TL-DR:

  • This blog is a way for $people to check out my opinions, should they be curious.
    • $people ∈ {those I trust and respect, those I choose to engage with, those looking to employ me.}

Why am I starting a blog now?

I believe that I have some experience and insights on leading cloud and infrastructure teams, navigating careers in large enterprise companies, delivering high-quality software and solving hard problems.

Having recently relocated from 🇮🇳 to 🇳🇱, my ability to stay in my new country is closely tied to maintaining my employment here. Having a website and writing down things is a worthwhile endeavour in that regard: hopefully it serves as a public “proof of competence” and enhances my employability.

Earlier, I was happy with just accumulating knowledge and experience and not really concerned about putting out proof. This was largely due to my lack of skills necessary for crafting well-edited content. I am mostly a consumer, but rarely a creator of well-crafted text. Also, not having public proof hasn’t held me back from finding meaningful opportunities.

However, with GenerativeAI being a thing now, obtaining competent editorial feedback is no longer a challenge.

Moreover, I am more senior now and it is fair to assume that senior roles are comparatively harder to come by. Also, I am now more picky about the kind of jobs I would take. Having a blog hopefully provides me a way to stand out, and give a prospective employer a fairly good idea of what they are going to get.

Questions that i needed to answer.

After I created my website, I pondered on ways to share it with a wider audience:

  • How should I get feedback for my content?
  • Should I expand my reach?
  • Who should be reading my content?

Getting feedback.

I’m not overly concerned about putting out perfect timeless content. Instead, I view my posts as a snapshot of my perspectives at specific points in time, though it will be interesting to see how my views evolve.

So, apart from cosmetic changes and rewording something once I have found a better word or phrase to express my thoughts, my posts are going to be fairly immutable, and any followups are going to be posts of its own.

Hence, I won’t actively seek feedback just for the sake of improving the content.

This also imposes on me the responsibility of expressing views that I am willing to own, even if they change in the future. I am comfortable doing that.

Should I expand my reach?

I am most definitely not looking to be an influencer. My goal is to work on hard problems with smart, kind people and the vast majority of the people are…. not that.

Broadcasting my viewpoints feels pointless: I am not looking to invite attention or engage in debate with people I don’t care about. Also, I also have no interest in imposing my supposed wisdom on those who haven’t sought it willingly. Therefore, I am not proactively looking for engagement. My goal is not to expand my reach.

Who would be reading my content?

My primary goal is mostly to share my views more easily. Or when needed, provide evidence of my competence for those who seek it.

And these are likely to be the people I proactively choose to engage with: a colleague, someone I aspire to work with, someone I met at a conference or a meetup, someone I interacted with online in the select few forums that I participate in.

Given my reserved and intensely private nature, I don’t foresee this blog garnering substantial traffic.

My audience will primarily discover my content when they intentionally click on a link within my profile or resume. Or when I share a link while trying to make a point.

Still happy to stay off social media.

I have actively avoided most social media. Unfortunately, I do have a Linkedin, because that is where most of the recruiters are. I aspire to not having one; but I am not there yet.

Role Model A Hero and Role Model.