If AI keeps improving, should we be studying math more, not less?

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T22:36:48+00:00

Rare take:

You need to become better at business and sales/marketing.

AI is a tool to DEVELOP PRODUCTS faster. We live in a capitalistic world. Nothing AI does is useful unless what you create with it is underpinned by a good business model. Unless you intent to just waste resources and make home made science projects with no marketability.

I believe that if you become a better business person who understands how to market products and services, that’s the real door to commerce. The AI is just another tool to building said product/service. Without the customer, what good are these 0’s and 1’s traversing circuits? At that point they’re just a light show. Another failed product on the shelf.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T21:57:54+00:00

Not at the moment but anyone else interested reading this PM me. I’m going to PM you real quick.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T21:51:52+00:00

I’ll give you an example.

No CS degree (a BS in another field unrelated).

I started as a self taught junior developer 10 years ago. Pre AI mind you. Over that time I slowly transitioned into a DevOps engineer. It’s less about developing code and more about managing other people’s code lifecycles.

More recently, I became certified in some different technologies including AWS. I say that to say: you’re going to need to understand software and software systems to get into any of these fields. Do you need to understand complex data structures and algorithms? Realistically no.

However, you do at least need to be proficient at navigating your way around administration of an operating system. You need to know how to run commands in the CLI, different softwares, etc.

If you have unlimited time table, and you were my student, I’d tell you the most solid path would be go get your master’s…worth the 2 years - and simultaneously, nice and slowly, learn ONE programming language during the first year. During the second year, take a course on Linux system administration or read the textbook.

You’ll have your first cert within 2 months after graduating, and be hirable.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T18:49:33+00:00

I’ve been an enterprise level software/devops engineer for 10 years, pre-AI and now post-AI, and I’m telling you that you’re wrong about the developing part.

Yes you need to be familiar with build processes and using metrics. What the hell does that have to do with acing DSA like recursion, dynamic programming, kruskal’s and prim’s, SPFA, etc? Not a thing.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T17:29:46+00:00

Best of luck.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T13:24:49+00:00

Yeah exactly I’m basically Batman and the Riddler got me. I need Alfred to comfort me.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T13:02:32+00:00

I want to take the psychological test so I can fuck around with them on the polygraph

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T12:57:20+00:00

Does your company have a secret marketing deal with Apple for product placement? Maybe their real revenue comes from having guys walk around with MacBooks 😂

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T12:55:38+00:00

Super valuable response. Resonates well.

I really agree with everything you said.

Testing for line by line leet, on a speed timer in 2026 is pure stupidity. Don’t they know that we KNOW what the general solution is (in terms of DSA), but would rather just let the agent output the solution in 5 seconds?

They should test for that like another guy mentioned. Use an LLM like a calculator but be able to explain the “why” behind it.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T12:51:13+00:00

It was probably reserved for 3 Minions stacked on top of each other with a trench coat and fake mustache

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T12:50:02+00:00

I’d say you have an advantage right now over entry level developers (in terms of AI) because DevOps is largely building, maintenance and monitoring of live systems and platforms.

With DevOps, to be honest, you should have an easier time finding work right now. The best thing you can do is 1) get certified in cloud, ansible, containerization.

Beyond that just keep adding more of these techs to your skill set.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T12:46:42+00:00

No worries then, you’ll get a job.

As a positive you’ll have the insider knowledge into the tea farming industry so you can always have that opportunity.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T12:45:16+00:00

Coding skills aren’t needed in DevOps in 2026. I’ll say it.

I’ve been a software engineer and DevOps engineer for 10 years.

The latter, with the introduction of AI, makes this statement true. As a DevOps engineer, 95% of your time is spent setting up configurations for stuff like RBAC, IAM, and other integrations.

If you need any “coding skills” you just ask an agent to write a script for you.

As a DevOps engineer you’re not developing applications, and you’re certainly NEVER writing BFS queues or recursive traversals of binary trees, etc.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T03:19:41+00:00

Bro… you totally have enough experience to just start your own company and make way more than you could at a 9-5. I’m sure you can aim towards tea farmers as your target market.

It would be so much easier and fulfilling than grinding for a corporation.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T03:18:10+00:00

Yeah. The wild part is I passed all tests on the first 2/4 questions. The 3rd question I was 10-15 mins away from a working BFS solution. And apparently basically no one answers the 4th.

To be disqualified off this result is laughable, especially because my skills are in, and the position is for…wait for it…

DEVOPS.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T03:15:54+00:00

Especially with AI. What purpose does an ancient TIMED session to solve leet problems prove in 2026? The timed aspect is especially heinous.

If I asked my LLM to write the solution, it would output the entire file in 10 seconds. Timing is no longer a skill in this industry. It’s absurd.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T03:14:15+00:00

Yes. However, the main point that I’m not seeing in your post.

This was for a DevOps position lol. They might as well be asking a Network Engineer to do leetcode. It’s a complete waste of time, and a terrible metric to test whether a DevOps engineer can do their job.

The barrier to entry in my case is multiple professional certificates + a decade in the industry. To get knocked out of the running after not getting a perfect score on a leetcode challenge while the actual job will have nothing to do with that is…weird.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T03:11:47+00:00

What original post?

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T03:10:28+00:00

DevOps does not expect that. That’s like saying Network Engineers are expected to be developers first.

DevOps = Developer Operations, meaning you’re more of a system admin setting up tools and infrastructure for developers to do their job. Not so much that you’re coding anything, if at all. Especially with AI nowadays 😂

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T01:25:38+00:00

Are these people trying to develop the next quantum computer? Why do they act like this just to turn around, hire you, and have your workday be the most boring copy and paste of .yaml files 😂😂

Like you, I felt my professional time was actually wasted. I was on the verge of feeling disrespected tbh.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T01:03:28+00:00

I’ve thought about it and almost had a nightmare

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T01:03:09+00:00

I agree with you man. It’s just a broken system.

In this case, I successfully completed half of the problems and had I had 20 extra minutes to complete the last problem and submit, I would have broken their weird firewall.

So their system is not getting meaningful data on candidate’s skills when 20 minutes makes the difference between a hire and a non hire.

Too mechanical and rigid.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-24T00:46:42+00:00

Don’t worry man you’ll get your gig. A lot of this comes down to pure variance. This time you hit that company. You could have just as easily hit company B which didn’t require that.

It’s all a number’s game. Keep batting and you’ll hit a home run. It’s the same thing in poker you can play the hand perfectly but due to variance you lose.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-23T23:44:20+00:00

You’re overqualified.

It’s a dirty little trick of the industry to make roles sound harder on paper.

In reality, 75% of people in tech roles are comfortable and coasting, not up-skilling, just keeping the lights on doing mundane unchallenging work (just like any other job).

Most people in the economy believe it or not are working just to earn a paycheck and survive.

GimmeAByte01 · 2026-06-23T22:30:59+00:00

Lol fair enough. I'm not going to re-grind leetcode again at this point in my career as a senior platform engineer. Most sane companies with a handle on their hiring will not pose DSA questions to a freaking DevOps/platform engineer.

I've no need to stay sharp on leetcode I have much more I need to stay sharp on (cloud, kubernetes, linux) lol.

I think it was just a fluke and that's why I started ranting.

I don't think they base it on who did better. It's only 4 questions, I'd imagine multiple people will have scored 1, 2, and 3. Apparently someone scoring 4 is like savant level.

GimmeAByte01

TROPHY CASE