Chris Sean Dabatos

Exactly. I didn’t want to be someone who can just do demos. I wanted to be someone who built interesting things outside of work and for fun.

Build things you personally need and are genuinely interested in. If you’re not that interested in what you’re building, you’ll learn less and not dive as deep as you probably would otherwise. Also, start small and move up from there. My first AI app was a Chrome extension with built-in STT. This was before STT was built into ChatGPT and Claude. Then move on from there. I built another voice-first calorie tracker, but this time with a 4.6M-row database, which I later converted into 3072-dimensional vectors and allowed it to do vector search (overkill, but again, I was interested and went in deep). Then… I built a voice-first app named speak2me.io, but this time with built-in memory. I tried @mem0ai, but their framework kept summarizing important facts away, so I built my own version. Then I built RecallMEM and a text-first chatbot with nearly perfect memory. So what started as a simple voice app, because of my interest in it, turned into a memory framework that someone at my new role was very interested in. So yeah. Start small and keep building, but focus on what you’re interested in. The rest will eventually follow.

It’s interesting seeing so many DevRels leave their jobs after short stints. And in at least half of these cases, it’s been because of bad management. The job market is tough, yet I know a few folks who got offers in a matter of weeks after searching. The last time I searched in March, I received 4 offers. I started looking again in early September, and since then I’ve received 2 offers. A 3rd one almost came through, but unfortunately that role was cut. Maybe it’s because DevRel is so niche that it’s easier to get a job right now. I’ve noticed, though, that some friends who aren’t as AI-pilled or aren’t actually building things are having a hard time finding a job.

New laptop, new job.

I purchased my home knowing I’d have to make room for my mom when that time comes. I’ll never let her stay at a care home.

It’s Filipino tradition to put up a Christmas tree in September. We’re a bit late, but I finally made time to pick this up today. Unfortunately, the tree is a bit too tall for my liking. 😂

This may or may not influence my decision on what to do next. 😂

A few years ago, my wife and I decided to live below our means so we could invest and save nearly half our income just in case I got laid off or so I wouldn’t feel stuck at a job. As a result, I can take as long a break as I need before looking for a new role. And with YouTube, I genuinely wouldn’t have to work since it can pay our bills. It’s funny because the 2nd time I was laid off in tech, I only stayed at the job because I had no choice. I had no savings. And when I lost my job, I had no idea how I’d feed my family at the time. Well… I’ll never let that happen again.

Life update: I recently put in my 2 weeks and this will be my last week at Fly.io. I’m still trying to decide on whether I’ll accept any of the offers that came in last week or take a break and look for something new in 2027.

Woah this is impressive. 👀

I have some big decisions to make next week.

Stop by the @flydotio booth!

I’m super excited to be at AGNTCon + MCPCon this year. I actually plan on staying there a few more days so I can check out homes and apartments around the Bay.

I feel like I can finally breathe. Life is great.

I plan on moving back to the Bay Area soon, but it's been so long since I left. I'm trying to figure out if I should sell my kidney so I could live in SF again, or this time move a bit further out, like Walnut Creek, to save some money. I was single the last time I lived in SF. But now I'm married, have 1 child and 3 dogs. Sooooo a studio will definitely not work this time lolol.

I'm looking to sponsor some videos around Sprites and agent stuff at @flydotio. If you make videos around AI, agents, or similar topics and get some decent views, please hit me up! I'd love to work with you.

It was fun collaborating with the team at @ollama. :)