Cover photo for Philip I. Thomas

What I'm up to - September 2022 👋

Philip I. Thomas
This is a monthly email about what I'm up to!

Highlights of last month

🤔 What I'm pondering
  • Portable Billboards: Inspired by Digital Minimalism, I've been reflecting on how iPhones started as an integrated phone + iPod. But, they've evolved to be a ubiquitous billboard in your pocket, designed to constantly draw attention so that they can show more ads.
  • Knowledge work commodification: It's becoming harder to get an entry-level software job, especially out of coding schools. I think this signals a shift in tech toward more performance-based hiring instead of personality-based hiring. This all seems to be a second-order consequence of remote work - where coworkers spend less time socializing. A problem is that there is not (yet) a reliable, quantitative way to measure the productivity of knowledge workers, especially in software development. But, that isn't stopping people from trying!

📫 What I'm up to this month
  • Spending lots of time in New York
  • Working on getting Postcard launched, and exploring some new projects around gamification and recommendations

📍 Where I'll be
(via Nomadlist)
  • Sept 5-12: 🌳 Catskills, NY
  • Sept 29 - Oct 8: 🗽 NYC
(If we cross paths - let's meet up!)