
## The Big idea

Your Computer Science Degree, MBA, or Law Degree is a great thing, but don't get it twisted: history-making innovations come from all areas of study.

## Public Education: Are we really debating this?

Right now, quite a bit of energy is being spent on dismantling the United States public education system. In a word, this is absolutely _baffling_ to me.

There is a ixation on cost-cutting, privatization, and the profitability of any field of study. In 2019 (the most recent dates for which I was able to find reliable data), the average income for someone with a bachelor's degree in a STEM field was $78k USD, vs $53k for someone with a bachelor's degree in a non-STEM field. (source: [National Science Board](https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsb20212/stem-labor-market-conditions-and-the-economy)).

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/public-education-and-the-value-of-collaboration/chart"
  alt="Median Salaries by workforce and education level: 2019"
  caption="Source: National Science Board"
/>

No doubt that gap has widened by 2025 - if you're motivated by earnings, studying STEM is a smart bet.

The wage gap between STEM and non-STEM fields drives high school graduates away from arts, humanities, and social sciences. Does that mean that the work of artists, writers, and social scientists is worthless?

If you think we should be axing arts, humanities, and social sciences, **you've lost the plot.**

## Huge changes from unexpected places

Among many things that get lost in this debate, I'm concerned that we're losing sight of the fact that education is not just about getting a job. Education, research, and the arts are all about _creating a better future_.

Many innovations that have shifted the course of history have come from unexpected and unlikely places.

As a builder, I find this inspiring - change comes from unexpected places, and passionate, intelligent people from all walks of life are the ones who make it happen.

### The birth of modern urbanism

[Jane Jacobs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Jacobs) was an american journalist and author who became the most influential urbanist of the 20th century. Her ideas on urban planning and architecture were groundbreaking, and her work on the book _The Death and Life of Great American Cities_ is a classic. Her influence has shaped the way cities all around the world are built, and her work is still cited today.

### Sci-fi writers influence the future

It is easy to forget how much Science Fiction has influenced the world around us. Martin Cooper, the creator of the first mobile phone, [credits Star Trek as inspiration](https://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1677329_1677708_1677825,00.html) for the invention. Ever watch an episode of the Jetsons? A fun kids show from 1962 that imagined a world with self-driving cars, doors that open and close automatically, and robot butlers. Take that, Boston Dynamics.

These things are _so embedded_ in our culture that it can be difficult to imagine a time without them. Someone, something had to come up with these ideas. The next time you hear someone saying degrees in literature should go the way of the dinosaur, remember that we have writers to thank for these.

### UX and Library Science

My love for design and User Experience has its roots firmly planted in the Dewey Decimal System. [Librarians pioneered the field of Information Architecture](https://www.uxmatters.com/mt/archives/2012/11/information-architectures-two-schools-of-thought.php) - organizing and labeling information in a way that is easy to find and use. This was the seed that blossomed into the field of User Experience.

## So then: Invest

The examples above: from urban planning and the built environment, to space-age tech to UX itself underscore a common theme: breakthroughs often emerge when disciplines collide.

Tiny Improvements readers tend to be folks building really interesting things - I don't think I need to persuade you that keeping education alive is a good thing. Keep an ear to the ground for shifting rhetoric around education, and the next time you find yourself talking about it over a coffee or a beer, keep these examples in mind.

It is impossible to tell where world-changing innovations will come from, and "letting the market decide" which types of research and education are worthwhile is a recipe for disaster.

Pursue your interests, foster creativity in your people, and build interesting things -- regardless of where the ideas came from.

_Only my field matters_ is a narrow-minded outlook that not only breeds hubris; it blinds us to game-changing opportunities outside our expertise. Interdisciplinary openness and collaboration isn't just a good idea - it's often _necessary_ to bring us to the next wave of cultural and technological change.


Beyond ✨Shiny✨ Degrees: World-changing innovations from unexpected places

Public Education: Are we really debating this?


There have been _lots_ of interesting announcements from creators and startups this month. Many apps and services that once felt like they were here to stay are now shutting down. Similarly, many creators are announcing big changes to their strategy, or even stepping down from their roles entirely.

Seems like it's all happening at once, right? Well, in a sense -- it is. And there are a few reasons why that might be the case:

- For **creators**, December and January are the slowest months of the year. Advertisers' budgets are spent, and people are spending time with their families. As a result, many creators use this time to reflect on the past year, and plan for the next.
- For **startups**, the new year is often tied to intense budgeting and planning. The new year is a time when they need to show their investors that they're on track to meet their goals. If they're not, they may need to pivot, or even shut down.

