Why start a blog?
Technology, especially software development, has been a passion of mine for as long as I can remember. Back in high school, I was already scripting simple command combos to automate tasks—mostly to get my ancient 286 working just right. That machine constantly needed fiddling with audio, RAM, and other settings just to run my favorite games. I spent more time debugging boot configs than actually playing anything.
Since then, I’ve spent more years than I’d care to count in IT. I started building websites for friends, did some freelancing, and eventually landed my first commercial gig writing Perl and .NET. I haven’t looked back since.
Over the years, I’ve picked up a few things—some the hard way. I’ve worked across a wide range of roles and seen the best (and worst) of software engineering across various domains. I've led small and large teams across monoliths, experience builds, complex backends across many different technology stacks. But for a while now I’ve been feeling the itch to start writing some of it down.
Maybe it’s a legacy project. Maybe it’s just a cathartic outlet to blow off some steam. Maybe I’ll learn something about myself by getting the thoughts out of my head and onto the page.
Or maybe it’s just a bit of self-flagellation. We’ll see.
What's the plan?
I'm not going to pretend this blog will follow a strict editorial calendar or that I've got dozens of posts queued up. There are zero promises here. This blog is more of a working logbook than a polished magazine and I have enough of a bank of ideas to write to but if I set myself some tough targets I'm going to wave at those targets as they pass me by. It must be organic and it must be enjoyable otherwise it's just not going to work.
Here's my loose plan:
- Write regularly, but sustainably.
That probably means every couple of weeks rather than every day. I'm aiming for consistency over perfection. - Keep it honest and informal.
No “thought leader” speak. Just me, writing like I talk—minus the ums and coffee breaks. - Follow the rabbit holes.
I'll try to stay on topic… but I make no promises.
What will I write about?
This is a blog for people who like building things, thinking about systems, and occasionally wondering why software engineering isn't easier. You can expect posts on:
- Technical coding approachs:
I love finding hard problems and having a go at solving them. You'll see this across any number of languages, Dotnet & Go being some favourites in the backend and Next.js/Typescript in the frontend. - Software architecture & design:
Real-world lessons, patterns I love (or loathe), and how I think about building systems that don't fall over at 3am. - Engineering leadership:
The messy, rewarding art of helping other people do great work. - Side projects & experiments:
Little things I'm hacking on—some that work, some that fail gloriously. - Tools & workflows:
I'm constantly tweaking how I work. If I find something that helps, I'll share it. - Personal reflections:
Thoughts on balance, curiosity, learning, and all the stuff that doesn't fit neatly into a Jira ticket.
I'm also hoping this blog becomes a place where I can engage with others—whether you're just getting started in tech or have been building things since punch cards.
Final thoughts
Starting something is always a little scary. There's vulnerability in putting your thoughts out into the open. Launching this site was fun in itself, having an excuse to dive deep in Next.js and solving some basic web hosting problems. More on that in another blog on how I approached this build.
So here's to the start. If you're curious, feel free to stick around. Subscribe, say hi, or just silently lurk—I won't judge. Subscriptiong will come at some point, I'll get around to exposing an RSS feed but for now read on and ejoy!
See you in the next one - pun intended 😏.
Chris