Randall Koutnik
Staff engineer at Figma, driving innovation into new ways to round corners.
I wrote a book on RxJS! pragprog.com/titles/rkrxjs/build…
- I’m excited to be speaking at LDX3 London this year! Join me and a whole bunch of excellent leaders (and get 15% off with my discount code). I'll be talking about the many challenges of copy & paste.
- After a bit of back and forth, I've discovered the word my daughter was asking me to spell was "birch"
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikof all the many terrible things that seem to be afflicting the public, the prevalence of defeatist mindsets with zero capacity for creative problem solving (or indeed the unwillingness to even *imagine* possible solutions to problems) might be the thing which freaks me out most.
- Reposted by Randall Koutniklawsuits take time, because they require the *precise* language of what they're objecting to, plaintiffs to establish standing, complaints & briefs to be written, etc. everyone who was screaming at ACLU, LL, etc. to "do something" should sit right the F back down.
- BREAKING: Federal lawsuit filed challenging Trump's executive order against gender-affirming medical care for those under 19, as well as the Jan. 20 EOs funding ban. The lawsuit is backed by the ACLU, Lambda Legal, Jenner & Block, and Hogan Lovells. Background: www.lawdork.com/p/trump-tran...
- A friend tried to convince me that the US was banning TikTok because "China invented a new kind of bank entirely on the Internet so the US can't control it" and to be honest I can't wait for the ban to happen so we can start having normal conversations again.
- Mainstream/AAA video games peaked a long time ago.
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikthis confirms something i have long suspected, which is that certain people are told that their professional and academic failures are because of “affirmative action” or “DEI” as a way to avoid difficult conversations about their mediocrity www.wsj.com/lifestyle/ca...
- Listen, if you grew up eating Red Delicious apples and think all apples are equally atrocious, you're missing out: applerankings.com
- Reposted by Randall Koutniki’m grateful for this thread, i’ve learned a lot and had some things that i wrongly believed corrected.
- I take a deep breath and remember that a reality crafted by an algorithm to keep me addicted is not representative of the actual world I live in. There are far more helpers than villains, even if the latter gets all the attention.
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- You ever think `007` is *really* dumb permissions to have on a spy?
- Folks in tech who worked elsewhere before starting your tech career, what did you do (and what lessons did you bring with you?)
- Reposted by Randall Koutniknah google, I don't think that's a correct correction
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikI think that the tweet genre of “this person (who might be a bot) had a bizarre opinion that made me think less of humanity and so the right thing by to do is screenshot it and show it to the largest number of people” is silly.
- So I've been learning a whole bunch as I've been onboarding at Figma. Turns out there's like, a lot of different rectangles out there!
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikwait do we know for sure which one zuck was referring to
- ChatGPT is excellent for writing talk proposals, I ask it to write one and it produces such a terrible result that I have no choice but to write a much better one out of spite.
- First world problems but it is really dumb that the only version of Minecraft that works on a MacBook is incompatible with the iPad version
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikagdq’s crazy taxi run has a mosh pit
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- HOW CAN IT BE LIFE-SIZED POKEMON AREN'T REAL #gdq
- After 1 (one) crinkle of the treats bag #catsofbluesky
- After I left a toxic job, my wife commented "it's so nice hearing you get mad at computers instead of people"
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikSince there’s a lack of “do the right thing” leadership out there these days, a suggestion: If you’re a leader in any capacity, you have to support people even if they don’t like you.
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikThis is a really thought provoking essay from @himself.bsky.social and I would love to see more discussion of it. It resonates for me, because I just don't see evidence that people are looking for the truth online, they are wanting the world to make sense. www.programmablemutter.com/p/were-getti...
