I've secretly wanted to start a blog for a long time, but I didn't take myself seriously enough to do it until recently. I like the idea of having somewhere to empty my brain that isn't social media.
why now?
A series of events have led me to a point where I feel at ease with myself, with more self-confidence. Getting things out there in the public domain doesn't seem as scary as it used to.
The events in rough chronological order:
off the grid (mostly)
I used to really enjoy social media, but I started getting rid of my accounts when it stopped being fun, not long after the weird dystopia we're living in kicked off. A couple of accounts survived the great purge, although I barely check them anymore. It's nice to be free of doomscrolling and counting likes. My brain is much happier.
dry guy
Like many people of my generation from the UK, I went all in on binge-drinking culture during my teens and beyond. For a good ten years or so my weekends and any spare time were an absolute write-off as I would either be drunk or hungover.
I reached a point where I realised it was no good for me, so I packed it in. This left me with loads of extra brain power to do productive things, like sink 2000 hours into an MMORPG during the pandemic. Seriously though, giving up drinking made me realise I have the mental strength to follow through with anything I commit to.
responsible adult
I've got a family of my own, and I have found myself in a career that I'm genuinely passionate about. I don't get much time to myself anymore, so when I do, I want to spend it on something more productive than watching films, playing video games or messing about with tech stuff (sometimes, at least).
I started with continuous learning to help progress my career. As I learned more and discussed findings with anyone interested enough to listen, I realised that sharing really is caring. It helps to confirm your own understanding and encourages others to learn too, even if they don't realise it.
community
I used to have an unconscious bias that any form of special interest community was "a bit culty", probably because of some of the unhinged stuff I've seen/heard whilst gaming. I've come to realise this is not the case, at least in the example below (other cults may vary!).
I've been lurking around the Ministry of Testing for a few years now — it filled a void I didn't realise I had. I'm constantly learning really useful chunks of knowledge from their content, and I've had loads of interesting conversations with other passionate quality professionals.
Many MoT members have their own blogs where they post about their experiences and ideas. This was probably the biggest catalyst for starting this website as I thought "why haven't I done that yet? I've wanted to for ages."
level up
I was at a bit of a crossroads a couple of years ago, considering whether to step out of quality roles into software engineering. I was talked down as part of some epiphany-triggering conversations with accidental mentors. Around the same time, a QA Technical Lead role happened to open up where I work.
I've been approached for promotions into lead roles on three separate occasions since I moved into QA. I turned down the first two as I didn't feel ready, but this time was different. A combination of the points already mentioned on this list had triggered a change of mindset.
Since moving into a lead role, I've learned the importance of being able to share knowledge effectively. Sharing my ideas publicly here seems like a great way to practise.
what's the plan?
I'm going to take the groundbreaking approach of posting about stuff I'm interested in and hobby projects I'm working on. Whoa.
I don't want to fall into the trap of seeking validation or chasing likes, so I'll post things for my own continuous learning and treat it as an outlet for my creative side. If anyone stumbles upon something they like here, then that's cool. If not, then that's also cool.
I've set some ground rules:
- Be myself: if it puts off potential future employers, then I probably wouldn't have been a good fit anyway.
- No AI content: pair programming or bouncing my ideas off AI is fine, creating content (slop) with it is not.
- Consistent posting: publish at least one blog post per month.
- Consistent-ish projects: complete at least one project per quarter, even if it's something daft.
- Pixel art: all posts and projects must contain an original pixel art image (I'm practising).
In terms of how people might find this website, I have no idea. I'm not planning on promoting or posting it anywhere, at least not to begin with. If you've somehow managed to find your way here organically, congrats on being one of my first readers. Let me know what you think and you could win a prize*!
* - nothing.
That's about it, enjoy the ride.