RSS Parrot

The Worlds Left To Conquer

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/the-worlds-left-to-conquer/

Published: May 10, 2026 00:00

It has been a year and a half since I quit my job to start a consultancy. It took me years to build up to quitting, and I had not only a chip on my shoulder, but to quote Seth Sentry, “the guac and the dip and the salsa.” The people that read this blog…

Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals (2025)

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/merry-christmas-ya-filthy-animals-2025/

Published: December 27, 2025 00:00

It’s my last day of writing for the year, so I’m going to try keep this one quick – it was knocked out over three hours, so I hope you can forgive me if it’s a bit clumsier than my usual writing. For some strange reason, one of the few clear memories I…

I Am Out Of Data Hell

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/i-am-out-of-data-hell/

Published: October 23, 2025 00:00

I haven’t written anything in four months. This period of prolonged silence is best explained by the unexpected difficulties of the business that I started in 2024, on the assumption that it must be possible to make an ethical, human-centered business on…

Contra Ptacek's Terrible Article On AI

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/contra-ptaceks-terrible-article-on-ai/

Published: June 19, 2025 00:00

A few days ago, I was presented with an article titled “My AI Skeptic Friends Are All Nuts” by Thomas Ptacek. I thought it was not very good, and didn't give it a second thought. To quote the formidable Baldur Bjarnason: “I don’t recommend reading it, but…

The Narrative Fallacy

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/the-narrative-fallacy/

Published: June 12, 2025 00:00

Note: This is an edited re-post of something I wrote in 2019 on a now-defunct blog, apparently a month before I started my first job in tech. I need to reference it in a future post. As a result, it is a little bit different stylistically from my current…

Get Weird And Disappear

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/get-weird-and-disappear/

Published: April 29, 2025 00:00

Pre-script: Reader and now close friend Phil Giammattei could use some help with a horrible brush with cancer in the family. You can support him here. Can't leave rap alone, the game needs me 'Til we grow beards, get weird and disappear Into the…

Ludic's Guide To Getting Software Engineering Jobs

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/ludics-guide-to-getting-software-engineering-jobs/

Published: February 28, 2025 00:00

The steps in this guide have generated A$869,000 in salary prior to being published, measured as the sum of the highest annual salaries my friends have reached after following along, which they have attributed to these steps. If it works for you in the…

Brainwash An Executive Today!

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/brainwash-an-executive-today/

Published: January 13, 2025 00:00

I. A few years ago, I had an annual one-on-one with the Chief Technology Officer of an employer with more than ten thousand staff. Senior management absolutely fawned over this person — extremely politically savvy, they would say. Amazing at acquiring…

Merry Christmas, Ya Filthy Animals (2024)

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/merry-christmas-ya-filthy-animals-2024/

Published: December 29, 2024 00:00

I've been absolutely slammed over the last few weeks, between moving to a new house, a large number of readers visiting Melbourne over the holidays and wanting coffee, and doing work for clients at the ol' consultancy. However, writing will pick up again…

Why I Will Always Be Angry About Software Engineering

https://ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/why-i-will-always-be-angry-about-software-engineering/

Published: November 12, 2024 00:00

Why do I bother getting angry about software? When I started writing, it came from a place of ennui — absolute despair at the amount of waste I was seeing in the technology sector since leaving university. I was paid spectacularly well, but nothing I…