Ana Hevesi
@anthrocypher.bsky.social
Devtools as culture accelerators. Principal, Uploop.dev
Ex Stack Overflow, early Node.js
Here for the deliberate practice of a brighter future.
I'm on Germ DM 🔑
anchr://ger.mx/AwjnwO74sjw0YN8L_H3UFUTyZq4tzvGPgk2vwrGFfNNn#did:plc:sswdmk375yiuzw5aii7mlaqv
Ex Stack Overflow, early Node.js
Here for the deliberate practice of a brighter future.
I'm on Germ DM 🔑
anchr://ger.mx/AwjnwO74sjw0YN8L_H3UFUTyZq4tzvGPgk2vwrGFfNNn#did:plc:sswdmk375yiuzw5aii7mlaqv
Pinned
Ana Hevesi
@anthrocypher.bsky.social
· Nov 30
OSF
osf.io
So @grimalkina.bsky.social and I teamed up to put our Cumulative Culture Theory of Developer Problem-Solving out into the world (preprint below).
But you may be wondering what cumulative culture is.
In short, it describes the social way that humans learn
osf.io/preprints/ps...
But you may be wondering what cumulative culture is.
In short, it describes the social way that humans learn
osf.io/preprints/ps...
Reposted by Ana Hevesi
Petition to rename Large Language Models to Gestalt Slurpers
January 24, 2026 at 6:38 PM
Petition to rename Large Language Models to Gestalt Slurpers
Dear fellow humans of the Northern Hemisphere,
If you look outside at 4:35pm, there’s a good chance it’s no longer pitch black.
We’re really doing it y’all!
If you look outside at 4:35pm, there’s a good chance it’s no longer pitch black.
We’re really doing it y’all!
January 22, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Dear fellow humans of the Northern Hemisphere,
If you look outside at 4:35pm, there’s a good chance it’s no longer pitch black.
We’re really doing it y’all!
If you look outside at 4:35pm, there’s a good chance it’s no longer pitch black.
We’re really doing it y’all!
Them, fifteen years ago: “Give her a community manager job. She’ll serve beer at conferences. It’ll be great.”
Me: “I will reverse engineer the basis of human motivation and knowledge-sharing in computing contexts from first principles.“
Me: “I will reverse engineer the basis of human motivation and knowledge-sharing in computing contexts from first principles.“
January 21, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Them, fifteen years ago: “Give her a community manager job. She’ll serve beer at conferences. It’ll be great.”
Me: “I will reverse engineer the basis of human motivation and knowledge-sharing in computing contexts from first principles.“
Me: “I will reverse engineer the basis of human motivation and knowledge-sharing in computing contexts from first principles.“
Also I think a bunch about how the lone genius frame of software convinces us this is the only way to succeed, so everyone is jamming their brain around trying to do the impossible in isolation, when a social frame means we can actually scaffold what each other knows
Encoding all information in the world into your memory is neither possible nor adaptive even if you could; it should not be something you pressure yourself to do at every moment
Attention directs memory formation for a reason
Attention directs memory formation for a reason
January 21, 2026 at 6:54 PM
Also I think a bunch about how the lone genius frame of software convinces us this is the only way to succeed, so everyone is jamming their brain around trying to do the impossible in isolation, when a social frame means we can actually scaffold what each other knows
Sue has made me so much smarter about this era of tech.
Excited that everyone else gets to benefit now too!
Excited that everyone else gets to benefit now too!
I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years thinking about LLMs and developer learning, no one knows exactly what's going to happen, but I think we're in a decent spot to talk about which skills are going to be valuable and how we'll help folk to acquire them, next month in Zurich. ⬇️
Together with @suesmith.lol, we'll explore the developer skills of the future, and work out how we’ll enable people of all experience levels to grow, building strong career pathways that will persist through this wave of automation.
🎟️ frontconference.com/tickets
🎟️ frontconference.com/tickets
January 21, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Sue has made me so much smarter about this era of tech.
Excited that everyone else gets to benefit now too!
Excited that everyone else gets to benefit now too!
How much trouble is made and gotten into online because some very personal (and real!) subjective phenomena that lives inside one person is assumed to be generalizable, and they go around in circles trying to force that schema onto other people, getting mad at others when it doesn’t work?
January 21, 2026 at 2:29 PM
How much trouble is made and gotten into online because some very personal (and real!) subjective phenomena that lives inside one person is assumed to be generalizable, and they go around in circles trying to force that schema onto other people, getting mad at others when it doesn’t work?
Because here’s the thing: we become dedicated to software tools that give us results.
And once a tool has delivered enough superpowers, there’s a sort of escape velocity to how we regard them.
