I've wanted to post something for many years now, yet the thousands of notes, reflections, and planned blog posts sprawling across 10+ online platforms have never made it to the public domain.
A couple of months ago, I quit my mechanical engineering job without any backup plan; a couple days ago, I enrolled in an immersive coding bootcamp - I'm sure you've heard LOTS of things about coding bootcamps, but odds are that this one will be new to you. As I prepare for Fractal Tech's AI Accelerator, I've now learned enough basic web development that whipping up a personal blog has never been easier.
While my intention is to use this for reflecting on and sharing the many insights and struggles along my software engineering journey, it's inevitable that I will end up drifting into all kinds of seemingly unrelated topics, and I will do my best to tie it all together into something that is hopefully manageably cohesive and palatable.
With that in mind, feedback is a big part of the learning process, especially when embarking on something totally new and unknown (i.e. coding AND public writing in my case), so I do hope that you will a) correct me if I'm blatantly wrong and/or spewing fake news, b) give your own 2 cents, struggles, insights, etc., and c) tell me what you got from this - whether you know me personally and just care to follow along, you're on your own journey of becoming a SWE (or any other profession), or just what you vibed with / what brought you joy / what inspired you / what made you think about something in a new way.
Whoever you are and whyever you're here, thank you for joining me.
Until next time,
Ben B.
(P.S. I did not hesitate for even a moment to write "whyever", and it is totally a real word.)