- Between the dry air and fuzzy cat, I'm starting to wonder if I need to wear my static wristband when distributing skritches
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikAD-ROCK: Yo Ebenezer you gotta show re- BEASTIES: MORSE AD-ROCK: Redemption is not a mere matter of Beasties: COURSE MIKE D: We’ll show you Bob Cratchit’s not a lazy BEASTIES: MOOCHER MCA: We’re Christmas Past MIKE D: Christmas Present BEASTIES: AND CHRISTMAS FUTURE
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikwe have officially reached the stage of Discourse where making food for yourself is elitism but having someone else make it for you and bring it to your doorstep on command is working class solidarity
- My parents got our daughter a "Bluey Washcloth". They were only one letter off
- I think my Amazon recommendations are trying to tell me something
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikAs a PR pro, we used to tell people to get ahead of various online controversies by making statements that refute them. It turns out this is the absolute worst way to respond to criticism or correct errors of any kind. Social media has made this worse. When you respond, it kick-starts issues again.
- +1, and this is why "what if we added a bit more complexity to solve this" should be treated with suspicion
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikcommenting on something happening in some corners of tiktok right now but this is a general observation: it is absolutely brain-breaking how so many people have lost the ability to disagree with someone without denouncing them as ontologically evil or pathological or whatever else
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikWhen people alienate everyone in their personal lives by mistreating them, they find a welcoming community on the far right. Thus the far right becomes the last refuge of cruel, insecure people. Once they're welcomed in, people start imbibing the really hard ideologies, like outright naziism. 4/
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikThis is because punishing *people* does nothing to punish the *company*, which operates on its own incentives. Only punishments that make this behavior unprofitable can have an effect. Something like confiscation of all profits for a number of quarters, backed by government accountants.
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikIncreasingly it feels like the only way to think about algorithmic media is that it’s a game normal people don’t even know they’re playing
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikmy biggest 2024 breakthrough: discovering that scarecrows aren't real. crops are just SO much easier to steal now. i used to pull up one or two turnips and run off, but i'm not scared anymore. the only challenge ahead of me in 2025 is to keep from eating so many turnips i give myself a stomach ache
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikBecause it's come up recently, a reminder that the Y2K bug wasn't overhyped. It was a huge problem and an huge number of people worked fast and hard and fixed it. Like the ozone hole. It's not a lesson in overhype. It's a lesson in humankind's ability to cooperatively solve problems.
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikI sometimes wonder if turning follower counts off might be a good idea, because some of you are way too invested in them.
- Bird flu? Yeah, they tend to do that. (Help the dark humor isn't quelling the existential dread of another pandemic so soon after the last one)
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikIs it ok to call yourself a "prompt engineer" on LinkedIn if you're just always on time for stand ups?
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikwhen i was a few minutes younger i thought it was 9:33 a.m. eastern time. and maybe at one point, that was the case. but part of growing older is finding enough humility to let go of some of the things you once held as true
- A miracle happened yesterday, for the first time in a very long time I sat down and started writing - unsure if this one will get published but it's a good feeling being back.
- Reposted by Randall KoutnikIn case anyone wants to borrow a resolution: I'm not perfect at it, but a few years ago I resolved to try and not quote other people's shitty takes on to my own feed, and subject my followers to ideas they already know are bad. If I really want to discuss them, I post a screenshot instead.
- Me reviewing a PR:
- Why do so many kids shows have the characters discovering ambergris on the beach? Is that a normal thing in LA?
- Reposted by Randall Koutnik“why isn’t <person I really liked> posting anymore?” the answer is pretty much always that people tore them to shreds for something they did not remotely deserve being torn to shreds for, and did it over and over until they decided they were happier offline
- No one is insulting me on this platform. What am I doing wrong?
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikhere come old laptop he come bootin up slowly he got broken touchpad he need one more update he got no space on this pc one thing i can tell you its got no warranty
- Reposted by Randall Koutniklike please god can we kill that Twitterpilled reply mode where anyone being happy about ANYTHING is a credulous moron who’s taken their eye off the ball who needs you personally to correct them
- Reposted by Randall Koutnikif you want to make it big on the internet, the easiest way is to find things that make people mad, publish them (regardless of accuracy), and then validate their anger. the result of this has been the creation of a humanity-spanning rage machine where every possible source of anger is being mined
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- Humans train a robot arm to play with cats, and the results are exactly what you'd expect. arstechnica.com/science/2024...
- If this happens I really hope they include "find my Switch" or something because I know I'll play that thing for weeks before realizing I don't know its physical location
