Stop fearing that new thing!

Hi there!

No, I’m not a super accomplished super woman delivering a sermon to your inbox this fine Thursday; but, if there’s one thing I’ve learned with absolute certainity in twenty five years of living, it is this: Be fearless in your pursuit of the unfamiliar.

Just this past week, I announced my intent to do #100DaysOfCode and, it has been crazy fun already! In just seven days, I’ve completed an HTML course, a basic CSS course and an Applied Visual Design course on FreeCodeCamp. These are all a part of a longer course called Responsive Web Design meant to teach people how to build webpages.

Bit of background; I’ve tried to learn how to code many, many times before, but never succeeded. Either I got too lost in the clutter of information available, got intimidated or just, gave up fearing failure. But, here I am finally, sticking to it this time, staying committed 💜

Goals

I’m putting down my goals here as an accountability check on myself. Once this course is complete, I will start working on my own website, using it as a playground of sorts — inspired by a close friend, Sreetam Das’ website (who by the way, is a tech guru and runs a very cool newsletter himself!) I’ll keep adding new elements as I gain skills for them.

To read …

Here’s some fun stuff I read this week:

1. Stop Building Bad AI
   This piece gave me a lot to think about — how invasive technology can be — already is. I don’t want to give spoilers but consider this piece a thought provoking read. Give yourself time to reflect on the issues it raises. The biggest takeaway for me was: The problems we set out to solve using technology — are they even worth solving?

2. Color Theory Basics: Understanding the Color Wheel
   Since I got to play around a little bit with CSS, I sought out more on how colors work in design. This isn’t in-depth but gives a nice rounding introduction on incorporating colors when thinking of design.

Personal updates …

This is my newsletter’s 15th edition. There’s something weird about numbers in the multiple of five — an arbitrary decision the world collectively made to treat them as special, and so for no other reason, this one’s special to me. True to its headline, doing this — writing weekly — has been both rewarding and unnerving, but I’m glad I’m able to keep up. Moving forward — is there something you’d like to see done differently? Something you particularly enjoy? Let’s get in touch!