Mainly Because I'm Selfish
Straight out of the gate, I'm doing this because I'm selfish. I created this space to help me learn and grow my network. I want to be able to point people to my long-form posts, and if it's something they happen to like, hopefully, we can both learn and grow faster together.
I remember reading from Jason Liu and Eugene Yan that a personal website should be your 'Bat-Signal'—a beacon that shows your interests, ideas, and thoughts. It should be something that you can use to draw like-minded people closer to you.
I think I'm doing this because, I want to get better. I want to write better, express myself better, connect thoughts more coherently, learn more effectively, reach people more efficiently, and much more. And the fastest way to do this is by simply doing it in public. So, I'm putting myself out there, with the selfish goal of improving faster and connecting with people.
Improve my writing and my thinking
I always think better when I'm writing, but I always write for myself. It's often mumbled thoughts that I can connect because I'm deep in thinking and have all the context.
When I try to explain to co-workers what I have in mind, while reading what I wrote, I often have to connect the scribbles and ideas for them to even begin to understand what I had in mind.
Well, I want to change this. I want to write long-form, well thought, and clear texts. And these blog posts will be my try at it. Let's see if the pressure of having them available to everyone makes me start to write something that people can actually read and enjoy.
Open doors
I'm doing this to get more opportunities, to get to know people that have the same interests, that enjoy reading what I enjoy reading. I want to deep dive on particular niches, be it ML, rec systems, LLMs, literature, history, mental models, out of the ordinary sports and hobbies, and much more. That's what I like to do, go through rabbit holes and meet people inside those places and learn from people that are happy to teach you. It's a waste of time not taking advantage of all the opportunities Internet and Social Media have given us. I've been missing out on many opportunities because simply because I haven't been out here. My friends say I'm extremely shy in the beginning but once I get more comfortable I open up. I hope these blog posts are my gateway to open up with future e-friends.
The cons
Being an introvert makes it hard
Like I said, I'm a introvert person, and being out here is a difficult thing for me to do. That coupled with a pinch of Imposter Syndrome plus some cultural influences, make starting/writing this a daunting task. I will have to force myself to do it in the beginning.
Finding time
Between work, keeping a healthy life by sleeping, exercising, eating healthy, and having a social life, there's little to no time left for much else. I will force myself to keep a steady cadence of posts, something like 1 long-form post every 2 weeks. And then smaller posts in between.
Knowing how to write about work related topics
How is one able to write about topics close to his/her work while keeping the secret sauce secret? I think I will try to abstract as much as I can business logic, names, industries, and everything that could be regarded as sensitive. Probably, even sit on posts for a few days/weeks before I post them.
Broad vs deep
I think I want to go deep in the topics I'm already deep into at first. And after picking up speed and consistency, I want to go explore new topics areas, step outside of my bubble of ML/A + Physics + Maths and go into Biology, Engineering, Literature, History, whatever gets my attention.
Final note to myself
You did this because you want to challenge yourself on maintaining an habit of writing coherently and clearly, and to put yourself out there so you can reach intelligent, interesting, and like-minded people. If at first things don't work out, keep giving it the same or more effort for a while, give it a shot. Hopefully, you are able to write well and have interesting things to say.