In the movie  Get On Up , there’s a moment where James Brown stops rehearsal and walks through the band, calling out each musician one by one. He reminds them that no matter what they play—guitar, horns, bass, keys—their instrument is a drum . He’s drilling his core philosophy into them: every instrument in his band drives rhythm. He wants the horns to punch like percussion, the guitar to play tight, clipped rhythmic patterns, and the bass to hit with strict precision. There’s no room for loose, melodic wandering. Brown treats the entire band like one giant rhythmic machine . In Fintech, every system is a subledger.  Your lead engineer may not have designed it with accounting in mind.  They may have intentionally, avoided accounting concepts.  Nonetheless, if financial data flows through it, it's a subledger.  With rhythmic precision, at the end of each month its data will get aggregated and flow in the General Ledger. James Brown says, "...God made yo...

  The combination of where the economy is at the moment and the introduction of new generative AI tools is making it difficult for RCGs (recent college graduates) to find work.  What employers are looking for is Senior Engineers with enough experience under their belt to be able to provide guidance and guard rails  to the tools.  The relatively low-value-add coding that a Junior Engineer would ordinarily do is largely being automated. This isn't a new phenomenon, it's just been exacerbated by recent developments.  The hiring sweet spot for businesses has long been the Senior Engineer.  They're experienced enough to consistently deliver.  They're not experienced enough to command higher compensation or title.  In other words, they're low risk high reward employees. Recruiters know this and cater to it.  They profit by moving inventory.  They get a large number of reqs for Senior Engineers and are incentivized to fit a candidate into the o...

  In 2025, many are wondering, "Will AI take my job?"  If you want to answer this question, there's an easy test, "Is it okay for me to frequently be wrong?"  If the answer is yes, AI may take your job. If your job requires you to be right most of the time, AI isn't ready to replace you.  Ironically, what we've grown comfortable expecting of computer software may not be true with AI.  The software we've known is logical to a fault.  AI is capable of logical contradiction, even hypocrisy.  It's a statistical engine that confidently offers the most likely answer given what it's aware of in the moment. Unlike technology we've used to date, it's not deterministic.  It's probabilistic.  It can't be relied upon to provide the same, correct answer reach time.  When it's wrong, it's not a "bug."  It's an expected behavior.  It's an acceptable tradeoff given the utility we get in return.  Consequently, when...