What’s a brain dump and who is it for?
This is already my third attempt at maintaining my brain dump section -- basically a public yet personal journal where I track and reflect on what's going on in my mind and how I am utilizing my time. The goal of this is for the future me to look back on how I was thinking, what I was doing, and most importantly on how I was progressing.
The previous versions of this failed because of several reasons. They lacked structure, direction, and resolve. I'd write my unfiltered thoughts without any structure or clear purpose, which isn't inherently bad, but it's not what I personally want to look back at in the future.
This time, I want to change that and write structured entries that actually reflect my mindset and growth in a meaningful way.
These are publicly available, not because I expect anyone to read them, but in case someone does and finds them helpful or motivating to find clarity on their path. If that happens, then it will have been worthwhile for me to publish them.
Current state of mind
I still suck at writing, but it won't get better unless I try :)
Right now I'm focused on tracking my growth in software engineering and personal development. I've also clarified what I want to achieve in the upcoming months and committed myself to it, which helps with writing structured posts and having the resolve to finish the job. Discipline hasn't been a struggle of mine in the past years, it's more about making sure that my efforts convert into tangible growth and not go to waste.
What am I currently doing?
Reading books
I'm following the reading list of Coding Jesus, a self-thaught quant dev with strong fundamentals. As someone without a CS degree, I resonate with his path and want to close any gaps in my foundational knowledge. The books I am reading are reflected in my readings section of my portfolio, feel free to check it out!
Currently I'm reading Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces to understand more about operating systems in general. The past week I had also finished up reading relevant chapters of Inside the Machine to actually understand how the CPU works.
LeetCode
I have a current goal of solving 150 problems and stand at 126 solved as of now. The goal is to solve at least one problem a day, and now that I'm this far in, I'll soon need to start repeating older problems (about ~50) to retain what I've learned. I still feel shaky at times, some problems feel intuitive now -- others still make me feel lost. On a good note, I do see my progress which is encouraging and it doesn't feel impossible anymore.
My LeetCode progress tree - 126 problems solved and counting!
Next goals
I've been working exclusively with Typescript and Node.js, but I want to expand my tech stack soon. Right now I'm considering:
- Golang,
- C++ or
- Java
I've already read The C Programming Language to learn more about lower-level programming and concepts. The goal here was to become aware and not become fluent in C though.
With all that being said, I haven't made a decision yet and will look at this once I've hit some of my current goals right now. I do not like working on too many things at once as it distracts me and there is no real depth in learning that way.
Wrap up
I think I am satisfied with this version of expressing my thoughts. Let's see where this goes. Bye!