Have you felt it? I've certainly seen a good number of surprising announcements. Here's an incomplete list of companies and creators who have announced big changes since the start of the new year:

### Companies making big changes

- A few days ago, Artifact, the news aggregator app created by the founders of Instagram, shared that they're [shutting down](https://medium.com/artifact-news/shutting-down-artifact-1e70de46d419) their services, after failing to find product-market fit.
- [Mint](https://www.mint.com), the personal finance app, is shutting down completely. Their orphaned users have been desperately searching for alternatives.
- [Prism Bills & Money](https://prism.com), a finance app used for automating bill payments, is also shutting down.

### Creators

- **Matpat**, Host of the YouTube channel _The Game Theorists_ [announced he's stepping down as the face of the channel](https://youtu.be/8R1_TqU68yo?si=1PQEWufTl_letIcO). TGT has **18.7M subscribers** on YouTube.
- **Tom Scott** posted a video explaining that after 10 years of videos every week, he's [taking a break](https://youtu.be/7DKv5H5Frt0?si=2W-72NhfIviI0TI5) for an undetermined amount of time. Tom has **6.4M subscribers** on YouTube.

### Sort of both, and kind of neither

You may have seen recently that Substack is bleeding creators left and right over their [spineless content moderation policy decisions](https://mashable.com/article/why-are-people-leaving-substack-content-moderation-controversy) (or lack thereof). Newsletter creators are jumping ship to other platforms left and right.

[Patreon](https://news.patreon.com/articles/patreon-reimagined) announced a major change to their business model, which will affect creators and patrons alike. Patreon has been the place where fans can support creators they love, by pledging a monthly amount to them. Patreon takes a cut of the pledge (though a much smaller cut than YouTube might, for example), and the rest goes to the creator.

With their new pivot, they are now hoping to become the place where fans can go to see what creators are making without being subject to _the algorithm._ In short, Patreon itself is trying to become a social network.

Will it work? Who knows. But it's a big change -- and while this announcement happened back in October, Patreon has been steadily rolling out changes to align with their new vision since then.

## These changes create opportunities

This, dear reader, is where you come in - as the market shifts with these changes, there are opportunities for you to make your mark. If you're looking for inspiration, here are a few examples:

- Derek Gaston ([@Friedmud on Threads](https://threads.net/@friedmud)), is an indiehacker who has been building a personal finance app called [Splurge Budget](https://splurgebudget.com/). He's been building out in the open and sharing his progress and learnings on Threads.

- Developer-focused email platform Resend just announced feature called [Broadcasts](https://resend.com/blog/send-marketing-emails-with-resend-broadcasts), which suddenly allows them to compete with Existing newsletter platforms and email marketing tools like Mailchimp and ConvertKit. I'm planning to give Resend's newsletter feature a shot - and hopefully livestream my experience building with it on my YouTube Channel [@mikebifulco](https://youtube.com/@mikebifulco).

As ever, if you've been working on building something, now is the time to step on the gas, particularly if you're building something that suddenly fills a void which once felt permanent. Use the momentum of these changes to your advantage, and find places where you can make your mark.

---

Here's some things I've worked on recently:

- We released a fresh interview over at APIs You Won't Hate - my cofounder Phil spoke with Darrel Miller and Vincent Biret from Microsoft about [🎙️ Kiota, Microsoft's product for manging an API with 20,000 endpoints](https://apisyouwonthate.com/podcast/microsoft-kiota-graph-api-darrel-miller-vincent-biret/)
- We also released a series of articles about [Low Code and No-Code APIs](https://apisyouwonthate.com/newsletter/low-code-no-code-apis/). [Getting devs to adopt low code tools](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/devs-its-okay-to-use-no-code-tools) is a topic near and dear to my heart, and it's great to see API tools moving into this world.
- I also started recording mini-podcasts of some Tiny Improvements newsletters. If, paradoxically, you've read this far but you'd _also_ prefer to hear me read this newsletter to you, you can listen and subscribe to here:[Tiny Improvements (the podcast)](https://tinyimprovements.transistor.fm/)


Why your favorite apps and creators all pivot in January


You may have heard of the [Dunning-Kruger Effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect) - people with limited knowledge overestimate their abilities when compared to those with more know-how. We've all experienced it in one form or another.

Passionate people often mistake their newfound passion for expertise, which can lead to some pretty bad decisions.

Recognizing my own ignorance is useful when viewed as a two-way street. There are things in this world that I feel comfortable sharing my expertise for. I am also wrong _all the time_ -- and I'm okay with that, as long as I can learn from people who know better than I do.

So, is it possible to **flip Dunning-Kruger on its head**, and use it to build momentum?

