Damien Dubé

Well NVIDIA is now worth more than the GDP of Canada and in fact, more than 14 of the G20. So what is behind this insane growth and valuation? 1. Exponential requirements for growth. If we look at "GPT5" the needs will be far more than GPT4. From GPT2 to GPT4 OpenAI progressively added orders of magnitude more computing power to calculate the models. Rough estimates are GPT4 used 3,000 to 10,000x the compute power compared to GPT2 2. Data centers aren't nearly big enough...by a lot. GPT4 benefitted from having a lot of excess compute in existing data centers. But the next models will need compute thousands of times bigger. Think $100b or $1T data centers. 3. Google, Microsoft, Amazon are investing billions (>10b each) to grow the data centers to meet the demands. And now I'll let you guess who is supplying those chipsets.... If you are looking for some details on this, Leopold Aschenbrenner of situational-awarness.ai wrote an excellent article on calculating computational requirements. But hey, keep your head up Canada, at least we've got a team in the NHL playoffs. https://lnkd.in/gadhkfxf

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The October Montreal.rb talk will be on how to "Tame Complex Queries with Database Views", given by David Cornu, a Staff Software Developer at Patch. Date/Time: Wednesday, October 2, 2024 at 7pm Location: Anticafe Montreal (294 Saint-Catherine St W, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) RSVP link: https://lnkd.in/er8Hz24N Description: PostgreSQL views are a useful tool to make query logic reusable and maintainable. This talk will cover their pros and cons, a couple of real-world use cases, and how to use them in Rails apps using the Scenic gem. Speaker: David is a staff software developer at Patch (a climate tech startup). He cracked open Why’s Poignant Guide to Ruby in 2009 and has been in and out of Rails apps since. #montrealrb #montreal #ruby #rails #talk #presentation #softwareengineering #softwaredevelopment #programming #community

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I had an interesting discussion with folks from the Chrome and Firefox teams about React Server Components and how they affect the web performance at the Toronto Web Perf Meetup yesterday. The DCL event seems to happen when the last bit of HTML reaches the browser, which can be seconds later. Until that happens, no module or deferred scripts are going to be invoked. Having the browser paint the page before all suspended components load is definitely a good feature, but it doesn't change the fact that we need to deliver all data as fast as possible. All the deferred or module scripts won't load until DCL happens. Have this in mind when you're suspending your components. It's easy to think "it will reach the browser whenever it does" since the users will be able to interact with the website before that, but don't adopt that mindset.

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Last week, Steven Astorino challenged Tanmay Bakshi and I to demonstrate building and deploying an application from scratch at the IBM Canada Townhall. We made this possible by leveraging watsonx Code Assistant to accelerate our workflow, allowing us to focus on the inventive components of software development. Since the Grammy Awards are coming up, we decided to build a polling platform where the audience votes for nominees in each of the major categories so we could determine IBM Canada's predictions for the outcomes. watsonx Code Assistant helped us write boilerplate code, SQL queries, data structure transformation logic, and more! As a result, we had a fully deployed application in ~15 minutes and collected over 1400 votes from attendees. Turns out, IBMers share my opinion that Taylor Swift will win Album of the Year 😊

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omg. here is the recording of the last part of my six-hour live coding session (on twitch) of a forecasting app using python and fasthtml. the last 30 minutes. what we achieved in just 30 minutes? - adding the forecasts by Nixtla's timegpt (just 15 minutes🤯😎) - deploy the app using Modal. enjoy the final chapter 💙: ch 4: git commit -m "feat: deploy" (recap at the beginning) (was the commit actually used? 🤔) (if yes, can you find it in the repo's commit history? in the video?) (if not, what would you commit?) #python #web #forecasting

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One of the hard parts about being a data scientist is learning what "going to production" means. You will get questions during interviews like "what have you taken to production", "is that production level code"...wut? Going to production means many things to many people. Well here is a great bootcamp demo run by 🎧 Eric Riddoch whom I would trust to teach you his version (and a solid definition at that) about what it means to go to production using Python for ML type projects. 🎧 Eric Riddoch has some serious skills in this area and is a trusted colleague. Nope, I make no money posting this on his behalf, I just trust his skills enough to be willing to shout it out to anyone within earshot. Give it a look and if you feel its for you, give it a try. Eric can give you more details about his full bootcamp as well.

