Jay Kim
@jaykim.earth
Web developer based in Seattle. Currently at Metronome helping businesses launch their usage based pricing models. Previously a long time engineer at Pinterest.
jaykim.earth
jaykim.earth
Every once in a while I pop back in to visit my alma mater pinterest.com and I'm impressed by how fast the site loads and feels, especially recently and compared to when I used to worked there. Sometimes you forget there are really impressive engineers working at these big companies.
December 11, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Every once in a while I pop back in to visit my alma mater pinterest.com and I'm impressed by how fast the site loads and feels, especially recently and compared to when I used to worked there. Sometimes you forget there are really impressive engineers working at these big companies.
Because LLMs have made knowledge accessible, I find us making better decisions now. People can't just bluff their way through making technical decisions anymore since everyone has a know-it-all at their fingertips. I think this is where experience really separates you.
November 14, 2025 at 2:00 AM
Because LLMs have made knowledge accessible, I find us making better decisions now. People can't just bluff their way through making technical decisions anymore since everyone has a know-it-all at their fingertips. I think this is where experience really separates you.
Wow fuck this guy Yamamoto 😭
November 2, 2025 at 4:30 AM
Wow fuck this guy Yamamoto 😭
Claude Code is basically TDD as a service.
October 23, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Claude Code is basically TDD as a service.
I always get so much snark whenever I suggest integration testing. But it's either putting your head in your sand and pretending your product works, or doing the hard work of maintaining a test bed and treating each failure, even flake, as "a customer is experiencing this".
October 10, 2025 at 4:19 AM
I always get so much snark whenever I suggest integration testing. But it's either putting your head in your sand and pretending your product works, or doing the hard work of maintaining a test bed and treating each failure, even flake, as "a customer is experiencing this".
Uggh I made the mistake of randomly deciding to open X and that photo of the Vercel CEO taking a selfie next to a literal war criminal is living rent free in my head. Lack of empathy some people have I cannot understand…
October 1, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Uggh I made the mistake of randomly deciding to open X and that photo of the Vercel CEO taking a selfie next to a literal war criminal is living rent free in my head. Lack of empathy some people have I cannot understand…
There's a continuum of engineers:
1. One who puts there head down and struggles through problems. Uses first principles and sometimes asks for help.
2. One who searches for solutions: hyperactive brain, using AI agents, pattern matching, doesn't read error message, defaults to outside help, etc.
1. One who puts there head down and struggles through problems. Uses first principles and sometimes asks for help.
2. One who searches for solutions: hyperactive brain, using AI agents, pattern matching, doesn't read error message, defaults to outside help, etc.
September 18, 2025 at 11:37 PM
There's a continuum of engineers:
1. One who puts there head down and struggles through problems. Uses first principles and sometimes asks for help.
2. One who searches for solutions: hyperactive brain, using AI agents, pattern matching, doesn't read error message, defaults to outside help, etc.
1. One who puts there head down and struggles through problems. Uses first principles and sometimes asks for help.
2. One who searches for solutions: hyperactive brain, using AI agents, pattern matching, doesn't read error message, defaults to outside help, etc.
Trying to figure out if there is a way to give the VSCode AI your database schema so that it can better autocomplete SQL queries.
September 11, 2025 at 4:06 AM
Trying to figure out if there is a way to give the VSCode AI your database schema so that it can better autocomplete SQL queries.
Maybe there are parallels between the 'iPad kid" phenomenon and a coder reliant on coding agents. I wonder if a coder's ability for text motion/nav/manip trick shots is going to be a thing of past. We'll have a generation of "Cursor kids" who are amused by boomer vim combos and bash-fu.
August 23, 2025 at 2:25 AM
Maybe there are parallels between the 'iPad kid" phenomenon and a coder reliant on coding agents. I wonder if a coder's ability for text motion/nav/manip trick shots is going to be a thing of past. We'll have a generation of "Cursor kids" who are amused by boomer vim combos and bash-fu.
There's a micro boom/bust cycle in tech companies. Non-eng functions push for a roadmap. Aggressively prioritizes. Eng loses out. Its only until eng breaks down (quitting, pleas, operation hell) that eng vision is prioritized. Value of eng work to end-users is eventually questioned, cycle repeats.
August 21, 2025 at 10:56 PM
There's a micro boom/bust cycle in tech companies. Non-eng functions push for a roadmap. Aggressively prioritizes. Eng loses out. Its only until eng breaks down (quitting, pleas, operation hell) that eng vision is prioritized. Value of eng work to end-users is eventually questioned, cycle repeats.
Excalidraw is a gift to humanity. It's the only whiteboarding tool I've used that gets out of the way and lets you architect stuff at the speed of thought. FigJam, Jamboard, Miro, etc. I tried them all and they don't compare. It's also local-first, has multiplayer, and its free! Like wat.
August 13, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Excalidraw is a gift to humanity. It's the only whiteboarding tool I've used that gets out of the way and lets you architect stuff at the speed of thought. FigJam, Jamboard, Miro, etc. I tried them all and they don't compare. It's also local-first, has multiplayer, and its free! Like wat.
Low key the best use of AI is trying to get a Bluesky post under 300 chars.
August 9, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Low key the best use of AI is trying to get a Bluesky post under 300 chars.
I watched Perfect Days, about a toilet cleaner content with life. The director suggests it's about the 'common good'. But what's wild is that a Tokyo toilet cleaner can afford a big home in the city. I'd love to see a version set in SF/NYC where 'common good' is neglected due to a 2-hour commute.