Everything else that shows up needs to compete with the wins you’re already busy racking up
And once a tool has delivered enough superpowers, there’s a sort of escape velocity to how we regard them.
Everything else that shows up needs to compete with the wins you’re already busy racking up
Interesting, sounds like you’re partly talking about network effects as one of the prime moats of the past, and how although there’s no social element to Claude Code currently, the feelings we develop while using it have their own momentum
January 18, 2026 at 8:07 PM
Because here’s the thing: we become dedicated to software tools that give us results.
And once a tool has delivered enough superpowers, there’s a sort of escape velocity to how we regard them.
Everything else that shows up needs to compete with the wins you’re already busy racking up
And once a tool has delivered enough superpowers, there’s a sort of escape velocity to how we regard them.
Everything else that shows up needs to compete with the wins you’re already busy racking up
Working with Claude Code the other day, I was reflecting on how defensible their position is.
And I think they’ve made a strong one for themselves by serving a developer constituency incredibly well.
And I think they’ve made a strong one for themselves by serving a developer constituency incredibly well.
Anthropic is eating everyone elses lunch right now because they focused on making a good coding agent and their alignment mission isnt bonkers. "Sane, boring and useful" is going to win.
January 16, 2026 at 2:50 PM
Working with Claude Code the other day, I was reflecting on how defensible their position is.
And I think they’ve made a strong one for themselves by serving a developer constituency incredibly well.
And I think they’ve made a strong one for themselves by serving a developer constituency incredibly well.
It’s so important to understand this
I have a friend from WAY back in the day who did really well in life, retired pretty early, but grew up working class so his brain also isn’t mush
he knows a lot of these money guys and I ask him what’s up sometimes
They don’t care. they love the churn. they think they can profit from it
he knows a lot of these money guys and I ask him what’s up sometimes
They don’t care. they love the churn. they think they can profit from it
this is a five alarm Fucking With The Money fire and between this and the Greenland threats the rich assholes might want to wake up and realize this dude is going to cost them way more than any wealth tax will
January 12, 2026 at 4:57 PM
It’s so important to understand this
This is truth incarnate, and I despise it
I want to print YOU DON'T GET GOOD AT A THING BY NOT DOING IT onto little cards and just hand them out in conversation sometimes
D1) again, this is difficult to pull off at longer lengths. But you don't get good at a thing by not doing it.
E) YOU DON'T GET GOOD AT A THING BY NOT DOING IT done is better than perfect. Don't worry so much about "practicing right" just practice. You can adjust as you need as you go on.
E) YOU DON'T GET GOOD AT A THING BY NOT DOING IT done is better than perfect. Don't worry so much about "practicing right" just practice. You can adjust as you need as you go on.
December 31, 2025 at 7:36 PM
This is truth incarnate, and I despise it
Bombast and assuredness are rewarded in tech culture, but one of the fastest ways for someone to gain my trust is to say “I don’t know”
Like, give me gradations of certainty over feigned bravado any damn day
Like, give me gradations of certainty over feigned bravado any damn day
December 30, 2025 at 12:57 AM
Bombast and assuredness are rewarded in tech culture, but one of the fastest ways for someone to gain my trust is to say “I don’t know”
Like, give me gradations of certainty over feigned bravado any damn day
Like, give me gradations of certainty over feigned bravado any damn day
There are so many awful externalities we have to deal with from LLMs
but more people being able to to build software can be hugely democratizing if we craft products to help users learn to work with the code they produce.
but more people being able to to build software can be hugely democratizing if we craft products to help users learn to work with the code they produce.
I used to joke that the benchmark Glitch set was making creation so easy you'd use it to make a shitposting app. So I have a hard time with any moral panic around people being able to make niche personal apps using LLMs.
December 29, 2025 at 4:49 PM
There are so many awful externalities we have to deal with from LLMs
but more people being able to to build software can be hugely democratizing if we craft products to help users learn to work with the code they produce.
but more people being able to to build software can be hugely democratizing if we craft products to help users learn to work with the code they produce.
“Bad tooling as a cause and function of bad culture”
December 22, 2025 at 11:50 PM
“Bad tooling as a cause and function of bad culture”
*me, driving*
Ah yes, just going to take a moment to be attuned to the other scared, squishy little meat ghosts hiding inside of 1 ton rolling metal death machines so that none of us does anything too stupid.
Ah yes, just going to take a moment to be attuned to the other scared, squishy little meat ghosts hiding inside of 1 ton rolling metal death machines so that none of us does anything too stupid.
December 20, 2025 at 3:02 PM
*me, driving*
Ah yes, just going to take a moment to be attuned to the other scared, squishy little meat ghosts hiding inside of 1 ton rolling metal death machines so that none of us does anything too stupid.
