I want to restore my online presence, and this is the right time to do it.
Before COVID-19, I was a different person online than I am today. I read papers like crazy and attended all kinds of local meetups and conferences. Once, I even traveled by car on the same day with a couple of friends from Porto to an Elixir meetup in Lisbon just to learn and meet people.
I was so actively engaged that I started running a local chapter of Papers We Love, which brought me so much joy. It was great, from sending cold emails to meeting new people with shared interests. My connections within the industry and academia were growing, and I had interesting conversations in person and online daily.
This engagement contributed to my learning and increased my joy in explaining things to others. Eventually, I started giving talks at local meetups and conferences, and later, I even gave a talk in front of John Hughes in Kraków, and hung out with Sean Allen in MedellÃn.
I was reading and discussing engineering blog posts with my colleagues, reviewing computer science papers, tweeting, blogging, attending meetups, and connecting with people. Suddenly, I felt that I had stopped doing that, and honestly, I don’t know why. Due to lockdowns, 2020 was a weird year; all my approved conference talks were canceled, I lacked the energy for any open-source work, and I barely managed to learn something new that wasn’t related to my job.
But 2020 is gone now. If I miss connecting with people in person, there are plenty of opportunities again. I also need to revamp my online presence. I need to get back to sharing what I know, what I’m doing, what I’m excited about, and what I’m learning.
I need to stop living in my own bubble. While this isn’t meant to be a New Year’s resolution post, I plan to write, share, connect, and attend more events throughout the year.
It all starts with this post, and I’ve set specific goals:
Let’s do it. If you’re reading this and feeling the same way, I’d love to hear from you and rebuild these connections.