Taking stock ..2018

I recently had one of  my usual arguments with my older sister. As anyone with sibling(s) knows these arguments happen so often that they become benign. I do remember this one not only because I won but because of my closing remark, ' I don't want life to just happen'. We let life happen when without conscious thought we let ourselves be the product of our surroundings rather than create our own destiny, in other words become victims. Guilty as charged, and I know I'm not the only one. Jillian Michael's words, "Brings intentions to your actions is how you see results" is the energy I'm bringing to 2019. While at it, lets take stock of 2018.


Work
For those who don't know. I work in the Tools for Software Engineers group at Microsoft.
I've learnt a good deal about Distributed Systems, Testing, Problem solving. Considering that I work remotely I did my best. My impostor voice is telling me not to post my achievements but I'll do it anyway. I got my first promotion, gracefully recovered from projects (2 to be precise) that were cut, delivered impact projects, I'm mentoring junior members of our team and I'm actively involved in reviewing pull requests. More importantly I proactively sought feedback and support when needed . I value this achievement because my self-sufficient self would never allow me to ask me for anything. I look forward to adventures specifically to learn about containers, experimenting with the clouds, participate in the OneWeek Hackathon and do a lot more side projects.
Speaking of side projects, expect more posts on my technical blog, and perhaps we'll meet in person at a conference. Either way, we will be in touch.


Running
I ran a freaking marathon, in fact my first marathon (and almost died of carpal tunnel, but that's a story for another day). I realized that I don't enjoy marathons  much as a gold old moderately long (~15km) solo run that clears my mind and energizes my body.  In the spirit of #selfcare I will continue with good old happy runs until further notice.

Reading
I targeted 20 books but I'm still at 13. Did I fail to reach the target yet? Yes, Does it bother me? Not at all. I read 12 in 2017 so this is progress, we still have 7 days to 2019 anyway, I may squeeze a few in. I also read fiction which I hadn't done in a while. Someday I will be a History Fiction writer, thanks to Night Witch. I discovered Dona Sakar's books which are the boost anyone needs for personal development. I learnt a great deal about work-life balance and meaningful work from Great At Work, Soft Skills and Women In Tech. Reading was definitely an adventure this year, Thanks to all my friends who threw recommendations at me, they were well received and more recs will be highly appreciated. Add me on goodreads, where I post more there than Facebook, I also enjoy stalking what friends are reading.
I intend to read more books next year even if that means just 14.

Finance
Eek .. there are so many voices telling me to skip this section because I'm writing this from my hometown in Tanzania and in my culture talking about money is almost taboo for fear of striking jealousy . I will write it anyway because part of #growing is realizing that sharing benefits both parties. I recently invested in a rental house, making me one of the youngest homeowners you know. I finished an edx course that has made reading and talking about finances so much easier. What's for next year? Share this knowledge in the form of a blog or an app, invest, take risks but also enjoy life.

Music
I can play the piano now, yes I've never played it before. In case you missed it...

Here's to making music next year.

Photography

Proud of my Viewbug awards. Expect a lot more in 2019. 

Writing
Well, I've comes to terms with the fact that writing takes effort and time, especially technical writing. It takes even more time to come up with a topic. I won't make promises but I'm aiming at a post per month whether it be personal or technical. Eventually, one of these days, you will read my book (commits dream to the universe).


[New category alert] Earrings
If you've met me, you've probably met my earrings way in advance (the trick is working :)).

What a waste it would be if I don't give back to the earrings community ( yes, I definitely made that up). Watch this space!


I was just reading my 2018 Year End post and I realized I ticked off most things. Not sure if that means I wasn't ambitious enough or I'm just good with resolutions. I will go with the later. Resolutions, lists and perhaps vacations are probably the only structure one has post-college, so  whether or not they work I will keep making lists and sharing them until they become reality. Last but not least I'm grateful for all the friends I made this year. You know yourselves, I owe you a lot. I wish  you the best with your lists and I hope they inspire you to #BeIntentional.
Thanks for reading and Happy holidays!

