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Welcome to 8 Protocols

I’m Alvis Ng, a technical lead based in Malaysia.

I write about the systems that shape how we build—from software architecture and AI to product strategy, team culture, and the human mind behind the code.

At 8 Protocols, I share principles, stories, and experiments that keep work sharp and human. Sometimes that means untangling a stubborn frontend structure. Sometimes it’s questioning a “best practice” that everyone treats as gospel. Sometimes it’s about faith, psychology, and the quiet forces that shape why we work the way we do.

I write to keep asking better questions: about craft, about meaning, and about how we balance precision with purpose.

I share these notes and stories at least three times a month. Long enough to stay with you. Short enough for a cup of coffee.

Featured stories · Code, culture, clarity

Prompt Engineering and the Illusion of Instruction

Prompt Engineering and the Illusion of Instruction

We think we’re giving orders. We’re steering a next-token engine. Prompts work when they mirror patterns the model has seen. Tiny phrasing changes flip outcomes. Guide with short roles, small examples, and simple formats. Verify. Cooperation, not command.
What Makes a Senior Developer Senior?

What Makes a Senior Developer Senior?

Seniority isn’t a title. It’s how you work when it counts: choose the boring tool when it wins, ship with guardrails, teach without theater, cut complexity, and own outcomes after merge. Tradeoffs over tricks. Clarity over clever. Spotlight traded for team lift.
Sorting Words, Clustering Thoughts

Sorting Words, Clustering Thoughts

We sort words without thinking. Machines can't. They learn to draw boundaries and find themes: spam or not, tickets by topic. Use labels when you need decisions and clusters when you need discovery. Start there. Patterns come first, meaning follows.
Inside the Clockwork of an AI’s Mind

Inside the Clockwork of an AI’s Mind

Ask a question, get a fluent answer. Under the hood, no insight, just a fast loop picking the next token, guided by attention and a tiny memory. See the gears, not a ghost. When you learn the strings, you know when to trust it and when to steer.
Chopping Language, Weaving Meaning

Chopping Language, Weaving Meaning

Language models don’t read like we do. They slice text into tokens and map them to vectors. Meaning becomes pattern, not understanding. Learn the quirks of tokenization and embeddings to write tighter prompts, spot bias, and know what gets lost.
The Erosion of Virtue

The Erosion of Virtue

Speed is prized; thoughtfulness gets labeled “overthinking.” But 深思熟虑, think deeply and act with care, is not delay. It is judgment. Pause for choices that matter. Ask who benefits from the rush. Measure twice, cut once. Finish better, regret less.
From Bag-of-Words to GPT

From Bag-of-Words to GPT

We moved from counting words to modeling meaning. LLMs write, code, and summarize, but they also hallucinate and echo bias. Use them as partners, not oracles. Keep your hand on the wheel. In a world where language is cheap, make your thinking rare.
The Algorithmic Throne and the Cacophony of Democracy

The Algorithmic Throne and the Cacophony of Democracy

How our faith in perfect algorithms threatens real self-correction, and why democracy survives by making room for noise.

Latest

Aug 12
Prompt Engineering and the Illusion of Instruction

Prompt Engineering and the Illusion of Instruction

We think we’re giving orders. We’re steering a next-token engine. Prompts work when they mirror patterns the model has seen. Tiny phrasing changes flip outcomes. Guide with short roles, small examples, and simple formats. Verify. Cooperation, not command.
10 min read
Aug 11
What Makes a Senior Developer Senior?

What Makes a Senior Developer Senior?

Seniority isn’t a title. It’s how you work when it counts: choose the boring tool when it wins, ship with guardrails, teach without theater, cut complexity, and own outcomes after merge. Tradeoffs over tricks. Clarity over clever. Spotlight traded for team lift.
8 min read
Aug 09
Sorting Words, Clustering Thoughts

Sorting Words, Clustering Thoughts

We sort words without thinking. Machines can't. They learn to draw boundaries and find themes: spam or not, tickets by topic. Use labels when you need decisions and clusters when you need discovery. Start there. Patterns come first, meaning follows.
8 min read
Aug 06
Inside the Clockwork of an AI’s Mind

Inside the Clockwork of an AI’s Mind

Ask a question, get a fluent answer. Under the hood, no insight, just a fast loop picking the next token, guided by attention and a tiny memory. See the gears, not a ghost. When you learn the strings, you know when to trust it and when to steer.
10 min read
Aug 02
Chopping Language, Weaving Meaning

Chopping Language, Weaving Meaning

Language models don’t read like we do. They slice text into tokens and map them to vectors. Meaning becomes pattern, not understanding. Learn the quirks of tokenization and embeddings to write tighter prompts, spot bias, and know what gets lost.
12 min read
Aug 01
The Erosion of Virtue

The Erosion of Virtue

Speed is prized; thoughtfulness gets labeled “overthinking.” But 深思熟虑, think deeply and act with care, is not delay. It is judgment. Pause for choices that matter. Ask who benefits from the rush. Measure twice, cut once. Finish better, regret less.
6 min read
Jul 28
From Bag-of-Words to GPT

From Bag-of-Words to GPT

We moved from counting words to modeling meaning. LLMs write, code, and summarize, but they also hallucinate and echo bias. Use them as partners, not oracles. Keep your hand on the wheel. In a world where language is cheap, make your thinking rare.
9 min read
Jul 27
The Lie of the All-Knowing Leader

The Lie of the All-Knowing Leader

I thought leadership meant having every answer. It was fear in disguise. Real leadership says I don't know, shares context, invites dissent, and builds teams that run without a hero. Be a host, not the bottleneck. Trade control for trust so resilience can grow.
7 min read
Jul 26
Should We Scale?

Should We Scale?

Nobody buys your Kubernetes story. They buy relief. Scale only when real demand hurts. Start simple, fix hot paths, and climb one rung at a time. Complexity is a cost, not a badge. Build for today. Earn microservices later.
8 min read
Jul 22
The Algorithmic Throne and the Cacophony of Democracy

The Algorithmic Throne and the Cacophony of Democracy

How our faith in perfect algorithms threatens real self-correction, and why democracy survives by making room for noise.
10 min read
Jul 14
False Gods of Certainty

False Gods of Certainty

People have driven into lakes because a map app said “turn right.” New age, same craving for certainty. Tools help, but they are not holy. Keep humans in the loop. Doubt is a duty. Use the model, question the verdict, keep your hands on the wheel.
9 min read
Jul 13
Paper Tigers with Real Teeth

Paper Tigers with Real Teeth

We evolved to fear wolves at the door, not forms behind a desk. From Hammurabi’s stele to cloud databases, paperwork built order and sometimes bites. A stamp can erase a life. Keep the systems, but question the boxes they force us into.
7 min read

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