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You might know that Speedscale can make a perfect replica of your production environment by listening to network traffic. But if you don't have access to prod environments, Speedscale can still be valuable for developers as they build and validate new features with confidence. This video tutorial from CTO, Matt LeRay, dives into how Speedscale can create an environment just by listening to what's going on on your local machine. https://bit.ly/3AeY8hT

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🚀 Excited to be at ZK Hack Montréal! Over the next three days, I'll be diving deep into zero-knowledge proofs, collaborating with top developers, and exploring innovative uses of ZK technology. This event is not just about coding but also learning from the best, networking with fellow ZK enthusiasts, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in blockchain and privacy-preserving technologies. 📸 Here's a snapshot from the event. If you're around, let's connect! #ZKHackMontreal #Blockchain #ZeroKnowledgeProofs #TechEvent #Networking

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As I approach almost 5 years at CoLab Software, it's crazy to look back at the journey. 5 years ago, I was living in downtown Toronto, the Raptors just won the championship and on a whim of thinking "why not, it could still be good interview practice", I interviewed to be a developer for a startup of 16 people located in St. John's, Newfoundland. I got offered the role, but the catch was that I would have to move there in order to work for them. For some reason after speaking with Adam Keating and Jeremy Andrews, my gut told me that I had to do it even though it was the last thing anyone expected from me. It turned out to be the best decision and most personally rewarding thing I've ever done - from the growth I've had as a person moving across the country, for my career growth, for the skills and lessons I've learned, for the work I've gotten to do, for the best group of people that I get to work with every single day and for this product helping engineering teams deliver life-changing products to the world years sooner. Such a rewarding time to look back at not only my journey, but all the amazing work this world-class team has accomplished (and inspire me to be better everyday) because today we're announcing our successful $21M USD Series B led by Insight Partners 🎉 We're also hiring, check out our careers page (and you don't even have to move to Newfoundland - you can work fully remote 😂 ). Myself and Patrick Leckey (an incredible boss!) are still in the hiring process for the Engineering Manager and Senior Developer roles. But I think the main takeaway I wanted to say is - take chances on yourself even if it scares you and always trust your gut - because you could look back in 5 years and be so glad you didn't limit yourself to your limitless potential and be apart of something you're so proud to be apart of and cool as hell 🙌

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Good Canadian Kid Does and Sings AI Nick Frosst, co-founder of AI company Cohere, simultaneously leads a successful indie band called Good Kid. An unexpected blend of technology and music! Song recommendation: Listen to "Nomu" by Good Kid. The song includes interesting references to technological topics such as syntax, semantics, and lost language - concepts related to the world of AI. https://lnkd.in/dKBpKx5F This shows how the band members' technological background influences their musical creation. "The syntax skips, semantics slip And what was left a growing cleft of language lost, tokens unknown" To view the full lyrics: https://lnkd.in/d-78VdXr A moment of nostalgia: "How do you convert PDF to JPG?" by the (Israeli) band Umlala? What a classic! Today, we'd ask an LLM how to do that ;-) https://lnkd.in/dyMiq9cv What musical association comes to your mind?