Ah yes, just going to take a moment to be attuned to the other scared, squishy little meat ghosts hiding inside of 1 ton rolling metal death machines so that none of us does anything too stupid.
Reposted by Ana Hevesi
Anyone want to go do a Friday night before Christmas Costco run just to feel something?
December 19, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Anyone want to go do a Friday night before Christmas Costco run just to feel something?
Reposted by Ana Hevesi
*confronted with a vast world full of more beauty than i could ever conceive of* guess i’ll yell at people about linux online
December 14, 2025 at 12:08 AM
*confronted with a vast world full of more beauty than i could ever conceive of* guess i’ll yell at people about linux online
Okay but super weird question
How much of the terseness we encourage in software development was encoded in earlier days of computing when “computer user” was a tiny, specialized group?
How much of the terseness we encourage in software development was encoded in earlier days of computing when “computer user” was a tiny, specialized group?
December 10, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Okay but super weird question
How much of the terseness we encourage in software development was encoded in earlier days of computing when “computer user” was a tiny, specialized group?
How much of the terseness we encourage in software development was encoded in earlier days of computing when “computer user” was a tiny, specialized group?
Expanding the definition of “developer” as you go is the biggest dev tools growth move there is
Most folks would rather code harder than figure out how to play that game
Most folks would rather code harder than figure out how to play that game
I guess part of the problem is not knowing who you’re building the tech for
I always thought Airtable should have been a dev tools company, expanding the definition of “developer” as they went
but they got lost chasing the dullest media customers imaginable and Retool got there first
I always thought Airtable should have been a dev tools company, expanding the definition of “developer” as they went
but they got lost chasing the dullest media customers imaginable and Retool got there first
December 7, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Expanding the definition of “developer” as you go is the biggest dev tools growth move there is
Most folks would rather code harder than figure out how to play that game
Most folks would rather code harder than figure out how to play that game
Shoutout to that time at a Stack Overflow offsite an engineer stood up and said:
“There’s no politics here. We just look at the data and decide.”
Grade A telling on yourself. Such an efficient way to transmit that politics are on your side.
“There’s no politics here. We just look at the data and decide.”
Grade A telling on yourself. Such an efficient way to transmit that politics are on your side.
December 5, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Shoutout to that time at a Stack Overflow offsite an engineer stood up and said:
“There’s no politics here. We just look at the data and decide.”
Grade A telling on yourself. Such an efficient way to transmit that politics are on your side.
“There’s no politics here. We just look at the data and decide.”
Grade A telling on yourself. Such an efficient way to transmit that politics are on your side.
Reposted by Ana Hevesi
This is inconvenient information, but there is not one kind of AI/ML technology that only does the good use cases and a different kind of AI/ML that only does the bad use cases
November 29, 2025 at 6:48 PM
This is inconvenient information, but there is not one kind of AI/ML technology that only does the good use cases and a different kind of AI/ML that only does the bad use cases
Reposted by Ana Hevesi
Some speaker joy as we look back at 2025 and plan for public speaking in 2026!
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
November 25, 2025 at 4:44 PM
Some speaker joy as we look back at 2025 and plan for public speaking in 2026!
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
My inbox is now open for '26 events that need empathy + evidence + psychology for technologists 👀
I’ve had seniors in my life ask me to explain real quick why voting with our feet doesn’t work the same with FB or Amazon
And since none of them have been able to bankroll me spending ~5 years dissecting networked capitalism
I have to share what I can in tiny pockets and send them on their way 😔
And since none of them have been able to bankroll me spending ~5 years dissecting networked capitalism
I have to share what I can in tiny pockets and send them on their way 😔
anyway. we are living through a broad failure of network literacy. we need Sesame Street for the social internet and also still for reading and counting
November 15, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I’ve had seniors in my life ask me to explain real quick why voting with our feet doesn’t work the same with FB or Amazon
And since none of them have been able to bankroll me spending ~5 years dissecting networked capitalism
I have to share what I can in tiny pockets and send them on their way 😔
And since none of them have been able to bankroll me spending ~5 years dissecting networked capitalism
I have to share what I can in tiny pockets and send them on their way 😔
Reposted by Ana Hevesi
When I encounter myself as a different colored cursor because I have the Google Doc open in two tabs
December 21, 2023 at 10:09 PM
When I encounter myself as a different colored cursor because I have the Google Doc open in two tabs
It’s super funny how in the Northern Hemisphere we probably have six good, functional hours a day right now and we’re expected to just carry on like normal.
Absolutely absurd.
Absolutely absurd.
November 14, 2025 at 1:31 PM
It’s super funny how in the Northern Hemisphere we probably have six good, functional hours a day right now and we’re expected to just carry on like normal.
Absolutely absurd.
Absolutely absurd.