Thoughts

As a programmer, we are mostly on a fascinating journey of problem-solving, where challenges and their corresponding solutions can be classified into two categories: the simple and the complicated. However, finding the right pairing can bring elegance, ingenuity, and ultimately satisfaction. While this concept may appear obvious, I’ve found on occasion tangled in the web of the wrong combination, despite my best intentions. a. Simple Problem-Complicated Solution: Occasionally, we become fixated on flexibility and inadvertently complicate a straightforward problem....

In my professional journey, I’ve worked in various roles — Pre-sales consultant, Business analyst, Developer, and Architect. Some days, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction, while others left me pondering the direction of my career and personal growth. But as I delved deeper into these roles and examined the ebbs and flows, I couldn’t help but notice a hidden force that controlled the lever of my experience—the delicate balance between depth and breadth....

For a while now, I’ve been questioning the effectiveness of video media for learning new skills or content for self-improvement. While it’s easy to start, I struggle with video-based learning due to a lack of interest in completing it or confidence in effective application after completion. However, I find that the opposite is true with long-form reading, such as books, research papers, and essays. I learn better through an audio-only medium like podcasts or audiobooks than video, although not as effectively as with long-form reading....

So often I find myself wanting to curb my curiosity for the sake of more focus. While the former aids creativity, the latter cultivates productivity — This raises a deeper question: “Is curiosity and focus dichotomous?” Perhaps the battle between them isn’t necessary. Maybe I’ve drawn them together on a battlefield, making them appear dichotomous. That invisible battleground is the internet. A vast and treacherous jungle, with endless paths and context-switch behind every click, yet, an unavoidable modern-day utility, especially for knowledge workers like myself....

As a programmer striving to do deep work, nothing captures the struggle in an eloquent yet visceral way than Paul Graham’s article on Maker vs Manager schedule. Though unstructured meetings are a major visible obstacle, there is an equally pernicious one that needs the same visibility — The unstructured “work” flow; it is the rock and roll culture of plugging into multiple communication channels (emails, chat tools like Microsoft Teams, Slack etc....