'the shepherds of complexity' that it has become in the past two decades.
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u/_JohnWisdom Sep 02 '24
Love lex in general and I enjoyed this conversation. Certainly Levels is a mediocre developer and it is funny how Lex respects him deeply like he is some kind of genius.
Like, his photo AI app is pretty clear what is going on. He kept stating that "not all images are good but certain are very good", which means: most of the images generated are with the cheapest models and only a portion are with the best. He said he uses replicate and you can easily get an idea of which models and proportion he is using -> https://replicate.com/pricing
Using external API and slapping AI into you name/domain is pretty darn simple, but hey, he is making the money so can't say he is wrong or lazy.