thank you Austin Kleon

Kia ora e hoa,

During days, weeks and months, I'm drawn back to the ideas shared in "Show your Work!" by Austin Kleon.

The main notion is implicit in the title, show your work!

I've been learning how to code for the last 2 years almost, and I feel like now it's coming together. But I want to make it more of an effort to share my content.

If you are a long time reader, you might know that I do share some of my projects and learnings in blogs. And I'm also aware that a lot of you find what I work on quite dull (some might find it interesting too).

But what I want to do is be more intentional in sharing what I have learned as I embark on this journey into technology and entrepreneurship (yay! I didn't need spell check this time)

What I've done is created yet another blog!

Shivan Sivakumaran Shivan Sivakumaran Blog

If you are interested, I didn't want to deal with WordPress and a CMS, so I will soon retire my other blog.

This particular blog is built using Hugo, which is a static site generator. Instead of typing into a web browser, I can write a markdown file, update the repository, and this publishes the blog post.

This newsletter will still remain a central hub for my ideas and ramblings in my head.

Some of my YouTube content will focus on this journey as well. I'm just hoping I don't alienate my current audience! But at the same time, I want to share my work!

Not only does this keep me accountable and look good to potential employers (ha!). But I want to inspire others on this journey.

I'm not special. If I can do it, you can too.

Though it might be funny because I'm not successful by a long shot compared to others out there. But you need to start somewhere.

And another benefit is that I'm not blessed with the curse of being an expert. Someone who has 20 years of experience might forget the simple hardships of someone who is just getting started compared to someone who has just passed that stage (that's me!).

I also want to paint individuals in technology as sexy people (if they aren't).

This is what we might think of someone who codes all day long:

The guy isn't bad looking. But we assume those who work in technology are "white, male, goofy, and nerdy".

I want to break this trend in case it hasn't been broken.

People who work in technology, like anyone else, can go to the gym and become strong. They can take care of their appearance and look good by having a nice skincare routine.

They can have a desire to be cultured by learning different languages and yearning to travel the world while working out of their laptop.

One day they can build products to serve other human beings and benefit the world in a positive light.

What do you think?

Please let me know if you found this useful with a thumbs up or a thumbs down. Share this with others if you think it will be useful to them.

Stay focused and talk soon.

Shivan

Favourite Things

Book Paul Noble's introduction to Japanese and Spanish. Excellent audiobooks to get you started with Japanese and Spanish. I've been learning Japanese while I walk Bruno and Spanish when I'm making coffee in the morning and also on my morning commute to work when I'm in the clinic (which is only two days now!)

Book Unscripted by MJ Demarco. Demarco is an excellent author. I read "A Millionaire Fastlane", which has been a huge impact on me in terms of what I want to do in life. Unscripted expands on the Fastlane principles. I've started reading and can't wait to finish!

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