Engineering leader. San Francisco has my mind, Amsterdam my heart.
San Francisco, CA
Joined February 2008
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Dirk de Kok retweeted
Note from a laid off Cisco Manager to all, valid life lessons:
"Just a quick 7 min Webex and a very long career is over. Even after serving my entire career, running a very large team, building software, minting $100+ Million in YOY revenue. Stuck with legacy technology knowledge no one wants in other companies with age that's discriminated in tech companies.
I am feeling like the biggest fool now and learned loyalty never pays.
Hard Lessons-
Self serve first. Corporate companies are not your friend. They are there to make money even if US citizens suffer. Cheap Indian 'engineer' will one day take your job anyway. Keep yourself relevant by learning market-relevant technologies. In today's time, stick to open-source technologies. Do not work on proprietary technologies. In case you are stuck, have an exit plan.
Do not be lured by false future promises. Stick to what can be compensated in the present. No one knows the future, not even your boss or his boss. You will be taken advantage of if you allow that to happen. Fight for your rights diplomatically if your personal situation allows else have an exit plan ready. Do not stay for more than 2 years in a place unless you see strong future growth
Maintain a work-life balance. I regret this as time lost will never come back. Try getting a side income, you never know when your side hustle will turn out to be a life saver. Save as much as you can and invest wisely."
Dirk de Kok retweeted
BREAKING: Jared Kushner’s hacked iPhone revealed that Kushner promised MBS and MBZ he would push their agenda with Trump if they participated in a secret fund, with the two royals initially discussing over $10 billion before ultimately placing at least $2 billion into accounts for him, according to a Vanity Fair excerpt from Princes and Thieves.
The revelation lands as Kushner remains deeply involved in Iran war diplomacy, while Tehran has separately accused him and Steve Witkoff of pocketing $9 billion through market manipulation.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Again:
Why does Musk have operational control over any *military grade* version of anything.
That’s not how DOD contracts work.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
The GRU hacked into Jared Kushner's iPhone. Dutch military intelligence (MIVD) then recruited a GRU spy who gave them access to the hacked phone. What MIVD discovered was that Kushner had access to two bank accounts --one Azerbaijani, the other Israeli --where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati ruler Mohammed bin Zayed deposited money. It sounds like a slightly far-fetched episode of "Slow Horses," but it's real. And it proves just how eye-poppingly corrupt this administration was and continues to be as its "special envoy" decides the fate of tens of millions in Europe in the Middle East. Simply incredible reporting by Matthew Cole, drawn from his new book on Kushner. vanityfair.com/story/jared-k…
Dirk de Kok retweeted
The Russians hacked Jared's phone. Then Dutch cyberspies reverse-engineered that hack, giving them unprecedented access to his world. Bananas story here in @VanityFair
Jared Kushner’s Hacked Phone Revealed His Secret Negotiations—Including More Than $700 Million In Transfers vanityfair.com/story/jared-k…
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Explosive story many years in the making, now out in Vanity Fair by Matthew Cole (who will be on Breaking Points next week, and publishing soon in @DropSiteNews):
Saudi Arabia and the UAE set up multi-billion slush funds for Jared Kushner to use.
Iran-Contra 2 here (except with Iran-Contra, at least the US got some hostages released. Not clear what we got out of this one.)
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Breaking: Elon Musk ordered the Starlink slowdown that blindsided Ukraine on.wsj.com/4sgcpBv
Dirk de Kok retweeted
U.S. job numbers keep getting revised lower, per Bloomberg.
Since the start of 2025, initial jobs reports have been revised down in 16 of 20 months, cutting a total of 793,000 jobs.
That’s an average of nearly 40,000 jobs a month that were reported, then quietly erased.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
We’re committing a portion of Anthropic’s shares to the Anthropic Public Benefit Fund, a new wholly owned entity dedicated entirely to the public benefit.
It will start off with 5% of our shares. For every 50% increase in the company’s value over a set baseline, we can contribute up to an extra 2%, subject to our board’s discretion.
In total, this means that roughly 20% of Anthropic’s shares are committed to the public good. Our co-founders have already pledged to donate 80% of their equity, and around half our employees are donating a portion of their equity as part of a donation matching program we’ve run since our founding.
In the post below, we share more details about our new fund.
anthropic.com/news/public-be…
Dirk de Kok retweeted
DOGE made “possible a massive power grab, and that's the real story.”
That’s what author Michael Lewis told me in the second part of our conversation about his book “Blockers: Rebels in the Deep State.”
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Don't know if Trump or associates asked Zuckerberg to disrupt No Kings; or if he saw it as a chance to curry favor with Trump; or if he so believes in Trumpist authoritarianism that he decided to help out.
But it's urgent to stop this from happening again--e.g., on election day.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
BREAKING via AP
President Trump puts new Russia sanctions passed by Congress on hold, saying a waiver is in the US national interest.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Unbelievable. At 9 PM on a Friday night, Trump just waived nearly every sanction the Lindsey Graham bill imposed on Russia. whitehouse.gov/presidential-…
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Dear @katiezacharia — speaking as the world's leading expert on short White House tenures: turn off the news and go enjoy your family. In time you’ll realize that the Universe did you a major favor.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
To be clear: Some facts are neither in dispute nor unclear. Our photographer was clearly marked as Press. She was clearly beaten. These are not partisan or risible statements, but indisputable. We urge a thorough investigation and accountability.
The Prime Minister’s Office:
The facts surrounding the confrontation near Abu Falah, during which Washington Post photojournalist Heidi Levine was allegedly assaulted, remain unclear and are under investigation.
Israel unequivocally condemns violence against anyone—Jews, Arabs, Christians or journalists. Those responsible will be held accountable.
But serious questions remain. Reports indicate some 200 Arabs and far-left activists confronted approximately 40 Israeli youths. Footage shows masked individuals on both sides hurling objects, amid reports of fireworks fired at Jewish youths. Other footage appears to show Levine knocked down and immediately helped to her feet by the same unidentified individual.
The investigation must establish the facts, including who initiated the violence.
We will not allow disputed incidents to be exploited to demonize the hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria.
The facts must determine the conclusions. Not the headlines.
Dirk de Kok retweeted
Trump asks White House press secretary Katie Zacharia to reconsider her role as his top spokesperson cnn.it/4ySQF1b