By honing in on the fact that you don't know it all, and making a conscious effort to seek out and listen to experts, you have the opportunity to build on your own knowledge and expertise. By recognizing your own ignorance, you can use the Dunning-Kruger effect to propel your career and business forward.

Here's a concrete example: I've got some background in design, and a little bit of background in engineering (true story: I have an undergrad degree in Mechanical Engineering that has gone largely unused since 2009). For a while, I've been mulling over the idea of designing Open Source, flat-pack furniture that could be cut from a single piece of plywood. Sounds cool, right?

<Image
  publicId="newsletters/learn-from-a-dunning-kruger-expert/flat-pack"
  alt="A render of a flat pack table, and a diagram showing how it was cut from one piece of plywood."
  caption="Flat pack furniture, laser cut from a single piece of plywood. Image from Instructables."
/>

I've got a few ideas, and I've been doing some research, but I'm not an expert in furniture design. I'm not an expert in woodworking. I'm not an expert in small batch manufacturing.

I'm just a dude who is excited about an idea, and I have a lot of questions.

I spent a few hours scouring the web for people smarter than me (spoiler alert: there are _many_ of them). From there I found [/r/hobbycnc](https://www.reddit.com/r/hobbycnc/) and [/r/woodworking](https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/), where I can learn from experienced makers and woodworkers. Instructables has an article series on [flat pack furniture](https://www.instructables.com/Flat-Pack-Table-Design/), and there's endless youtube [reviews of home CNC machines on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IxPxcvc9Wg).

Now that I've found places where experts are sharing their domain knowledge, I can start to listen, ask questions, take notes, and follow heated conversations. Before long, I may be ready to execute on my idea, or I may decide to pivot and make changes that better suit my expertise and situation.

This is something you can apply to any problem space. The best product builders are those who see the world through their own expertise _and_ the expertise of others, to build something that is greater than the sum of its parts.

It's also important to be prepared for the Dunning-Kruger effect to show up again. As you continue to learn, stay tapped into the community. Be mindful of your perceived level of expertise, and the potential mistakes that come with that knowledge.

Finally, when you do find yourself in the position to share your expertise, do so with humility. It is so powerful to be wrong on the internet, and it's even more powerful to [be wrong and admit it](https://mikebifulco.com/posts/semantic-html-heading-subtitle#-update-i-was-wrong-).

## There are things I think I know

- 💼 **The cat's out of the bag...** at least a little bit. Last week I started listing my new job on my various profiles on line. I'm working on a new company called [Craftwork](https://craftwork.com). I'm working with an outrageously talented team on making it easier for homeowners to get their houses painted... and that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you know any full-stack engineers who love TypeScript and react... I'm [hiring](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1orbRYcbBd2UfSHM5mvgCm_gYSwjOQAeaTh7YqymWAkM/edit?usp=sharing)!

- 🫶 **I'm speaking at the [first ever Charlotte Open Source Meetup](https://www.meetup.com/open-source-charlotte/events/290694423/)** this Thursday (Jan 26) at 6pm. The topic is _Unlocking the Power of Open Source to Launch Your Startup and Career_ - not-at-all hyperbolic. Hope to see you there!

- 🎙️ **A new APIs You Won't Hate podcast** is live! [Funding Open Source, with Dudley Carr from Stack Aid](https://share.transistor.fm/s/9bb11fc4) was a great conversation with a new friend I met at All Things Open last fall in Raleigh. We talked about the importance of funding open source projects, and how Stack Aid is helping to do just that. Check it out!

## ...and the things other people know

- 📚 [**"Thinking, Fast and Slow"**](https://hardcover.app/books/thinking-fast-and-slow) by Daniel Kahneman is a must-read, continuing the pattern of sharing books I love. It explores two modes of thought (fast and intuitive vs slow and reasoned) which appear time and again in decision making and cognitive science.

- 🎥 **[@nolanperk](https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTRp352dc/) is a skilled designer** and TikTok creator who shares beautifully-made, thoughtful design tips on his account. Ever wonder how to make font sizes feel _just_ right on your app? Look no further.

- 🎙️ [**The Happiness Lab, with Dr. Laurie Santos**](https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/the-happiness-lab-with-dr-laurie-santos) is a podcast that explores the science of happiness... that's right, the _science_ of **happiness**. It turns out that personal happiness is something we can study, measure, and quantify. It's an occasional listen for me, and I always learn something.


Learn from me: a Dunning-Kruger expert


I spent the last week spinning up tools for a new startup I'm working on. Although I've built several products in the past few years, they have all been solo-efforts, so I haven't had to think about setting up collaboration tools. I haven't started from scratch with a new team since somewhere around 2017, and I was surprised at how much has changed.