Taking stock six

Its a weekend night, I can't sleep, so prepared to be annoyed by insignificant details of my life.

Work 
Stable is the word to describe work right now, its been a year of doubt, learning, conflicts and learning but I finally like I got it, I don't know everything but I have a rhythm and that may be more important. I've designed and implemented high priority features for my team, mentored/mentoring newer members and I generally look forward to working. On that note, I've put off a lot of things to get here and now that I have the bandwidth, expect a lot more non-work technical things. I will be writing or at least thinking about writing technical blog posts and who knows even books, attending  conferences and giving back especially to the minorities in tech community. Hold me accountable and stay tuned.

Running
I mentioned earlier that I haven't running due to shoulder pain. Well, I've finally seen a specialist and while cause may have been the marathon, physiotherapy sessions are definitely helping. Can't wait to live to my full potential.

Finance

• Ticked off one major thing on this list and boy do I feel like such an adult.
• Currently taking this edX  course on finance and investing and I definitely recommend it.
• Realized that I can't bring myself to finish any finance book and I've crossed all of them off my to-do list.

Reading
Finished off The Night Witch, and  The Power of Giving. The  fact that I finished a fiction novel says all I need to say about it. Currently reading Women in tech. There are times I wish I had infinite time to finish off all books on my deck, this is one of them. I made an ambitious goodreads target of 20 books this year, and I'm only through half of them. This may be right time to mention that I take goals very seriously even impractical ones I make on random apps like goodreads. Sigh!

Watching
I accidentally signed up for Netflix.

I shouldn't have done that!
I shouldn't have done that!
I should not have done that!

After one month of not living life to my full potential I decided to cancel my membership and sanity was restored. I highly do NOT recommend it.

Photography

You are welcome!


Music
I will be posting another embarrassing note very soon. 

Existential
Aside from the usual existential crisis, I'm fine.
I'm not perfect, I can't be good at everything, I can't please everyone and I can't have everything I want. Magic happens when you accept yourself and try to make the most of it.

Mantras

• As much as asking for help makes you uncomfortable, do it! We are in this together.
• Introverts have a finite amount of energy, use it wisely.
• It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be done.
• Share, especially when it makes you feel uncomfortable. 
• Trust yourself, you have come so far!

Taking stock five

Hey there, its me again. Yeah, I know its been a while. Hope you've been living life to your full potential. I know I haven't so these ramblings make you feel better.

Work
I've struck some semblance of work-life balance and all the wise words are starting to make sense. Thanks to Morten Hansen's pointers from Great At Work ,desire to be more productive and of-course a major burnout, I have learnt to limit work to business hours. That aside, I've made work progress , whatever that means. I've learnt alright, learnt how to deal with people, toxic colleagues, needy customers et. al. Let's talk more fun things alright. Did I mention I received my first promotion? At least I did one thing right, now prepare to be disappointed.

Reading
Am I currently reading multiple books in parallel? Yes, indeed. Did I also manage to only finish one book in the past 2 months and therefore lagging on Good reads annual goal? also correct. I know, my attention span could use some help, but hey I get points for reading, right?

• Great at work - (just finished, highly recommend)
• Creativity Inc
• The man who invented Seattle
• Night Witch
• Selfie
• Think and grow rich

Watching

• The Mindy Project (more like finished watching all episodes)
• Making note to watch the Wright Brothers, inspired by a trip to the Museum of Flight ( or whenever I grow up to watch educational things)
• Elementary(this counts as educational, right? I mean detective mindset is the exact same mindset I apply on debugging :))

Running
I'm getting old, (or sick?) ,the former sounds more plausible. There was a time in life when I would run modest distances (12km) consecutively, and my shoulders and knees would recover in no time. I really for those long gone days. The fact that without exercise I struggle to sleep leaves with me with a daily conundrum to choose between pain and sleep deprivation. Wow, putting it this way is making me realize how much I need to get help.

Photography
This category will be deprecated soon, in the meantime you can feast on these.

