I've been thinking a lot about my values recently.
For a while now I've been trying to figure out what to do with myself. I have a pretty solid career in tech - mostly a background in automated testing, but also more general dev experience - and legitimately love programming, but... I've been feeling more and more burnt out for years now.
It of course doesn't help that we've gone through Trump, Covid, and now back to Trump again in that time. Or that the tech industry seems to be treating its employees as more and more disposable and focusing ever more narrowly on short term goals and projects at the expense of users... and employees... and their own codebases. Or that so many people now seem convinced that it's ok if things are screwed up now because the singularity is right around the corner, and that if it does happen it will actually help anyone but those who own the models.
Despite that, I've managed to find some happiness, too. I live with two people that I care about deeply in a place that feels more like home than I've felt in decades. I've worked on some teams where we all pushed each other to be better and supported one another in getting there. Hell, right now I'm working with some people that I'm so happy to learn from that my only real fear is that it'll be taken away too soon.
I've come to realize that I care deeply about learning and improving, and I care so, so little about most of the things tech companies seem to prioritize, probably as a defence mechanism against seeing the same terrible choices made over and over again as anything else if I'm being honest.
This blog will hopefully be a place for me to organize my thoughts, practice writing, and - if I'm really lucky - spark conversations with interesting people.