Preface

Though I did not know it at that point in time, April 2017 marked the start of a big chapter in my life. These past 4 years of diligent work have been fueled by a mix of discipline and stubbornness. The pages in this virtual book will give you a glimpse at the stories behind a ridiculous open-source software contribution streak.

Link to my profile

Since starting as a professional software developer back in 2015, I have never worked a job that contributed to open source. What you see above, is small window into my world that exists outside developing software to put food on my plate. This contribution streak only paints a vague picture, which is open for any interpretation of how my time was spent.

In fact, here is a list of some true statements and rhetorical questions I think you can derive only from observing my contribution graph:

• "He is dedicated to working on something."
• "The discipline is strong in this one."
• "Doesn't he know how to give up?"
• "He probably has nothing better to do."

A picture is worth a thousand more words, right? Leaving my entire story to be told only by a streak of a bunch of green squares on some website (which only has meaning to my peers) is unacceptable. Moving on without saying anything, feels wrong.

What I am going to do instead, is catalog all the important lessons learned from shoving my face into the grindstone over the past 7 years. In hopes of giving myself the ability to let go of past habits and reforming how my life currently exists today. An attempt to find greater meaning and purpose.

Yes, I am aware that it is the same thing as giving up. However, now the message comes wrapped with a pretty bow. Which is easier for me to cope with.

I want to start the next chapter in my life, but first, let me tell you where I have been to so far.

What to expect

As you might have already guessed, most of these posts are going to be really personal. Nothing crazy intimate, but you are going to get a good idea of who I am. While I do feel a bit uneasy about sharing these posts, I also have to think about the other side of the coin. Reading or listening to stories about someone's life is something I find interesting. Therefore, it should be acceptable for others to take a glimpse into mine.

My hope is that maybe you will spend less time figuring out lessons I learned the hard way. That you do not need to spend a ridiculous amount of time outside of work, to get better at doing work.

That does not mean you should not at least try to find your ultimate version, the pinnacle of your performance, self actualization. Work hard and smart, while avoiding getting stuck in the time sink you fell into a long time ago.

Please keep in mind, that most of these words are directed towards me. This is an effort in helping me let go of something that is starting to no longer deliver the expected results.

I would like to think this is for others who are like me, however I know that is wishful thinking. Those who are really like who I am now are not going to read this, because they are not looking for it. They are pre-occupied creating their own treasures, finding themselves, and are not actively searching this type of content.

How to Consume

This is essentially a memoir of the past 7 years of my life. At the time of writing this, sitting down and reading large blocks of text does not appeal to me. Therefore, I do not expect you to do the same.

Each post is broken down such that they can be read independently of each other. It is the combination of all these independent stories that paints the bigger picture of my journey. Something that the contribution graph cannot fully accomplish by itself.

Feel free to pick and choose what seems to be the most interesting. I tried to make the titles, in the left-hand navigation bar, seem to lead to something interesting and not misleading. If not just follow the arrow to the right at the bottom of the page.