Music <<New category alert>>
So I've started taking piano lessons, don't ask me why I did it, I still don't know yet. I have a long way to go but here is an embarrassing snippet to brighten your day. You're welcome :)

Clip

Experimenting
Still playing around with genome data, will be writing about it when its done, stay tuned. Stay tuned for more or better hold me accountable if I don't write about side projects in the AI/compilers space.

Writing
More like thinking about writing. I've got to be in Flow state a lot lately couldn't help but get ideas. In the meantime I'll be feeding my mind with history till something clicks.

Existential
This is supposed to be a crisis category, where I share existential thoughts and crises that will be addressed over time. Things like I'm coming to terms with the fact that some of my strengths may also be my biggest weakness. Like its great that I'm independent and all but I'm also missing out on many opportunities to connect. Its also great that I prefer not to get in conflict but am also missing on opportunities to engage. Its also great that I get to work at a top tech company, but I also get live far, far, far away from home.Did I also mention that I'm hitting a quarter-life crisis? Send help!

Mantras

• Take initiative, give before receiving
• If (t > 18:00 , wrap work up, it can wait till tomorrow ) else if (t > 1830) drop everything, run, leave, go do fun things like write blog posts.

Thanks for reading and have a great remainder of the week. 

Taking stock four.

Here we go again,

Literally trying to make an entrance

1) Work
More and more learning the importance of speaking up, debating and questioning immediately before it's too late. Coming from a conservative family and country, this doesn't come naturally to me, but I've been in situations where my opinions made substantially big difference, so I therefore present you Imaculate - The trouble maker...  ( If you work with me, scratch that)

Noticing  #WomenInTech battle is not over yet, who was I kidding, Not.Even.Close.

2) Running
Ya girl did a thing!! 💁

Yap I ran 42.2km, all the kilometers. Painful as it was, I enjoyed it, I learnt a very important lesson that day, mostly on commitment. When I started the race, my stomach was unstable because of what I ate the day before. I visited the restrooms every few meters and by 4km I was ready to give up. Not sure how but I managed to drag myself along. I guess it was the reactions to my intentionally hilarious bib :), or the support of fellow slow runners, either way it kept me going. There was always an obstacle, sore legs, arms, hunger, thirst, fatigue but the secret to keep moving, no matter how slow. The same applies to life, we glorify superfast people (Hint: 35 under 35, youngest billionaires etc.) but its even more fulfilling to finish what you started, despite the obstacles.

4) Finance
Education continues

• A woman of independent means
• Money rules

5) Reading

Distracting myself with The man who invented seattle and really wanting to read Cringeworthy: A theory of awkwardness .  I should be reading audiobooks and technical books but I'm starting to notice more and more how empathy, communication and all other cousins of social skills are just as important. 

6) Photography

You are welcome!

7) Experimenting
 Photography and are at the top my list. Lets get housing out of the way first. Did I mention I will be hosting my parents for two weeks? RIP to my routine, also looking forward to it!

8) Mantras

• Build a brand, build platforms, people can work with that.
• Speak up, Shout, Yell , Scream.  💣

Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead!

Taking stock three

Howdy!

Hope you've been making the most out of life, hope you've been learning and growing, hope you didn't miss me too much, though I'm glad if you did as I'm about to take stock of the past 6 weeks.

1) Work
It feels nice to own an important component of our service. It feels nice to be a dependable member of my team. It feels nice to work  with a team that listens, strives to be as inclusive and embraces the challenges of working remotely. The pace of my career is exactly where I need it to be and that feels nice. Of course, there are things I need to improve, at the moment that is time management. I developed a principle never to work on weekends (with exception of on-call weeks) and that has massively improved my productivity and quality of life. Crossing my fingers to make a cut off time of 6 pm on weekdays, wish me luck.

