The beginning of the quarter of the year is always a hectic time for me. We’re just coming off from holidays, getting back into work, & preparing for tax season.
I always tend to feel refreshed and ready to attack the year in Jan & Feb with my list of goals in hand, being filled with joy after spending quality time with friends and family, but as March comes around I start feeling overwhelmed.
I thought if I reflected on what I’ve done so far this year, it would give me the boost I need to keep going.
Youtube
I’ve launched my channel! I have 3 videos, 14 subscribers, and probably a total of 100 views ?. These numbers are an indication that I’ve started and I’m pretty proud of that. My goal was originally to create 2 videos a month, but at this rate, I am only producing 1 of the month. But again, it’s a start.
I didn’t realize how much of a time commitment creating videos would be from scripting, shooting, editing, and posting. 1 video takes about 6-10 hours to create. My latest video (https://youtu.be/bLDGAnCFMAU) took around 5-6 hrs to create. My tutorial video took over 10 hrs to create: https://youtu.be/L11WVVfRnW0
This time commitment made me reflect on why I am doing this and if it’s worth it.
The original reason I wanted to kick start a channel was to have a creative outlet to share and learn in real-time & I had to cut back on the “big vision” and goals of monetizing the channel. I first had to enjoy the process.
My goal is just to post 10 videos, then post 30, then get to 100 videos. And learn along the way.
Podcast
I was invited to speak on The “Senior” Junior Engineer podcast the past month and it was a blast! The host is a long-time friend and fellow developer, Andrew Locke.
It was awesome not just catching up with a friend, but also being able to talk about some of the most crucial aspects of “..how educational inequity, income inequality, and privilege impacts access to and within the tech industry”
It was awesome to share my insights on the tech industry and being able to share my story. Check it out here:
If you are also an engineer, developer, or programmer – feel free to reach out to Andrew to be featured as a guest on his podcast here!
Other Updates:
Apologies for the free-flowing nature of this blog (more like `sorry for the laziness`) but I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by life recently. And it has pushed me to reflect and consider a lot about who I am and who I want to be.
Having grandiose plans is cool and all, but when things seem to fall under the cracks, you have to pick and choose what’s important and what you really want to sacrifice for.
I’ll have a follow-up article on my thoughts on trying to do too much at once and how that’s a huge disservice to yourself & your team. But essentially what I am saying is I am putting a pause on blogs, newletters, SaaS, e-books, etc.
It’s still something I really want to do and still may do, but it’s just not the focus right now.
Apologies that this blog doesn’t deliver much value besides venting and having a peak into my life, but I have to remember that I am doing these “extra” things for fun, not to make a buck, but because it brings me joy.
And if I think to much about monetization and long-term goals, it takes some of the joy away, so for now, I’m keeping these things more personal, more open, less concise, until I find a good groove to keep these going.
Thanks for reading!