29th February, 2020
Time to read: 3 mins.
It has been quite some time since I’ve written about my progress. As per the last post I wrote five months ago, Lifestyle vs Career, I have fully embraced the four day work week Ninetyblack provides. For me, this meant finally splurging out and purchasing a new mountain bike to maximize riding on the captivating Taupo tracks. I also feel less conducive to burnout and have been getting into open source more recently. This is a quick check-in where I talk about my goals of 2019 and where I am now.
2nd July, 2019
Time to read: 2 mins.
For much of my life, I have been considering exactly what ratio of career to lifestyle is ideal. Even before University, I was pondering where and how I should be living. Career gives meaning and obviously the ability to afford lifestyle, but lifestyle allows you to find enjoyment, refresh your mind and give you something to progress on outside of work. There’s also the added benefit of being more physically healthy depending on your lifestyle activities.
This a balancing act that I believe is relative. Some people strive on being career driven, putting in 80-90 hours a week to succeed in business. It is not uncommon to come across these type of people, but at the same time, you have to realize that not everyone can maintain and get satisfaction from devoting so much into their career.
For this reason, I decided to quit my job in Matamata and pursue a job where I am free to do the activities I love to do. Such as mountain biking and running. Luckily I was able to find a job in one such place.
18th March, 2019
Time to read: 14 mins.
Although Google’s Open Source Lighthouse project was integrated into Chrome in early 2017, I had yet to explore and experiment with this feature. It was only after I accidentally stumbled upon it that I realized it provided me with new and interesting insights into my web apps.
For those unfamiliar, Lighthouse is a way to audit a webpage to get Performance, Progressive Web App, Accessibility, Best Practice and SEO feedback all from the comfort of Chrome. Go into the Audit panel in Developer Tools to test it out yourself. Make sure to run it in a private window so plugins don’t interfere!
This blog post is a reflection of what I have learned doing the audit on my portfolio website home page (https://jeremyshaw.co.nz/).
16th January, 2019
Time to read: 3 mins.
If you read my last post about the end of 2018, you will know I had a comprehensive list of side projects I wanted to get done over my Christmas break. This post will be a reflection of what I accomplished as well as including the goals I have set myself for 2019.
20th December, 2018
Time to read: 3 mins.
Yesterday was my last day of work for the year, so I figured what better time to write a blog post to reflect on my experience so far while it’s still fresh in my memory (before the Christmas festivities). I also think it would be a good idea to list what I hope to achieve over the holidays so I can hold myself somewhat self-accountable and not just waste this perfect opportunity to put to rest all of my longer-term projects!
19th November, 2018
Time to read: 4 mins.
Are you a victim of your food routine? Last Wednesday my coworker and I were just about to head out on our lunch break when he mentioned he would once again get a kebab. I mean don’t get me wrong, the kebabs in Matamata are delicious but we have definitely haven’t explored all of the options around us and getting a kebab every day isn’t going to help.
We joked that what we needed is to just pick a random food business around us, and surprisingly after a quick Google search, nothing popped up.
As web developers the next step was obvious, make a super simple food roulette app and deploy it as fast as possible.
2nd September, 2018
Time to read: 2 mins.
Following up to my last post, I was indeed successful in landing a junior position at a web development company, marking the beginning of my journey as a professional developer.
These past two weeks have been a massive learning experience and even if this post benefits no-one else, it’s a way to summerize my thoughts and feelings for myself. With that being said, lets get straight into it!
4th July, 2018
Time to read: 4 mins.
The idea in creating this blog is that I can record the development of myself as a programmer in the world.
Considering I completed university only a few weeks ago, Hello ‘Real’ World seems like a suitable title for my first post on this blog. Up until now I have been a full time student at Waikato University studying a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Computer Science.
As with any long time goal, finishing it brings on a range of emotions. I’m greatly relieved to not have to continue any math based courses and instead focus on things that I am more passionate about such as Fullstack development and the latest Javascript technologies.
Javascript technologies which for instance can create a fast, responsive portfolio and personal blog in little time while still giving you 100% control.
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