🎰 Senior engineers should make side bets

Alibaba's groundbreaking Qwen3 AI, a €1M solo dev quest, and the evolving landscape of computer science and coding careers.

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Travis Media
May 06, 2025

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Hey everybody,

OpenAI is stepping back from its restructuring, a report finds AI tools save time but may add work, and Hardcover shares why they ditched Next.js for Rails. Plus, why senior engineers should make side bets, and how Riot Games is tackling cheaters head-on.

Let’s dive in!

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🧠 OpenAI dials back conversion plan, nonprofit to retain control
OpenAI just hit the brakes on a major power shift. After backlash and a lawsuit from Elon Musk, the company scrapped its plan to restructure into a public benefit corporation. The nonprofit parent stays in charge, limiting CEO Sam Altman's control. Altman stressed: “We remain a nonprofit overseeing the for-profit. That won’t change.” This move keeps OpenAI closer to its original mission, AI for humanity.

🥱 Time saved by AI offset by new work created
A new study of 25,000 Danish workers found that despite rapid adoption, AI chatbots like ChatGPT have had little to no impact on wages or working hours across 11 AI-exposed jobs. Researchers from the University of Chicago and University of Copenhagen found that while 64–90% of users reported time savings, the overall economic effects were minimal. Interestingly, 8.4% of workers gained new job tasks due to AI, like reviewing output or checking for misuse, sometimes adding more work instead of reducing it.

🚂 How We Fell Out of Love with Next.js and Back in Love with Ruby on Rails & Inertia.js
Hardcover has started documenting its migration from Next.js to Ruby on Rails. After three years with Next.js, ongoing issues led to a search for alternatives. The team needed server-side rendering for SEO, direct database access, and continued use of React. Remix was briefly considered, but Rails offered a better fit. Here’s how it works.

🎰 Senior engineers should make side bets
Juniors should focus on assigned tasks, their work needs oversight, and doing well builds trust and helps with promotion. Seniors, on the other hand, should spend 10–20% of their time on “side bets”, projects not on the roadmap but potentially valuable. These bets carry risk, often fail, and shouldn't be broadcast if they do. But when they succeed, they stand out, because no one else would’ve done them.

🎮️ How Riot Games is fighting the war against video game hackers
Cheating in video games has evolved from a hobby into a full-blown industry, especially with the rise of competitive gaming. In response, developers have ramped up anti-cheat efforts, with some using kernel-level tools that monitor systems deeply for unfair play. Riot Games’ Vanguard is a leading example, designed to expose hidden cheats. Its lead, Phillip Koskinas, calls banning cheaters his life’s mission.

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Why Rust is NOT a Passing Fad...

Many skeptics dismiss Rust as just another programming language destined to fade into obscurity. "Will developers eventually abandon the hype and return to C-family languages?" they ask.

I don't believe so.

From operating systems to web browsers, critical infrastructure to embedded devices, Rust is quietly becoming the foundation of our digital world.

In this video, we'll explore how Rust has moved beyond trendy status to become a fundamental technology reshaping how we build reliable, secure, and performant software across virtually every domain.

Until next week,

Travis.

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