2) Running
Next weekend I will be turning a year older. Coincidentally I will also be running the BMO Vancouver Marathon and running a full marathon for the first time. For the past few weeks I have challenged my body to run as much as 40 km in one stretch and hike for 12 hours. If it weren't for my self-doubts I would be feeling ready. All I know for sure is finishing this marathon will be a major milestone for me. It represents all the discomfort I've overcome over the past year, moving to a new country knowing absolutely no one, being a minority in tech, defining my identity as a young adult. Just like what I tell myself while running long distances, 'This too shall pass'. I do hope it will pass and see you on the other side.

4) Finance
The thing that I bought is a rental property that I'm in the process of leasing. I'm looking to diversify my portfolio with more real estate and stocks. Still reading Investing for the utterly confused by Paul Petillo, I will talk more about this once I have a bigger picture.

5) Reading

I'm keen to learn more Distributed Systems, History and Investing, and that explains my currently reading list.

• Designing Distributed Systems by Brendan Burns
• Eden in Egypt by Ralph Ellis
• Investing for the utterly confused by Paul Petillo

Also considering reading audio books to be much faster. Feel free to recommend any other books in that space.

6) Photography

I haven't taken as great photos recently because my mind has been elsewhere, but I'll share nonetheless.

7) Experimenting  Pondering about

• The next milestone after running the marathon. I'm considering taking guitar lessons or writing (technical blogposts/tutorials / possibly a book?) 
• Hunting and moving to a new apartment further from Downtown Vancouver. Looking forward to the end result not the process. 

8) Mantras

• Say exactly what you need to say, put in writing if that's easier; Meaningless conformity benefits no one.
• You get what you ask for, not what you deserve.
• One step at a time, there's always time.
• Take chances, mistakes are inevitable for growth.

Thanks for reading and feel to free to comment with any feedback. Have a great week ahead!

Taking stock two.

Its me again, 4 weeks later, annoying you with mundane details of my life. Thanks for reading by the way. I promise this will be a short juicy read (I hope).

1) Work
Work is exciting, and by that I mean I'm somehow a resource to my team. I'm comfortable enough to contribute and speak up for myself, so #progress. I  will note that I've recently stumbled upon this bool Soft Skills: A Software Developer's manual and it's really helping me manage my career and life. I highly recommend it for anyone in the tech industry, it's so on point it even has tips on finance management, physical exercise and all that goo stuff. Only bummer is I'm working remotely for my team in Redmond and how I'm trying to manage that is another blog post in itself. As of now I'm a few hours from crossing the border again.

2) Finance
As I mentioned last time, I bought a thing and I'm not yet ready to talk about it but since I bought the thing, I've been exploring more aggressive investment options too. Keen to learn from you dear reader.


3) Reading.
My head space is pulsating between:

• The everything store by Brad Stone
  Enterprenership is my long term career goal so this book really sets the scene on challenges of building a mega corporation. I love the urgency with Jeff Bezos demonstrates with every project he invests in as well as his non-bullshit attitude. I will also point out that as an African woman, reading a book full of white male names makes it very unrelatable. I look forward to the day when such books are filled with Wakanda-like names. 
• 
  
• Soft Skills: A Software Developer's manual by John Sonmez
  Tech friends please read this for all that is good in the world.
• Investing for the utterly confused by Paul Petillo
  Lol , ok, don't judge. Learning starts with utter confusion.

If you read these, let me know what you think and add me on goodreads while at it.

4) Running
I'm definitely getting faster, more resilient and endurant. #VanMarathon bring it on! Thanks to hiking and stairs.

5) Photography

 You are welcome! ;)

6) [New category alert] Experiments!
Random experiments have become a fulfilling part of my life now.
I've been working on a tech side project on using Genome data for workplace productivity. It will probably end up in a blog post here , eventually go big or just remain in my closet. The whole point is is to try, fail and learn and however pointless it sounds, it makes me really happy. While at it, did I also mention that I'm learning the guitar? Who knows, maybe I might just start posting embarrassing snippets here 😝. 


