background + motivation
I deliberated for a long time about setting up a home for myself on the web. As a junior engineer, my feelings of imposter syndrome make it feel like no one would want to hear whatever thoughts or insights I may want to share about software development. However, while my technical expertise may still be in it’s early stages of formation, I expect this blog to touch on adjacent topics rather than purely engineering. A few things I plan to write about are:
- Workflows and productivity, e.g. how I work and approach the open-ended nature of my job. Things like:
- Getting Things Done (GTD) and other task management systems
- Notes and personal knowledge management
- Terminal and IDE setup
- Education and learning, things like:
- Resources I’ve found valuable as an engineer with a non-traditional education background
- Strategies I use for retaining and applying new knowledge
- Pathways into tech from non-traditional computer science backgrounds, such as:
- Coding bootcamps
- Apprenticeships
- Independent learning
- Finding meaning + living a “good life” while working in the tech industry:
- Strategies around finding work-life balance
- Working in a capitalist system while being a leftist
how this site is made
Update: March 2023
This site has been re-built (with much of the content preserved). Find out more about how I built it by reading the colophon. The original section is preserved below but striked out to indicate it is no longer relevant.
As a software engineer, let alone a frontend specialist, setting up a website or blog should be an extremely easy affair. That said, I deliberated for a long time about the most sensible way to set up a website.
There are countless great options for simple static sites, and I chose the excellent Eleventy framework as it is lightweight, un-opinionated, and works on a simple folder of plain-text Markdown files. I love Markdown and do almost all of my writing in it.
The overall layout and structure of this site is forked from the official Eleventy Starter blog, which provides a great starting point for working with the framework. Eventually, I plan to migrate the site to a custom design, possibly using Eleventy or possibly using the exciting new Remix framework.