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I'm speaking on Friday about a super cool thing that I learned :-). So excited to share how awesome observability is with y'all! Come see me! #observability #dataengineering #yyctech #platformengineering #systemsthinking

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The Canadian government should provide a digital service for "anonymous proof of unique humanity" so that websites can be sure their users are human, and suspend or ban users without the possibility of secondary accounts. Only government can do it because doing it with true privacy baked in could never make money. https://lnkd.in/eA9h9Dtj #proofofhumanity #privacy #ai #socialmedia #canada

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🚀 Excited to Share: C-Law AI is Almost Ready for Beta Testing! ⚖️ I’m thrilled to give you a sneak peek of C-Law AI, an all-in-one platform designed to simplify legal processes and make them more accessible for all Canadians. ✨ Here’s a Sneak Peek of Our Features: ✅ Legal Chat: Instant answers to your legal questions powered by AI. ✅ Document Check: Upload and verify your legal documents with advanced AI-driven analysis. ✅ Document Builder: Effortlessly create professional legal documents with our intelligent builder. While C-Law AI isn’t live yet, we’re gearing up for beta testing, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you all soon! 💡 Want to be part of the journey? Drop me a message if you’d like early access or want to help shape the platform during beta testing. Stay tuned for more updates! #LegalTech #AI #Innovation #BetaTesting #CLawAI #Canada #CanadianLaw

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🧵 The Hidden Developer Growth Secret I Learned From Early Shopify Days (It's not about the tech stack...until it is.) In 2006, I was a young dev in Ottawa running IT services. One coffee chat with Aydin Mirzaee changed my entire perspective on building software. Here's what actually matters: Code Isn't Your Ceiling From: "I need to master the latest framework!" To: "Wait, these founders are teaching me how to think about problems" Learning how successful devs approached problems > memorizing syntax The Real 10x Move From: "Must learn every new tech!" To: "Must understand why this feature matters" Watching early Shopify's obsession with merchant problems taught me more than any architecture doc. Community Compounds From: "I'll just learn online" To: "These local devs are sharing real-world battle stories" Truth: Building alongside others beats watching tutorials. Growth Is Messy From: "Need perfect code!" To: "Need to solve real problems" Plot twist: Those local meetups taught me how to balance technical debt with business needs. Mindset > Stack From: "Ruby vs PHP vs Node?" To: "How are we measuring user impact?" The tech stack debate doesn't matter as much as understanding your users. The Hidden Truth: While everyone's chasing certifications... Real engineering wisdom comes from: Seeing decisions play out Watching products evolve Understanding user impact Building alongside others Sharing real failures What I really learned: Technical skills are table stakes Problem understanding is rare Community beats credentials Impact over implementation Measure what matters Want real growth? Join local dev communities Ask about failure stories Learn decision contexts Share your struggles Build relationships Because while everyone's copying FAANG architectures... Understanding why decisions were made matters more than the decisions themselves. What unexpected lesson changed how you build? Share this with a dev who needs to think bigger 👇 #DeveloperLife #WebDev #Engineering #StartupLife P.S. Great code starts with great problem understanding and the actual need. Everything else is just implementation details.

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🚀 Overcoming Challenges with Shopify Functions for Product Discounts 🚀 Worked on automatic product discounts using Shopify functions (https://lnkd.in/gvsK6kEd). There are limited resources and help on AI Tools, but their documentation is awesome. Doc on Creating Functions, Discount Price Rules, and Forms: https://lnkd.in/gs3kv3kZ Debugging Docs: https://lnkd.in/g8nVJnuB This experience was a reminder of the power of persistence, documentation, and hands-on debugging to solve complex problems. 🎯 For anyone exploring Shopify Functions: trust the docs, stay patient, and keep testing! #ShopifyApp #ProductDiscounts #ShopifyFunctions #Debugging

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Learn how to utilize the slash commands in GitHub Copilot for Visual Studio with ease! Check out Bruno Capuano's latest video tutorial, focusing on how /AskVS enhances your coding experience by facilitating code refactoring and providing helpful suggestions. https://lnkd.in/gRDrzvNU #github #copilot #ai #msftadvocate

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AI app development can be complicated. Multiple databases & pipelines. But it’s possible to put ALL the complexity into an Extended JSON (EmbJSON) format. It’s a new type of JSON data format for AI apps.

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