Mantra:  I actually have a couple this time. (Maybe its a sign I'm an actual adult now 😀)

• No is a sentence, it doesn't need an explanation. 
• Be authentic, be upfront, it may seem rude in the moment but it makes life so much easier for yourself and others. Trust me I know. 
•  As long as you're not a serial killer, no one really hates you. People get past minor differences really quickly.
• You don't have to manufacture a perfect version of yourself to be happy or accepted, people relate better with imperfections 
• Mental health is a very fragile asset. Guard it with yourself, give yourself recovery time, you deserve it. Caring for others becomes so much easier after self care is done right.  

...(feel free to comment more)

Thanks for reading, feel free to share  and have a great week ahead!

Taking stock One

Thanks to Sydney Lian the blogging world was introduced to the idea of 'Taking Stock' posts, an idea I completely resonated with. I like the idea of keeping track of life the same way you would keep track of merchandise, because it forces you to value life. For many reasons,  now feels like the right time to start the series. Sydney's original list is too long for a relatively lazy Software Engineer like myself, so I'll share a tiny list of things that I actually care about. So, here we go!

1) Work.

I've been asking a lot of dumb questions lately, like really dumb, like 'I have no idea what I'm supposed to do' dumb. And its OK, Despite the fact that I'm still in the first 6 months of my first real job, I love the space I work in,  a space where its okay to ask 'silly questions', where the growth Mindset is nourished , dare I say I love Microsoft. Sentiments aside, I've really been learning a lot, I've picked up Microsoft tech stack from scratch, implemented a bunch of features, had my first on-call week where my appreciation for our service exponentially increased. Parallel to that, I've also made a number of mistakes, fell into countless rabbit holes and somehow those are the most interesting bits of the journey. My professional life can be summarized in one word, learning. 

2)Money

So, I've invested in a thing. A thing I will  talk about in my next blog post. In the mean time just know that I own a thing that will let me buy more things but instead of buying things I will reinvest in things so that when I fully grow up I can start my own thing. Lots of things, I know ;).

3)Photography

Who knew shooting people and things could be so exhilirating (pun intended). 

You are welcome! Follow flickr page for more pretty things.

4) Reading 

My goal is to read 20 books this year and goodreads report card is looking goooood ( like 3 books ahead of schedule good). I can attribute it to the fact that I started with short books but also reading but the first 1~2 hours of the day is the best form of self-care I know so far. Speaking of morning routines, lets talk about ..

5) Running

You saw this one coming, right? Yeah ..I signed up for the Vancouver marathon. Yes, I will run 42.2 km for the first time. Yes, I' training for it. Progress is good so far, I'm running at least 60 Km per week, running uphill trails, taking the stairs everyday and trying to hike. I'm still slow but I definitely feel stronger. Thanks to my stable morning route that affords me time. In case you are wondering, It involves waking at 5am, reading at least an hour before going on a long run because #Endomorphins #MentalHealthIsRealYo. It may seem crazy or a lot of effort but my introverted soul appreciates the energy afterwards. 

6) Adulting

Lol! 

In my defence, I pay my bills, make my food, I can call some people friends, sometimes read the news. That should count for something, right? Otherwise, its a long long long work in progress, one that I don't wanna rush.  

7) Current Mantra. 

"Be bold, Be vulnerable, Be ambitious. Take your dreams seriously."

Thanks for reading and have a great week ahead.

[2018] To growing and glowing

Remember that tech student blogger from Cape Town who used to publish a post every Sunday? Good news is she's alive, and the rest, let's just say not so good news.

I have been trying to write this blog post for the past 2 weeks since you know a New Year's post is actually published on New Years, but as you may have guessed it's not easy. Writing down a post after taking a break from blogging is hard, honest reflection is hard, planning ahead is hard. But if you know me, you know I like hard, so in brutal honesty I will invite you to my reflection in the past year.