August 9, 2025 at 1:34 AM
I watched Perfect Days, about a toilet cleaner content with life. The director suggests it's about the 'common good'. But what's wild is that a Tokyo toilet cleaner can afford a big home in the city. I'd love to see a version set in SF/NYC where 'common good' is neglected due to a 2-hour commute.
Something I realized: I dislike mentee relationships where I give "career advice". I'd much rather someone come to me with a problem they're blocked on and we learn from it. Me opining about how to "get to the next level" feels like I could easily give advice that only works for me.
August 9, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Something I realized: I dislike mentee relationships where I give "career advice". I'd much rather someone come to me with a problem they're blocked on and we learn from it. Me opining about how to "get to the next level" feels like I could easily give advice that only works for me.
You know that shape sorter toy where babies would mindlessly bang shapes into holes until they fit? I feel like thats a lot of engineers right now when faced with an error message and equipped with AI. It doesn't feel like path to improving yourself as an engineer if all you care is the outcome.
August 8, 2025 at 1:33 AM
You know that shape sorter toy where babies would mindlessly bang shapes into holes until they fit? I feel like thats a lot of engineers right now when faced with an error message and equipped with AI. It doesn't feel like path to improving yourself as an engineer if all you care is the outcome.
Someone needs to build a locking/renewal mechanism + internal UI for sharing creds to a pool of seat subscriptions for SaaS. It never makes sense to buy seats for the entire company, but its just such overhead for IT to manage a limited pool of seats.
July 15, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Someone needs to build a locking/renewal mechanism + internal UI for sharing creds to a pool of seat subscriptions for SaaS. It never makes sense to buy seats for the entire company, but its just such overhead for IT to manage a limited pool of seats.
One thing I wished more co's did was structured training for software eng on tools and local dev workflow. There is an assumption that eng must sharpen their own tools but my feeling is there are a lot of devs who haven't fully developed the fu and wizardry for git, bash, code editing and now AI.
July 9, 2025 at 8:44 PM
One thing I wished more co's did was structured training for software eng on tools and local dev workflow. There is an assumption that eng must sharpen their own tools but my feeling is there are a lot of devs who haven't fully developed the fu and wizardry for git, bash, code editing and now AI.
That WSJ Joanna Stern video of using "steaks cooked" metric to measure power consumption of AI inference is genius. Something like 1 medium steak for 2 generated videos? Has you thinking how the economics all work out and what will happen when VC money runs dry. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNV...
How Your AI Prompt Travels Through a Data Center | WSJ
YouTube video by The Wall Street Journal
www.youtube.com
July 2, 2025 at 11:54 PM
That WSJ Joanna Stern video of using "steaks cooked" metric to measure power consumption of AI inference is genius. Something like 1 medium steak for 2 generated videos? Has you thinking how the economics all work out and what will happen when VC money runs dry. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRNV...
What used to be a simple Q&A tool, Quora has turned into this cesspool of ads, recommendations, and now AI slop. The UI/UX seems to be designed to have you just accidentally open an ad, or engage with adjacent content. This is some dark, end-stage VC stuff.
July 1, 2025 at 10:31 PM
What used to be a simple Q&A tool, Quora has turned into this cesspool of ads, recommendations, and now AI slop. The UI/UX seems to be designed to have you just accidentally open an ad, or engage with adjacent content. This is some dark, end-stage VC stuff.
Non-eng using AI coding tools and credibility of eng being eroded is cultural change I'm noticing. New battle lines are being drawn as eng no longer have a monopoly on code changes and have to contend with skeptics who think they can DIY. Stuck junior eng will inevitably get a reality check.
June 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Non-eng using AI coding tools and credibility of eng being eroded is cultural change I'm noticing. New battle lines are being drawn as eng no longer have a monopoly on code changes and have to contend with skeptics who think they can DIY. Stuck junior eng will inevitably get a reality check.
Whenever I'm having a bad time at work, I just watch an episode of The Pitt and I feel much better.
June 18, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Whenever I'm having a bad time at work, I just watch an episode of The Pitt and I feel much better.
I'm still completely mystified why companies elect to use Zoom over Google Meets. Is it just good hype and marketing during COVID? Is Zoom actually better in some dimension that I haven't seen?
June 9, 2025 at 6:27 PM
I'm still completely mystified why companies elect to use Zoom over Google Meets. Is it just good hype and marketing during COVID? Is Zoom actually better in some dimension that I haven't seen?
My eng blog post that I drafted 2 years ago finally got published in the Pinterest eng blog even though I no longer work there. Pinterest has a huge backlog of blog posts so it takes a while to publish. medium.com/pinterest-en...
Adopting Docs-as-Code at Pinterest
Jacob Seiler | Software Engineer, Internal Tools Platform
Jay Kim | Software Engineer, Internal Tools Platform
Charlie Gu | Engineering…
medium.com
June 3, 2025 at 11:21 PM
My eng blog post that I drafted 2 years ago finally got published in the Pinterest eng blog even though I no longer work there. Pinterest has a huge backlog of blog posts so it takes a while to publish. medium.com/pinterest-en...
I accidentally opened up threads thinking it was bsky and it’s such a cesspool of engagement bait. I can literally feel a haze over my brain making me mindlessly scroll.
May 23, 2025 at 7:38 PM
I accidentally opened up threads thinking it was bsky and it’s such a cesspool of engagement bait. I can literally feel a haze over my brain making me mindlessly scroll.
Amazing photography in this @nytimes.com article: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/t.... Every photo is a banger.
Our Favorite Gardens
www.nytimes.com
May 21, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Amazing photography in this @nytimes.com article: www.nytimes.com/2025/05/21/t.... Every photo is a banger.