Write threads, not codes: Welcome to the Recycled-verse™.

You know, I wouldn’t be excited to write again about this without seeing another recycled Twitter thread. This time is all about monetizing your website.

Oh wait, someone else just coined a better term to describe these “Recycled Developers”. It’s “Codefluencers”!

Of course, there should be a proof that the Twitter post has been algorithmed, right? Here we are, straight from alt1e’s Twitter account!

Now, we’re not going to judge this thread for quality; most of us know that even YouTubers and Instagram influencers have done affiliate links, ads, endorsements, ebooks, online classes, and art commissions as well, which are the main points discussed on that Twitter thread.

But what makes me surprised here is how these people actually react to the thread, and who they are.

During my first research for The Recycled Developer™, I have seen many similar accounts who post these threads and replied to everyone who thank for them. You know, I mean these kind of replies:

• Thank you for sharing this post.
• (Mentioning a bot account) save this thread, please!
• Wow! These top 10 VS Code Extensions are really cool!

And expected, that Twitter thread gained these kinds of replies, too. Here are some of them:

1. Great tips, Khairallah!
2. Nice thread khairallah 👍 You every time provide valuable information in your thread 🧵 Thanks 🙏
3. This thread is so helpful brother!👌🙏
4. Very useful thread! Thank you for sharing Khairallah.
5. It would help definitely, man. 🙌
6. 🔥🚀 (flying rocket emoji)
7. It’s really helpful! Thanks for sharing 🙂
8. Mind-blowing thread🔥🔥
9. Amazing thread Khairallah 🙌💙
10. Very helpful 👌🏻

Now yes, I’m arranging these comments in numerical order. And apparently, there is one nasty truth about these replies. I looked at each of the reply authors and surprisingly found out that:

Recycled developers love recycled developers!? 🤯

Here’s a fair warning: this post contains a lot of Twitter embeds. I don’t have any other choice but to prove that such replies, authors, and recycled threads existed on Twitter.

If you’re on desktop or tablet, you’ll see 2 colunns: left for who replied to the above thread and right for their own recycled content.

Just to be safe, try visiting this page in Private Browsing / Incognito as you might already mute or block some of these accounts.

Okay so here comes the truth…

Reply #1: Great tips, Khairallah!

Reply #2: Nice thread khairallah 👍 You every time provide valuable information in your thread 🧵 Thanks 🙏

Reply #3: This thread is so helpful brother!👌🙏

Reply #4: Very useful thread! Thank you for sharing Khairallah.

Reply #5: It would help definitely, man. 🙌

Reply #6: 🔥🚀 (flying rocket emoji)

Reply #7: It’s really helpful! Thanks for sharing 🙂

Reply #8: Mind-blowing thread🔥🔥

Reply #9: Amazing thread Khairallah 🙌💙

Reply #10: Very helpful 👌🏻

Each thread is a rocket launch.

What can be learned from above? I thought these developers would also be bored with each other’s recycled content, but then, I was wrong.

In fact, many other threads including this and this have similar responses and accounts who responded to them.

Recycled developers really love to live with recycled developers. Every single thread posted on Twitter feels like another successful rocket launch. And today, recycled developers are now becoming another huge community on Twitter. And yes, Twitter’s still fertilizing their growth.

Oh wait, what! Someone actually stole a public Instagram photo for the sake of engagement? You know, that “Greatest artists copy, then paste.” thing?

40 Data Structure Resources vs 40 Hacking Lessons.

I stated before that Twitter is simply a tool primarily for social networking, not showcasing your actual programming skills. That’s still correct, and that’s why platforms such as StackOverflow and HackerRank exist for that reason:

But then I missed one more point: Twitter is a microblogging platform where each post is limited to 280 characters. I mean, look! We’re all grown up from the original 140 character limit, right?

I wrote on my previous post that these recycled developers, aka. “influencers”, often recommend (random) things without experience. But how does a thread fit into this category? Are there any criteria to make these long threads even more useful to read?

Okay, so, this thread is all about (throwing a random set of) 40 resources to learn data structures and algorithms:

But then Anonymous throwed a really, really long thread about hacking and cybersecurity, and I see there are more than 40 things or “lessons” they have mentioned:

Can you see the great difference? Each post on the latter thread is aided with things which further explains each of the things they mentioned. Either that’s a funny XKCD comic about things, another link to another post/thread, or practically any pictures, videos, and links which are worth reading.

You know, a picture is worth a thousand words, so why not utilize that magic to make your theads even more useful and interesting to read?