Let's started with the good stuff (in roughly decreasing order of importance):

1) I completed my travel circuit to Vietnam where I presented my paper (Undergrad thesis) which was also published by ACM, find it here.
2) I graduated with Honors.
3) I completed a 6 month internship at Amazon Development Centre in CapeTown where I worked a critical customer facing feature and had the priviledge of working alongside very smart people.
4)  I received a full time offer at Amazon and Microsoft and chose the latter which landed me in Vancouver where I'm writing this post from.
5)  I launched my career as a Software Engineer, went on my first business travel and presented my work at a NIPS workshop.
6) I climbed the highest Mountain in Africa then ran a marathon immediately afterwards. Read about it here, I hiked more CapeTown's mountains than I can remember.
7) I fell in love with running again especially winter running. I took a short hiatus on arriving in Vancouver only to realize how much more fun winter running is. #RunnersGonnaRun
7) My goodreads profile was very active, although I started reading tonnes of books, I completed my goal of 12. I'm carrying over some to 2018 and I probably won't revisit some ever again, its okay to let go.
8) I wrote a fun technical post on the Pancake sorting algorithms that was a major hit over 1000 page views.
9) I made and met new friends online, at work and outside of work. Only introverts and sensitive people like myself will appreciate how much of an accomplishment this is.
10) I  got over a painful break up together with its close relative, depression, all while living alone. This was probably the overarching theme of 2017 and I'm glad to be at a place to talk about it now.

If you weren't impressed by the above, prepare yourself for disappointment because in brutal honesty I will share the ugly parts.

1) First things first, I stopped blogging. I won't sugar coat the fact that I didn't make time for it. At the time it felt like an inconvenience, only to realize that writing, blogging gave me so much more than online presence. It gave me a platform, an opportunity to reflect and connect, things I definitely want in 2018.
2)  I stayed at home for 2 months doing absolutely nothing except waiting for my work-permit. I may have taken an online ML course or two, wrote a few random posts, babysit-ted my nephews , but nothing significant. I definitely know what retirement feels like and I'm glad I have years before that hits.
3) I started writing a novel but of course life got in the way.
4) I got scammed. Lol.
5) I signed up for a photography course which I didn't complete.
6) I signed for a swimming course which I didn't complete.
7) I could have better utilized my free time..I didn't
8)I could have traveled more , I didn't.
9)I could have spoken up about so many issues .. I didn't.


2017 has been a year of lots of transformations,  physically, mentally, emotionally, financially. I'm still figuring about life as an adult. I have learnt tons and I will share some of it

1) Being independent doesn't mean isolating yourself. In theory, you can survive alone, but you don't have to. No one ever makes it alone.

2) The power of support (receiving and giving it). I didn't really give it much thought in college because it was so much easier to meet like minded people build your network. The real heroes are the ones who say Yes to unconventional ideas.

3) There is no curriculum to life. There is no universal scale to measure our worth, or universal goal we should all aspire to. There are endless opportunities for self improvement; do what makes you happy, of course if it makes financial sense.

4)  Micro-aggression is real, Isolation is real. Context: I have been working at companies where I find myself being the only black female in the office and that is not a good thing. It is much harder to get mentors and support,

5) Its easier to focus on work, at least for me, and ignore life. I got through college behind the facade of the smart hardworking student, this serves diminishing returns in the real world. Adulting is really about being comfortable to express yourself and building that platform.

6) Building trust might be the single most important accomplishment of your life.

7) #Personal finance. Just because school didn't teach it and people don't talk about it doesn't mean you shouldn't educate yourself.

8) Its easier to ask for forgiveness than permissions. As I've learnt recently from Dona Sarkar #DoTheThing.

I wish I could say I'm hitting refresh and I'll do the typical New Years' list: gym, meditate ..etc..but that comes easy for me. Solitary activities come very easy for me. I'm going back to 2018, the same person I was last week, with the same challenges and will be interacting with the same people. I won't set myself up for failure, instead I will tell you my priorities. This year I will grow technically (do I hear promotion anyone?), I will run my first full marathon, I will be a better photographer, I will write more, I will make financial investments, I will support my friends and acquaintances
I'll take care of me; physically, mentally, emotionally and  financially .I will take risks, make mistakes, fail, cry, be human and grow. Thanks for reading and have a prosperous new year!