(2025-10-22) Karpathy Is Wrong Write That Post Build That Slide Deck

Jo�o Alves: Karpathy is wrong. Write that post, build that slide deck! This week, Dwarkesh Patel interviewed Andrej Karpathy and covered the future trajectory of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

There's one particular part of the interview that's getting quoted everywhere:

People are interpreting that quote as "don't write, just build." But that's not quite right. Karpathy is absolutely right that building things is the best way to learn. It's how you internalize concepts, face real trade-offs, and gain deep understanding.

But here's the nuance he missed: if you're an engineer, writing � or creating a slide deck, or teaching something � is one of the most powerful ways to build understanding. Why? Because explaining something forces clarity.

I've been telling this to Individual Contributors (IC) I have managed for years:
Build and talk.
Those two verbs � build and talk � are not opposites. They compound.

Jason Roberts once wrote a post called How to Increase Your Luck Surface Area. He explained that the amount of serendipity in your career � your "luck" � is proportional to how much you do multiplied by how much you share:
L(uck) = D(oing) x T(elling)

When you build things you care about (the doing), you develop real expertise. When you share what you've built (the telling), you let others see your energy and your skill � and that attracts opportunities you could never predict.

At Adevinta, when I managed the Runtime team, we made "build and talk" part of our work process. But it didn't start with a policy. It began with an example. I was already giving talks, writing about the things we were building, and sharing lessons publicly. When people saw their manager doing it, it suddenly felt normal. Heck, they felt encouraged.

Then I started bringing it up in 1:1s and performance reviews, not as a checkbox, but as a growth opportunity. I'd ask: "What's something you've built recently that others could learn from?"

Whenever someone shared something, I made sure to celebrate it, in Slack, in our team meetings, and in all-hands

Over time, that small habit compounded

Karpathy is right

He builds, and that's why we listen when he talks. But that second part matters just as much. Building gives you skills. Sharing gives you momentum.

So the next time you ship something, don't close the laptop. Open a doc. Write. Explain. Share.