New website
I wrote my last blog post in 2016. Ever since I felt like I wasn't doing anything worth writing about. I was no longer enjoying myself as a software developer. I burned out. There were a lot of factors that contributed to my burnout but one of them was definitely that I no longer enjoyed the way I built software. Unfortunately it took years to gain the insight that I still enjoyed making products, but not the way I was making them.
There were many ideas and inspirations that contributed to my recovery. On a personal level raising my kids taught me valuable lessons in recognizing, feeling and dealing with my own emotions. Through the raising humans kind podcast, The explosive child and How to talk so kids will listen & listen so kids will talk I discovered a different way to raise my kids while simultaneously learning how to better recognize my own emotions. It's hard to summarize but if I had to it's: Respect feelings; limit behavior. It's okay to be sad; it's not okay to hit your siblings.
As a way to remind ourselves that all feelings are okay we have this Inside out poster framed on a wall in our living room:
Professionally I learned about the term Product developer from PostHog which gave name to my professional identity. I've always known I'm not a typical software developer but it wasn't until I learned of the concept product developer that I was able to truly understand and articulate the difference.
I skipped a lot of things that contributed to my burnout; heck I probably haven't discovered a lot of the reasons. All the insights I did gain brought me to a simple conclusion: I lost the joy of creation.
Recovering from burnout was finding that joy again and I did.
I found it in Health shortcuts and brb. I started building iOS apps in 2007 (yes, before there was an official SDK) but these are the first apps I published myself. I'm incredible proud of my apps but simultaneously I tire of their uniformity. iOS and Android are optimized to make apps that look and feel like any other app. While it means someone with little visual design talent, me, can ship something by myself, it also means every app looks and feels the same. I scratched my creative itch, but I was still itching.
It's then I found a new community. A community that has existed since the early days of the internet. A community that has persisted through the uniformity of Bootstrap and Tailwind. A community that articulated some of my feelings about React. A community that exists outside of walled gardens. A community that is accessible to anyone (with a computer and an internet connection). A community that believes in owning our part of the internet.
I started following Piccalily and Andy Bell. I began learning about Modern CSS. I noticed the similarities between mobile and web development, accepted that modern software development is different than when I started and realized the web has always been better at non-uniform responsive and inclusive design than even SwiftUI and Jetpack Compose are today.
Most importantly I found myself using view source to see how Lea Verou made the sun in the blog header animate. To get inspiration for naming my variables. To learn how Stuart made his customizable background pattern work. Dreamed about one day having a site so cool that it's vibe changes based on the time off day. I appreciated all this for what it was: art. Accessible to anyone.
I left all the walled gardens but I didn't replace it with anything. This gestures to the surroundings is my replacement. My own humble space on the internet. Outside of any walled gardens and accessible to anyone. Welcome.