1 year and 40 posts!

Today marks 1 year since my first blog post. In that time I have written 40 posts and this site has received over 7000 views from all over the world! I’ve had some great feedback (even from total strangers), which has been fantastic - It’s a good feeling to know that my ramblings can actually be useful for others too.

I started this blog because as a fairly technical person, I am constantly learning, but one of the caveats of this constant learning culture is that some people (such as myself) find it quite hard to remember all the cool stuff we pick up over the years, so this blog’s primary purpose was to act as a ”memory supplement”.

The idea being that when you read something new, it will only stay in your head if you keep using it (or, unlike me, if you have a really good memory), but sometimes what ever it is that we just learned won’t be totally relevant or useful until much later.

One of the best ways that I have found to retain this knowledge is to use it! For example, if you are reading up on a new programming language, use it! Write little scripts, re-write other existing programs in this new language and just get used to using it regularly. If this isn’t available (or suitable) I find talking about it with other like-minded people will reinforce the knowledge too. Alot of the time, you can really reinforce your knowledge of a topic by teaching it to someone else. Meetups and groups of like minded friends are great for this.

This is part of the reason I started this blog. Once I learn something new (that I have a desire to remember) I try to write up a quick blog post as soon as I can. Not only does this reinforce my knowledge, but if I do happen to forget, instead of using Google to re-learn it, I can simply use my blog’s search to find my own post on the topic and has the convenience of being written in my own way of thinking/writing. Even if my post is out-of-date, or not complete enough, it will still refresh my memory and give me a better foundation to start learning up on that particular topic once again.

This blog has served its purpose well and will continue to do so. If you have a similar way of thinking (or a similar memory) as me, I highly recommend starting a blog!

Thanks to everyone that has been reading so far! :-)