Another example here is all about all the stereotypes when it comes to explaining what the heck is the so-called “web3”:

I personally liked this thread better, despite just throwing another set of YouTube videos which you can just search yourself — on YouTube! Each post of the thread is filled with a short introduction to the topics discussed. So again, these kinds of threads are way better than the case of data structure resources.

Oh wait, WHAT!? That data structure superman hosted a Twitter Space!? Let’s listen what would happen inside a Twitter space hosted by a recycled developer. Oh, I mean, codefluencer.

Inside a codefluencer’s Twitter Space.

This Twitter Space has been listened by 1.5K people (at the time of this writing). So, that would be interesting right?

But no. No, really, this Space is only 5 minutes long. But well, it can still contain some useful info, right?

After painstakingly listening to the recording of this Space, I hear nothing but white noise. Well, it seems that the influencer failed to do so, but wait! He didn’t just give up and created another space on the other day!

Now, what is actually being discussed here? Sure, the developer in question recites his experience on early programming journey and motivation. But then, the developer jumped straight into discussing “tutorial hell” without explicitly mentioning “tutorial hell” on this Twitter Space.

Note that I don’t have much experience in hosting Twitter Spaces. But I believe that these three specific questions:

• How to start?
• Where to start?
• What to start?

are too broad for such a new developer to grasp. At the end, the world of software engineering and computer science will be split into many different, evergreen paths. We have seen the growth of AI, mobile apps, websites, cloud computing, and others over the last decade. They are all different paths, but still growing.

Hey, he just said “programming”, not “software engineering”.

Sure, programming and software engineering are different. But again, through the three questions, one can start programming for:

• get to the final boss in Codingame
• get off from Texas Instruments calculators and solve exotic math problems
• just want to create a gallery website
• pushing Scratch beyond its limits
• play with old hardware
• joining the ranks of ICPC

and the list goes on.

Unfortunately, codefluencers like this are heavily focused on building webapps, Python scripts, and cloud computing containers (Docker, Kubernetes). One does not simply thread “Top 10 Arduino sensors” to be viral. Or “Follow me for more Scratch tips”. Or “I made into the ICPC final round in just 3 months; here’s how I did it” thing.

Oh, and this tweet reminds me of a specific website which generates a lot of keywords in which if you put it in your email messages, 90% of email providers will flag your message as spam.

And last… a contradiction.

I really love to see a nice contradiction between two recycled developers sharing their interests in Web3. One developer told you to stop wasting money on Web3 courses and bootcamps:

However, another developer threaded another list of 24 quick Web3 resources followed with an offering to enroll in a $1,250 (previously $985) online course made by herself. As a comparison, the original iPhone X was sold starting from $999!

…in which Nader Dabit called this course as bullshit:

Of course, this course is bullshit. No, not because the price tag, not the recycled thread itself, but because of the author’s actual education and job experience which doesn’t show anything related to computer science!

How important are these codefluencers, anyway?

Many codefluencers feel that posting threads this way means more engagement, and that’s important for them. But for us, the experienced developers, we are already fed up with the threads and now what? Twitter’s fertilizing their growth?

Now, a simple test to determine whether you’re one of those experienced developers is well, looking at your list of muted words. If that list includes “🧵”, “99.9(%)”, “thread”, or even “web3”, then you’re certainly be one who really cares about your productivity.

The most important skill I learnt is how to Google things and figure things out fast. If you always ask other people how to do stuff you’ll never learn that skill. There’s a lot of power in being able to operate autonomously and independent, it makes you an original person which increases the odds of you coming up with great ideas.

“Why I’m unreachable and maybe you should be too” –  https://levels.io/contact/

After all, the most important skill in the tech world isn’t all about trying out each new hot thing as mentioned on those Twitter threads. But it’s all about choosing the right solution for the right problem.

The most important part in programming is writing codes, not threads, and to solve real-world problems, not solving your identity crisis over Twitter. Writing this blog post is also a waste of time, and I’ll probably not to do it again without such a compelling reason.

I’m done, I guess…

It seems that we have a true, direct competitor of meritocracy in tech career. As Fireship stated on that video,

“… and he (codefluencer) just landed a better paying job than you because he mastered the art of virtue signalling, and that’s what we called a good culture fit.”

What’s virtue signalling, again? Let me consult the Urban Dictionary for that…

Oh, right? Is this that kind of urge to tweet pointless things like this?

…or this?

Anyway…

Alright this seems to be another mission to save beginners from the wrath of information overload made by Twitter codefluencers, by giving a better solution rather than recycling content.

Let’s get some coffee first. Are you ready, Nate?