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Kristen M Thayer

@kristenmthayer.bsky.social

4.3K followers 1.1K following 520 posts

Software Engineer, Manager, Teacher. Seattleite. Old enough that I can hear the sound of dial-up internet when I close my eyes, young enough to care about up-to-date emoji usage. Kindness and joy are important. (Opinions my own). She/her.

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Nov 4

Lots of new followers (thanks Starter Packs!) so I'll reintroduce myself: I’ve spent the last 8 years in engineering roles (IC/manager). I’m a career switcher, and I love liberal artsy and communication-related things. Current non-coding hobbies include tap dance, embroidery, quilting, gardening. 👋

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 5h

I had an English teacher who insisted that there should be a comma after every use of the word "and," no exceptions (super bad explanation of the Oxford comma)

I proceeded to write an essay full of phrases like "my friend and, I had to go to the store," to prove how wrong she was.

I was fourteen.

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 5d

Hugs to everyone working too hard, on too much, with too little kindness and understanding around you. We all deserve better.

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 5d

I have been describing my current company as a place where we work reasonable hours, the product is profitable, and people are kind to work with, and people keep responding variations of awe and disbelief.

Which says a lot about where the tech industry is right now, I guess :-(

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 6d

My kids did this during the pandemic! For a while!!!

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 6d

The post brought to you by my late-night search for "bunk bed curtains" hoping that this is a real thing that exists, that will resolve the question of how much light should be in the room

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 7d

The pottery barn fantasy of what your kids' room will look like, compared to the fever-dream reality of what you *actually* negotiate with your kids to make them happy inhabitants of their room...

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 7d

This is my constant refrain as an eng manager!!

Missino @onedeuxtriseigo.nullpo.dev · 7d

Fr. So much of tech communication problems boil down to being incapable of seeing that your audience is operating from a different set of priors and needs added context and information. Being dismissive never helps the situation.

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · 27d

I'm not sure which of these I would pick tbh

Reposted by Kristen M Thayer

Konnor Rogers @konnorrogers.com · 29d

What if the real vulnerability all along was NPM? 😜

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 29

Love this thread. I spend a lot of time thinking about all the tiny unseen things in systems that we take for granted, and that make them better. When I am sitting in a manager role, I try to notice and reward them; when I'm in a professor role, I try to help students think more deeply about them.

Yvonne Lam @yvonnezlam.bsky.social · Aug 29

this is what makes my heart hurt when I look at the world: the idea that we can know what the "necessary" things are and do only those.

Nick Harkaway @nickharkaway.com · Aug 29

I saw it in terms of "professionalisation" - the instinct in late capitalism to strip away everything that is not part of a particular government role, job, or corporate product, and do ONLY that pure iteration, when it's often the peripheral, unwritten functions which keep everything working. 2/n

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 29

This is the way!!

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 29

These are so cool!

Susannah Walker @susannahwalker.bsky.social · Aug 29

In response to my rant yesterday, I was asked how we can make better parks and other public places for teenage girls? What do they want? I have answers to this, so now a positive 🧵.
Starting in Sweden, where this was co-designed by teenage girls.

Frizon shelter - a curved space with seats like swings and lovely coloured perspex in the roof and a view of the city of Umeå at dusk. Two teenage girls sit in one of the swing seats having a chat.

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 21

Observation while working from coffee shops this week: Ballard seems to be very invested in making it difficult to access bathrooms.

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 21

Right?!?!

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 21

I just saw "AI-infused" as a descriptor and was like... sir, AI is not essential oils, this is a very goofy marketing term, 2/10

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 20

My spouse thinks we could have pulled off "Cam's Camshafts"

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 20

In our quest to be The World's Nerdiest Family (TM), we just sang "Cookie Cat" at our neighborhood's Block Party karaoke (at the request of my older kid).

I'm happy to report that the 3 people who recognized it were delighted.

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 12

Finally a challenge I KNOW I can succeed at!!!

Jen @ladyjenpool.bsky.social · Aug 12

Hey, as a librarian I need to tell you:

Our funding depends on usage.

So go ahead and check out that book even if you don't think you'll finish it. No one will know. Check out that DVD even though you might not like it. Get ambitious in your quest for knowledge.

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 7

Clever

Clive Thompson @clivethompson.bsky.social · Aug 5

behold the "HTML bomb"

It's a counterattack for AI companies that persistently scrape and rescrape your web site, even when you tell them not to

when a scraper grabs it, it becomes a 10-gig HTML page and 💣 goes the scraper

Item #6 in my latest "Linkfest" newsletter: buttondown.com/clivethompso...

A Chrome browser error page displays the familiar “Aw, Snap!” message, indicating that something went wrong while loading a webpage. A pixelated frowning file icon with Xs for eyes appears at the top left. Below, the error code reads “Out of Memory,” suggesting the browser ran out of system resources. The page includes a “Reload” button in blue on the bottom right

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 6

See also "passion"

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 6

I could live with never seeing words like "unrelenting," "daring," "fearless" in job descriptions ever again.

Just let work be work, and let people go home and unplug!

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 4

AI shifting the future of work 🙃

Elizabeth Lopatto @lopatto.bsky.social · Aug 4

I don't think AI is ready for medicine but Google sure thinks otherwise www.theverge.com/health/71804...

Google’s healthcare AI made up a body part — what happens when doctors don’t notice?

The basilar ganglia does not exist.

www.theverge.com

Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 1

Please note: *noticing* this isn't the same as *endorsing* it, nor does it mean it will age well (hi trendy fashion decisions from 10+ years ago!)

But in terms of power, investment, and how the needle is moving, this is how I feel atm.

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Kristen M Thayer @kristenmthayer.bsky.social · Aug 1

Watching the tech industry's AI push (and surrounding debates) feels a lot like watching the cerulean sweater moment in The Devil Wears Prada:

A small group of people at the top decide this *is* happening, the question is how it will trickle down to the "regular sweater" version for others.

two women standing next to each other with one saying " but what you don t know is that that sweater is not just blue

Alt: The Devil Wears Prada clip where Miranda Priestly explains how the fashion industry starts with a cerulean trend that eventually trickles down to Andy's pedestrian blue sweater. This is the gif for the line "but what you don t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean"

media.tenor.com

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Reposted by Kristen M Thayer

Telephone Friend @ironyhat.bsky.social · Jul 29

I'm drinking the Bios Crash slurpee I hope it crashes my bios I hope I blue screen

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