Select By ID - A Podcast by Ibrahim Diallo

Google's new Chrome browser is "AI everything." Meta's smart glasses promise to revolutionize how we cook and browse. But here's the problem: they want to automate the things we actually enjoy doing while creating solutions for problems that don't exist. In this episode, I explore why 95% of AI initiatives fail to deliver value, and why that's actually a good thing. Drawing inspiration from Catch-...

From charging "a fair price" on Craigslist to discovering the brutal reality of what clients actually pay for development work. After completing one JavaScript class, I confidently advertised my programming services online. Then came the email that changed everything: "I'm a humble man with little means, but I will pay. Please tell me, how much do you charge for a website?" I had no idea. This is...

We're making the same mistake with AI that game developers made a decade ago with open world design - trying to do everything instead of doing one thing exceptionally well. Drawing from real experience building customer service automation, this episode explores why "conversational AI" often fails spectacularly (looking at you, Taco Bell's 18,000 cups of water), while focused, for...

Think the bottleneck in programming is typing speed? Think again. In this eye-opening episode, we explore why the real challenge in software development isn't writing code—it's reading and understanding it. Drawing from years of contracting experience jumping between unfamiliar codebases, we dive deep into the concept of "mental models" and why building them is where all the real...

What happens when the formats we use to preserve our thoughts become more fragile than the thoughts themselves? In this fascinating exploration of digital preservation, we trace the journey from universal paper to proprietary software formats, and ask what we're really trading away in the name of convenience. Starting with a personal story about abandoning handwriting for keyboards, we explore...

What happens when the solution to information overload becomes so effective that it eliminates information creation itself? In this thought-provoking episode, we trace the evolution of web search from Yahoo's directory structure to Google's revolutionary PageRank, through the spam wars that nearly destroyed search results, to today's AI overviews that might be destroying the web itself...

Think you were hired for your coding skills? Think again. In this eye-opening episode, we explore the uncomfortable truth about what tech companies actually value—and it's probably not what you think. Starting with the story of an "irreplaceable" .NET developer who quit in anger, only to be seamlessly replaced by a QA guy who'd never touched Windows servers before, we dive into t...

What happens when a simple one-day web project turns into a seven-week corporate odyssey? In this wild true story, a contractor gets hired for an "urgent" HTML page that should take 20 hours to complete, only to discover that large companies operate by their own bizarre rules of dysfunction. From mysterious disappearing assets to email chains that multiply like digital rabbits, from comp...

"If everyone keeps 'holding Agile wrong,' maybe the problem isn't with how we're holding it. Maybe it's with Agile itself." Remember when Apple told iPhone 4 users they were "holding it wrong" instead of admitting the antenna was flawed? What if Agile methodology has the same problem—and we've been blaming teams for 15 years instead of questioning the fr...

Are we raising a generation of developers who can fix bugs but don't understand why their solutions work? In this episode, we explore how AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are transforming debugging—and what junior developers might be losing in the process. While LLMs can instantly generate solutions to coding problems, they often bypass the crucial investigative skills that separate good progr...

What happens when YouTube stops just recommending videos and starts creating them? In this episode, we explore the terrifying next evolution of algorithmic engagement: AI-generated content engineered specifically for your brain. Starting with a personal story of getting trapped in a YouTube scroll-trance, we dive into how platforms already track every pause, skip, and rewind to build the perfect b...

Ever wonder why inspirational quotes feel empty until you've lived through the experience they describe? In this episode, we explore why we can't shortcut our way to wisdom. Using Paulo Coelho's  The Alchemist  as a case study, we dive into an experiment: telling the same story five different ways—from "someone got rich" to the full, messy, transformative journey—to discover...

When Ibrahim Diallo discovered home cooking, he declared restaurants obsolete. Then life happened. In this episode, he reveals: The homemade taco revelation  that didn't last Why  500 new restaurants open annually  despite universal stove ownership How  startup chaos killed his cooking streak  (and what that teaches us about AI hype) The  curl project's AI ban  and what it really means Why...

