https://johnmathews.is
I've been writing since 2016 and have covered a wider range of topics that I ever expected. Initially it was just somewhere to write about the the programming concepts I was trying to learn. It's become my personal archive of resources and notes.
My wife was enthusiastic about it and gave me the confidence to quit. Until then I'd been looking to get the transition locked in before quitting, which wasn't happening and probably never would have. At the time I was working in corporate finance and my first child had just been born.
I think the added pressure of being scared or uncomfortable gives you a huge edge when learning new skills, taking calculated risks and trying new things, and working super hard. Working hard in a grind or dead-end is sole destroying (I think), working harder on something you chose, with tangible personal benefits is exhilarating. My career took a new direction and a much steeper upwards trajectory.
That was 3 years ago. I've become a freelance data-scientist, working remotely in a new country, with a much higher quality of life.
I haven't. The main motivation was to see if I could build an analytics tool, it wasn't really about getting better analytics. Though it was interesting to compare the different tools.
yes. server-side must be the most accurate, but I'd still want a good way to filter out bots. for a site with a technical audience any general client side solution is too prone to blocking.
It should be loading just fine, though it is slow at the moment. The good news is that the HN wave didn't cause any errors or break anything, the bad news is that the response time quadrupled and I'm not sure why yet.