Free oil change.
Experts save time and ensure quality.
Published Aug 13, 2025 · Around 2 minutes to read
When I switched to synthetic oil for my minivan, the price for an oil change doubled. That’s ridiculous, I thought. I can do this myself. I’ll save thousands of dollars!
So I bought $100 worth of oil change tools and got to work. Between working and pausing Youtube videos on how to change oil, it took me four hours.
It was the first and last time I changed my own oil.
The idea of a DIY oil change seemed good: I don’t have to drive to a mechanic, I won’t have to disrupt my schedule, and it’ll be way cheaper.
But I was trading my time to do a job slowly and poorly that an expert mechanic could do faster and better. Plus the mechanic takes care of everything else: safety, proper equipment, disposing the old oil.
An expert delivers the complete package.
AI promises free oil changes. You can do anything, but you can only pick two out of three: good, fast, cheap. And AI isn’t good by default. So you get fast and cheap garbage. Your expertise is what steers AI towards good.
Vibe coding is the perfect example. Sure, anyone can create apps now. All it takes is a few prompts. Fast, easy. But is this software: well-designed? accessible? secure? testable? scalable?
You can pay an expert now, or you can pay way more later by doing it yourself AND paying an expert.
Experts are a shortcut.
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P.S. My expertise? Connecting humans + software. We just wrapped up a two week Agent Experience (AX) Sprint where we dove into the human + technical details for implementing an AI agent for a customer service use case. Super fun project. I’m bullish on agents taking over tasks that are tedious / boring for humans.
P.P.S. If anyone needs oil change tools, hmu.
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