“To write, you have to want something to survive you.” -Elena Ferrante

August marks the one year anniversary of my first-ever blog post. Admittedly, it took me weeks to work up the guts to press “publish.”

Though I’ve been praised for my way with words since my elementary school days, the fear that my words would be for naught made (and still makes) me nervous. Everything else I’d ever written had a clear-cut audience—like a journal entry or a professor-assigned exegesis—but forecasting whether my first blog post would be of any help was daunting.

I can tell that I’ve matured over the past year because I’ve learned and reaffirmed with every blog post that my writing is as much for others as it is for me. I like my writing best when it has the dual purpose of supporting my self-reflection and helping others learn something. Even if only one of these purposes is achieved, my words are worthwhile.

I’m about to embark upon a new phase of my life: my first full-time job. I believe that any big change in one’s life demands self-reflection, and, for me, that means writing.

That’s why I’m starting a new blog: Chronicles of a Junior Dev. Welcome! 👋

Chronicles of a Junior Dev will be a bi-weekly log of experiences, misadventures, and takeaways from my first year as a software engineer. As all good engineers must document the changes they make to a codebase, I plan to fully document my on-the-job growth.

Besides self-reflection, I anticipate that Chronicles of a Junior Dev will also be a space for up-and-comers to witness what it’s like to foray into the tech industry. I believe that beginners—like me, a new engineer—share the best advice because they remember exactly what it’s like to start from the bottom. By reading Chronicles of a Junior Dev, I hope that budding engineers can learn from me.

So join me in my journey from software engineering novice to… well, who knows? Expect new installments in this nail-biter of a life story on every other Monday. 🙀

To be updated about new posts in the Chronicles of a Junior Dev saga, follow me on Twitter!