I Do Miss the Code Editor

Matt and Nina sort the week's tool hype from the useful parts: multi-agent coding in Amp and Codex, model routers, and classifiers that don't need an LLM. Plus live-coding interviews in the AI era, big tech layoffs and golden handcuffs, Nina's collaborative writing app, and the case for finally charging for it.

Episode four. Tool hype, interview war stories, and homework Nina didn’t ask for.

What we talked about:

0:17 Sorting the week’s hype from the practical utility.
4:46 Where fast classification pipelines actually earn their keep.
10:35 Model routers and when micro-optimization stops being worth it.
17:50 Nina’s interview rounds and live pair-programming tests. “If someone just shot from the hip a correct regex, I would hire them.”
21:41 Algorithmic coding tests and hiring in the AI era.
25:34 Big tech layoffs, overvaluation, and golden handcuffs.
28:25 Hands-on with Amp and Codex for multi-agent coding, and where “let it take the wheel” ends. The title line lives here.
32:04 Combining models for writing and UI design workflows.
34:26 Nina’s collaborative writing app for a Discord community, and its concurrency bugs.
37:34 Monetizing side projects. Nina: “Because I hate making money.”
46:46 Remote vibe-coding tools, and the worst agent Nina’s ever used.