(Re)New Beginnings...

Jeebus.

It's been quite a long time since I last picked up the pen... as it were.

This blog has sat in the metaphorical trunk, strapped with a belt, wrapped in a blanket, tucked under the creaky stairs of your old aunt/grandma/weird neighbor's house for a very very long time.

Much has changed since I've been away...

For one, I'm writing this in the time of Coronavirus (COVID-19), the longest running catastrophe that my fickle mind can remember at my age, and I remember when the Twin Towers fell and the 2008-09 stock market crashed (I was pretty sheltered from that one, still trudging through university at the time, like you do).

Coronavirus seems to be the impetus from which so many find new inspiration. I find this stems from a boredom grown from the mind numbing steps one takes, marching through life strapped onto the back of a routine - wakeup, work, workout, eat, sleep, repeat. I could blame this new found desire to write on Coronavirus, and I'd probably be right. But also a little wrong.

Aside: Now, I talk of the gift that is boredom from the comfort of my own home. It doesn't take much to recognize my privilege here. Many are struggling to survive, either to provide food for the table, or a place to sleep for the night. A member of my own family survives due to the very helpful program that is unemployment. It's not perfect, but dammit is it a lifeline in this torrential downpour.

For another, I've spent over 9 years in the tech industry, working my way through the ranks at Amazon. Far and away a different person than I was in my college days, or just there after.

I'd like to think myself more interesting, but I guess you'll be the judge of that.

But I digress§

Back to our regularly scheduled programming.

I'm restarting this blog.

Maybe it's because people in the software industry still seem to have blogs, which convey some startlingly useful information, or solutions to problems that I encounter on the daily, and I'd like to pass it on (my home-room middle school teacher would be so proud).

Or maybe it's because social media has molded the web into its own image, where everyone has a site, a profile, a "feed", while possessing none of them. They no longer own the data that they produce. Leave that to Facebook, to Google, Twitter, Snapchat, the list goes on.

Honestly, Luke Smith had a point when he argues for setting up your own website. It's a site/profile/feed that you own, you control. It's my own personal space to put whatever I want, and know that I'm not paying for the privilege with anything other than my own cash.

Having your own website is the OG social media profile. Most of the world seems to have forgotten that.

While preparing this post, I've actually been able to download my LinkedIn data, and I'm working deleting my account as these days pass by. To be honest, it literally never did me any good. I had a job right out of college that I've never left. I haven't had a need to network, to connect myself with as many other like minds, all in the hopes of establishing a game of career hoops and ladders. I've been perfectly fine.

When there does come a time when I want a new job, I'll simply start asking. I'll be the ones to reach out to recruiters, demonstrating my skill set. It will be the inverse of what happens today, where multiple times a week I get emails from FAANG recruiters, which I've ignored for... literally years.

Who knows... maybe I'll go freelance.

Looking forward§

I look forward to more.

More sharing of technological breakthroughs, those oh-so-critical "ah hah" moments.

Sharing insight on the tech industry, ridiculously good recipes, or other inventive ways to inflate one's ego.

Let's hope I stick with it this time... I feel like it has been a long time coming.