The problem I am working through this week: How can I jump into deep technical context quicker than I am right now?
I don’t feel like I can really give people examples of what I mean without making it sound like I’m talking about context switching or just estimating tasks poorly - but that’s not what is happening here. I have seen engineers I look up to hear about a problem and start spooling considerations from brain to mouth without too much thought. I, on the other hand, feel the need to sit with the problem in my head and consider it from all angles (and maybe look things up to confirm hypothesis and current practices) before I do any of that.
Is that something that just comes with experience working across different kinds of systems? It sounds like it but consider: I am talking about gaining context for dumb things like figuring out my my dropbox stopped syncing or how to reset the password on another laptop or figuring out how to remap a key. Problems like this shouldn’t need the amount of time I am spending on it to figure out. In my quest to get faster, I think I need to be ]able to iterate and fix things on my personal work machines faster to support the rest of my work.
I am also thinking about things like: Figuring out how a new model works. Setting up an MCP server of some kind. Playing with a new editor. These are things that I shouldn’t need to allocate a few hours to. I just want to jump in and gain understanding. I don’t have those hours, and I want to get better at my craft.
Work
I am gearing up to work on a flutter app this week! And a document generation interface for an LLM. Both toy apps. I am hungry to figure out how UI rendering patterns work outside the react ecosystem. I have spent the last two weeks immersed in a few different contexts and while selling will continue to be excellent, I am looking forward to immersing myself in a single context for a few weeks soon.
Life
Writer’s club this week was nonsense but every once in a while we need that. I was recovering from a migraine so it was okay. Indie Web Club later that day saw me push through the pain, but it was so worth it. I think we had the highest attendance we have had - maybe 17 people? We didn’t get to finish all that we wanted to but I hope it was useful to people.
I did my first airport pick up this week. Complex feelings about people aside, I truly enjoy the drive to and fro that place. Off peak, I can get to the airport in 40 minutes flat! Two days later I dropped myself off at the airport and a friend drove my car back. I think I am also enjoying driving so much because I don’t actually have to do any upkeep on the car - dad takes care of all of that. Ordinarily I would insist on doing everything myself but this way, we talk more often. I have accepted that Dad and I will have very few things to talk about so I enjoy calling him up to ask about mileage, or how a toll works, or about servicing.
I had some tough conversations with a friend this week. It was really hard to do but I’m glad I did it - and I’m glad for other friends who pushed me to do it. I think the best thing one (maybe extroverts?) can do is build a group of people who’s values are aligned to yours and who will push you to grow.
Health
I had another migraine on Saturday. Luckily it was on a Saturday, so no calls etc got missed/had to be moved around, though I was sorely bummed at having slept through QRB’s discussion of Carmilla.
I did one (1) calisthenics class this week (my schedule now seems to be the complete opposite of Divya’s) but I did do two at home stretch routine things instead of it! Learnt about the quadruped car exercise that really helps with the general pain (thanks Neehar!)
Media Diet
Reading
So much more dramione. Have converted someone at UC to the good world of fanfic romance/smut and am please about it.
Listening
Ankur introduced me to El-P’s Cancer 4 Cure album. It is an excellent cyberpunk soundtrack.
Around the web
- Karthik wrote an excellent piece on the importance of doing things with people
- I wrote about how my thoughts around AI adoption changed last month, and have linked to Thomas Ptacek’s post a few weeks ago which played an important part in it. Ludic wrote a response which I haven’t gotten through yet fully, but promises to be entertaining.