Hi there, welcome to my little corner on the internet.
For the longest time, I’ve always had a deep appreciation for people who are not only smart (the definition of “smart” is multifaceted here), but also generous enough to synthesize and share their learnings to the world. Blog posts, Youtube channels, GitHub repos, online courses, books, kind strangers on the internet, etc. - these are all the resources that have helped me go from someone who was stuck with having to complete a bachelor degree that did not interest them in the slightest bit, to someone who is finally in a place where they have the privilege of feeling overwhelmed by the amount of possibilities they have access to every single day.
The TL;DR is, in college, with the limited knowledge and life experiences of a 19-year-old, I chose to major in a field which I ended up absolutely hating and questioning my life choice every single day for many years in my early 20s. It took 5 long years since the day I discovered the amazing world of programming, through lots of self-studying, trials and errors, for me to finally achieve my dream of working as an engineer at a big tech company in Silicon Valley (my apologies if you hate this term, I just think it still very much embodies a dream that so many people, including me, hold dear to their heart). The list of those whose generosity I have immensely benefitted from in the pursuit of my dreams is simply too long to expand here. This blog is an attempt at paying it forward to the best of my ability.
The question is, why did I choose to create a blog? Don’t we have too many of them, technical and non-technical alike, already? And besides, who even consumes this kind of slow, low-stimulation content anymore? The answers to these questions reveal that actually, I am creating this blog also for myself.
Lately, I’ve started to feel tired of all the noise around me in the tech industry . I don’t think I want to and need to expand more on this, but to put it simply, it makes me terribly crave for some peace and quiet to keep the spark in me alive, the same spark that got me into programming and machine learning in the first place. Doesn’t mean that I’m choosing to fall behind. I’m in fact moving forward, with a much clearer mind. Learning, writing and creating, all offer me the headspace and inspiration I need to do just that.
But perhaps a simpler reason is that I have always loved learning and exploring the unknowns and expanding my horizon. Life would be so boring without a nice little adventure or unexpected side quest. This blog is a motivation for me to always make that a priority no matter how busy my life gets.
Lastly, I want to admit that I’m a beginner in lots of things. Instead of being ashamed, I figured this would give me a really good opportunity to distill and share my own learnings in ways that can help someone go from zero to a-tiny-fraction-of-hero in areas I’m currently interested in exploring. Reading - words and visuals alike, albeit slower than other forms of consuming content such as watching a video or listening to an audio, is still one of my favorite ways to learn hard topics.
To reference the motto of my alma mater, Monash University: “Ancora Imparo” - “I am still learning”.
And to quote my undergraduate research advisor: “It’s not difficult, it’s just hard”.
Happy learning!