KiranRao0

I agree that memorization is a very useful skill, but I believe it’s over-used in some education systems.

There have been classes I’ve taken where ~half of the evaluation is brute memorizing dates/event names. Ive also taken classes (machine design) where the majority of the evaluation is open book and about solving problems. Most classes land somewhere in the middle.

I think there is a bias towards memorization-based testing because it’s easy. Coming up with trivia questions is easy. Grading those answers is easy. A students can’t complain about marks when they get a date wrong.

Coming up with problem solving questions is hard. Grading them is ambiguous. Students will complain that their mark should be higher. Everything is harder.

If the testing is memorization based, students will get good at memorizing facts and spitting them out on the test. If the test is problems solving, students will optimize for that.

My naive guess is that business with no tech component hire consultants, and these are part of the sales pitch.

Or governments/large organizations performing box checking exercises

My conclusion from the comic is that the client is happy. Clients like this don’t really want their designers expertise.

Does anyone have sample sites that return this?

Can someone provide a tl;dr on him/why he’s important?

I think this is the right line of thinking. My understanding of the grandparent's argument is 2 pieces:

1. Heterogeneity/homogeneity of labour.

2. Tight/lose labour market.

I think Argument 1 is the weaker argument. There's a lot of fungibility between software roles. However, there's a higher learning cost. Moving to a new software company requires a few months before someone is close to full productivity. This in contrast between a painter moving from a Ford supplier to a GM supplier will likely close to full productivity within a few weeks. The cost (to the employer) is lower to rehire someone.

Argument 2 is the stronger argument, but may not be forever. In a tight labour market, I see very little need for unions. If the marginal worker can (and will) leave their position for a better position (pay, benefits, culture, etc), I see little need for unions. However, if the labour market for software engineers shifts in favor of businesses, this will change rapidly.

This project seems amazing.

What are the potential downsides? Increased latency when routing? Unpredictable query times (cross shard vs in shard)?

I don’t think less of this type of content exists. Its just harder to find when inundated with all other slop on the internet.