My name is Noah. Am currently working on myself, and am hoping this site helps me wrestle through some things. And maybe I'll learn something in the mean time, who knows?
This website is powered by SvelteKit, which I currently know almost nothing about. A coworker recommended I give it a try, and what better way to try than to immediately deploy an application and continuously update! So stay tuned.
I did just start this application, so there's little to no CSS yet.
A Little About Me
I am currently a senior software engineer, living in Portland, working at a well known retail company specializing in kitchenware and home furnishings. Don't want to mention them by name so I can remain authentic and not worry about repercussions. I have been working in the tech industry since 2016, which I guess puts me at seven years of experience as of August, which feels nuts.
I am a husband to my favorite person on the planet, and together we are parents to the most energetic and happy ten month old. He is a large reason I wanted to start this website, and is on my mind constantly. When he was first born, I was working fully remote and able to be around him 24/7. As of a few months ago, the company made an RTO mandate of three days a week in office. I brought up the fact that I exclusively work with teams in the Bay Area or New York City, and that I would be commuting to the office every day to join zoom meetings, but was informed that there are little to no exceptions to the rule. As of July, that RTO mandate has gone up to four days a week (Monday thru Thursday, non-negotiable).
On top of all of that, I had worked on an incredibly big project for the better part of a year and a half. I'll write an article going into more detail, but the gist is that I wrote a custom catalog search implementation using a third-party vendor for my company. They were switching from elasticsearch to this third-party, and needed custom workers to keep data updated, front end components for rendering data, and custom front end controls for filtering by dynamic options. I was incredibly proud of myself and the code I wrote. About a month after it went live, a plan to migrate off of the framework we were on was announced, and the search implementation would no longer be needed. After the migration, the code was buried deep in a GitHub enterprise repo, never to be seen again. So I spent a year and a half working on a project that I can't show to anyone, as the code is company property, and the application is simply not deployed anywhere anymore. I know that this is the nature of the industry, services are constantly evolving and being phased out, but this hit me pretty hard.
In case it wasn't obvious, I'm not a huge fan of my job at the moment, and am currently looking for other work. If you'd like to contact me regarding a position, or if you just feel like reaching out with a question or comment, my email is [email protected].
What is this site, and why?
This website will ideally be my place to speak my mind and process through my thoughts and feelings. I have never been good about publicly expressing myself, and have refrained from posting on social media for the better part of the last five years. The older that I get, I'm realizing that I have thoughts, ideas, and beliefs that I want to put forth into the world, but on my terms. A web application gives me the freedom to express myself in whatever medium I choose. I'll be posting articles, documenting javascript libraries I'm working on, reviewing video games, and whatever else.
I constantly worry that I am not good at what I do, and don't deserve my position. I've been an engineer for my entire adult life, and am realizing that I don't have anything to show for it. All of the work I've been doing has been tied up in the same company, and I don't have anything to reflect that except for a dozen or so unfinished projects.
The why is something I go back and forth on. I'm a poor writer so it may seem as though I'm rambling through this hard to read explanation. I've always struggled to articulate my emotions, in any and every facet of my life, whether that's marriage, parenthood, work, friendships, etc. I've tried journaling but have never been very good at staying on top of it. One thing I am good at is typing, so I figured that this medium might be the best way for me to express myself.
So feel free to check in periodically! This website will most likely look different every day. I have a few plans for some articles, as well as implementing and documenting my own API for publishing articles from my favorite notes app, (Inkdrop).