Here's what I learned:

### The basics - the best got better

The first few tools I set up have been constants in my work life for a while - we're using [Google Workspace](https://workspace.google.com) for email, access to GSuite, and Google Drive, [Slack](https://slack.com) for team communication.

Notably, onboarding for both of these has gotten _much_ better - both for administration _and_ end users. I was able to get both of these set up in a few minutes, and adding new teammates was flawless.

I also set up [GitHub](https://github.com) for code collaboration, [Google Search Console](https://search.google.com/search-console/about) to keep an eye on SEO, and [Cloudflare](https://cloudflare.com) for managing DNS and protecting our web properties from abuse. These are tools I've used for years, and I'm happy to see that they've continued to improve -- and they all have generous free tiers, which is helpful if you're in the early days of bootstrapped products.

### First time tools for me

Believe it or not, I haven't used [Notion](https://notion.so) before. I've been using [RoamResearch](https://roamresearch.com) for personal note-taking years, and GSuite / Google Docs for authoring and collaboration since about 2014. I'm definitely a bit set-in-my-ways when it comes to collaborating - having worked at Google for a couple years, I got to see how the best-in-the-biz use Gmail and Google Docs to get things done.

_With that being said,_ I'm already really impressed by Notion. They've got an incredible set of templates for all sorts of use cases, and the ability to embed all sorts of content makes it easy to get started. To boot, my teammates have used it extensively, so I'm looking forward to learning from them as well.

We're using [Rippling](https://rippling.com) for Workforce Management -- in other words, for things like HR and payroll. Although I didn't set up Rippling, I have been plugging other tools into it - and I've been delighted by the automations they've built in for provisioning and deprovisioning services. This makes it easy to spin up services for new teammates - when they're added to Rippling, they're automatically added to the tools we use (and just as well, when they one day leave the company, Rippling makes revoking access a breeze).

Somewhere in the past few years, I started using [Figma](https://figma.com) as a design tool alongside my longtime staple [Sketch](https://sketch.com/). At this point, Figma is definitely better suited for collaboration, and I'll be using it with my new team to design our product UI and design language. I still use Sketch for design assets for mikebifulco.com, as well as many quick operations -- but I'm looking forward to using Figma for the bulk of my design work.

I'm sure we'll end up adding plenty of other services as time marches on - and I'm really interested in the things you use to get work done. If you've got a favorite tool that I missed, reply to this message and let me know. I'd love to check it out!

---

## Top tip: Browser profiles keep your work and personal lives separate

If you use Chrome (or any Chromium-based browser like Brave or Edge), and you're setting up a Google account that will live alongside your personal one, it's a good idea to set up different [browser profiles](https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/2364824) for each. This means your personal and work browsing histories will be separate, and you'll be able to install different extensions for each profile. I also tend to set up a third profile which I use for testing.

## Resources for fluorishing developers

These are a few of the things that have been occupying my brainmatter lately. I think you might like them, too!

- 🖇️ Growing on LinkedIn - now that I'm no longer using twitter, I've been working on strategies for increasing my area of influence in places like [Mastodon](https://hachyderm.io/@irreverentmike) and [LinkedIn](https://linkedin.com/in/mbifulco). My friends at Taplio (who previously sponsored Tiny Improvements) are currently hosting their [LinkedIn Growth Challenge](https://taplio.com/linkedin-growth-challenge-2023), where they're sharing their best tips for growing your network on LinkedIn. I'm participating, and looking forward to figuring out what catches peoples' attention on LinkedIn.

- 💼 Are you building a portfolio? [Victor Eke (@Evavic44) on GitHub](https://github.com/Evavic44/portfolio-ideas) has a great list of portfolios built developers, which is a great place to start if you're looking for inspiration for your own portfolio. I was flattered to find my site featured in the list alongside many others I admire.

- 🎥 I talk a lot about [Design for Developers](https://mikebifulco.com/newsletter/design-rules-everyone-should-know). I have a strong belief that most developers would benefit from learning just a few design basics. This week I came across [The missing guide to grids](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIabVp0Hh8U) on YouTube. Whether you've used a grid system before or not, this video is a great introduction to the basics of grids, and how they can help you build better layouts.


Tools for building a new company

Top tip: Browser profiles keep your work and personal lives separate

#startups: 4 posts tagged

Beyond ✨Shiny✨ Degrees: World-changing innovations from unexpected places

Why your favorite apps and creators all pivot in January

Learn from me: a Dunning-Kruger expert

Tools for building a new company