When Ibrahim Diallo joined a viral movement to help Black businesses go digital, he learned hard truths about: The tweet that launched 100k likes (and zero businesses) How  shared passion ≠ shared execution Why  "non-profit" dreams crash into server costs The  white savior developer with a racist Twitter history When  idealism meets the $1,000 Slack bill A brutally honest case study on w...

Ibrahim Diallo dismantles the culture of hot takes with a radical alternative: Why "which programming language is best?" is the wrong question The  3-step method  to develop opinions worth having How  debugging PHP for years  taught him more than any online debate When  Ja Rule had the right idea  about 9/11 commentary Why  some of your strongest positions should be "no position" A masterclass in...

Ibrahim Diallo shares the counterintuitive truth about mastering new skills: The midnight driving lessons  that taught him more than any instructor ever could Why  100 repetitions beat 100 tutorials  for true beginners How  parallel parking in Cairo  revealed the limits of "perfect" instructions The  hidden danger of expert advice  when you're just starting out Why  failing alone  builds better in...

Ibrahim Diallo reveals the dirty secret of software development: The Rule of 3  - Why you should  always  triple your initial estimate How  "small changes" explode timelines  (and budgets) Why  customers only remember your first number  - make it count The  psychological trap  of fixed deadlines in fluid projects How to  reframe "how long?" into "how flexible?" A masterclass in setting expectation...

(originally published in 2021) When Ibrahim Diallo's AI accidentally called a customer "Bitch," he expected disaster. Instead, he discovered a shocking truth about customer service: How pandemic delays exposed the real cost of waiting  (weeks vs seconds) The  "WTF!!!" Slack message  that revealed an AI's worst nightmare Why  speed trumps perfection  in customer satisfac...

This is an old recording that I decided to post for the summer. The recruiting business is changing, but it's all a façade. Join me as we go through this rollercoaster of emotions.

Ibrahim Diallo exposes the dark truth about generative AI's biggest fans: The 7-million-subscriber YouTube channel  pumping out 3-hour AI slop daily Why Amazon had to  limit authors to just 3 books per day  (yes, per day) How  AI didn't kill creativity - it supercharged spam The  invisible cost  we all pay when platforms drown in synthetic content Why  your mom's favorite YouTube channel might be...

Ibrahim Diallo shares the cautionary tale of how his clever workaround got "fixed" into uselessness - and what it reveals about why companies kill innovation: The moment compliance turned his superpower into a liability How  "the right way" often means the slow, broken way Why  every workaround is a distress signal  from your team The  3 questions leadership never asks  (but should) How to  smuggl...

When Ibrahim Diallo's GPS died mid-commute, he made a terrifying discovery: he couldn't navigate his own city. In this episode, he reveals: How AI is eroding your brain's "muscle memory"  without you noticing The  dangerous gap  between AI's System 1 speed and your missing System 2 skills Why  "vibe coding" creates helpless programmers  (and how to avoid it) 3 r...

Ibrahim Diallo shares the counterintuitive truth every expert needs to hear: The startup that hired me after I gave them everything for free How  documenting your "secret sauce"  attracts better clients than any sales pitch Why  people pay you to do what you just taught them  (it's not laziness) DigitalOcean's playbook  for turning free tutorials into millions in revenue When  op...

What happens when your most "indispensable" employee suddenly disappears? Ibrahim Diallo reveals: The CTO who took $1M worth of business logic to his grave  (buried in Ruby code) Why  knowledge hoarding  is career suicide (and team poison) How to  stress-test your team  like Netflix tests its servers The  unexpected benefits  of last-minute PTO (yes, really) Why  documentation is love letters  to...

Every time you open Reddit or LinkedIn on your phone, they beg you to download their app. Ibrahim Diallo reveals what they're  really  after - and why you should resist: The data goldmine  apps unlock (that browsers can't touch) How "convenience" became code for  surveillance Why Web apps are now more powerful than most native apps The  dark patterns  companies use to trick you i...