logoalt Hacker News

patatestoday at 6:36 AM3 repliesview on HN

> it's pretty clear he has very little understanding of development or engineering

I cannot prove it but I have a feeling that you may be conflating "he clearly has different opinions on things I consider non-negotiable" to "he doesn't know what he's talking about".

I also watched a lot of his videos. I wildly disagree with him a lot of times, but he has his reasoning, and I can see (and verify!) that those ideas are coming from an engineering perspective.


Replies

esperenttoday at 8:08 AM

The problem is that he's a tech influencer first, a tech expert second.

That's his motivation, influencing. Not teaching.

I'm not so against him as the previous commentor but I feel basically all YouTubers who have succeeded in building a brand have the same problem. They have to present their opinions as unassailable truth, they can't allow nuance. Within reason of course, they also have to play the game of appearing considerate and understanding of other people but it will always boil down to proving they are the real experts, their ultimate goal is always to get you watching more of their content.

If they don't do this, they appear less trustworthy and their brand wouldn't have grown as much as it did. They might genuinely have some expertise to share, and even contrary or downright wrong takes could teach us something if they were only presented in a way that encourages critical thinking. But as the person above said, their real deep expertise is in brand building.

0dayztoday at 7:38 AM

I sort of disagree, the issue is that he like so many professionals (prime agent, being the other) becoming youtubers uses their experiences to make their opinion the only opinion when said opinion is nuanced or plain wrong objectively.

show 1 reply
steve_adams_86today at 7:06 AM

He's clearly very knowledgeable about some things, but I think he has harmed his credibility be becoming a 'tuber who prioritizes thumbnails and hot takes over engineering.

show 2 replies