IV. Craft

The instruments

Four disciplines

Models · Data · Delivery · Plumbing

Tangier, Morocco · UTC+1

01

AI & ML

  • Large language models
  • Retrieval-augmented generation
  • Agent orchestration hand-built
  • Agent workflows in n8n
  • Fine-tuning
  • Prompt design & evaluation
  • Vector search & embeddings
  • PyTorch

02

Data

  • Python · pandas · NumPy
  • scikit-learn
  • SQL
  • Feature engineering
  • Statistics & probability
  • Linear algebra
  • Visualisation

03

Delivery

  • Agile & Scrum
  • Scoping & estimation
  • Roadmapping
  • Stakeholder management
  • Client communication
  • Requirements translation
  • Jira · Confluence

04

Engineering

  • FastAPI · REST
  • Docker
  • Google Cloud
  • Git
  • APIs & integrations
  • Automation pipelines
  • Databases

The Method

How I work

  1. 01

    Find the real request

    A brief is a translation, not a specification. Before anything gets built I want to know what the person asking would consider a win which is rarely the thing they wrote down.

  2. 02

    Make it measurable early

    If a system cannot be evaluated it cannot be improved, and it should not ship. I would rather agree on a crude metric in week one than a perfect one after launch.

  3. 03

    Ship the boring version first

    The unglamorous baseline tells you whether the clever approach is worth building. Often it is already good enough, and that is a result rather than a disappointment.

  4. 04

    Keep the timeline honest

    Delivery goes wrong quietly, well before anyone admits it. Saying a date has moved is uncomfortable once; discovering it at the deadline is expensive for everyone.

Depth

Where the hours went

PythonDaily
LLM systemsDaily
SQLWeekly
Delivery managementDaily
n8n & automationWeekly
FrontendOccasional

Bars show how often each one is in hand, not a score out of ten.

Beside the work

Off the board

You are White

An engine, in your browser. No takebacks.

No moves yet.

I play chess. Badly enough to keep learning, well enough to be annoyed about it. Take a game if you like.

Rating
1350+ · chess.com
As White
1. e4, 2. Nf3 nothing clever
Playing since
May 2024

Changing the opponent starts a new game. Ratings are approximate. Engine is Stockfish, GPL-3.0, running in your browser.

Next

Enough about the tools. Let’s talk about a problem.