
It's been a while since I have written a blog post. Initially, I was working on an internal blog post, but I decided to withhold it for now because I felt it would have more value to a wider audience. Because of the nature of the blog's source material being deeply internal, it will take me some time to figure out a way to translate it to a wider audience. In the meantime, this blog post will serve as a nice refresher for me and scratch the itch that I've been feeling in terms of getting my thoughts down. It would've been more fitting to have written and published this on the 26th but I got lazy and busy so it's coming out now.

> Embarrassment is the cost of entry
>
> - Ed Latimore

## Change

As I mentioned in my mid-year update and reflections, I'm in the process of transferring over to NYC. What was crazy and came up in conversation with a friend of mine is that a year to the date exactly I arrived in Melbourne on the 26th of July and I'm flying out of Melbourne on the 26th of July. I completely forgot and just picked that date to fly out because it was cheaper. In these past couple of weeks, I've kind of been haphazardly dashing between managing work (barely), selling stuff that I own and won’t take, sorting out my lease and all the associated bills and whatnot, and trying to catch up and see off friends in the Southern Hemisphere that I won't likely see for a while. I definitely know for next time that the moment I feel that I am going to start changing location, I will start to deal with things earlier. Facebook Marketplace is a godsend and hell at the same time. It’s so good that people can quickly dm and get items sorted. But you have to deal with lowballs, time wasters, and just annoying questions that offer nobody a benefit.

At the time of writing, I’m back in New Zealand seeing off family and friends. Coming back to Wellington has given me mixed emotions; it reminds me of home, and it also reminds me of the reasons why I left in the first place. It’s a weird feeling seeing people who you grew up with and, in a way, have kind of outgrown, be it through perspectives or just maturity. I think it’s more indicative of being in a small town/city like Wellington and feeling like that is the centre of the world. But as you explore and travel around, you realise the world and its entirety is way, way bigger.

## Maturity and Morals

This leads to the next thing I wanted to talk about. This past year, I feel like I really locked in and diverted a lot of focus towards work (at times at personal cost to myself, becoming too invested), because I think I have grown immensely, not only from a technical standpoint but also from a maturity and way I perceive myself and how others perceive me.

I was in a conversation with my team, and the discussion of age came up. One of my teammates is a year below me in both age and experience. But a comment was made that I act in a completely different way than someone with a year more experience would act. In another conversation, someone else thought I was 32 (I’m 25 at the time of writing). I think this growth has happened at a great time because of the changing nature of my work; I’ve been exposed a lot more to the corporate politicking side of software development. That in itself is a skill that I need to work on, but compared to the person I was a year ago, I feel like I’m in a much better place to handle those challenges. I’m still working on formulating thoughts and opinions on this aspect of corporate politics but maybe stay tuned if I feel like I can convey this in writing.

Naveen


July 26th


It's been a while, I said I was going to blog more and unfortunately I haven't. I've been busy with work, life and other things. I've also been trying to get back into the habit of writing. I've been writing a lot of code, but not a lot of words.

> Missionaries not Mercenaries.
> — Sam Altman

This will be a sitrep on my goals for 2025.

1. Move to NYC and get a software eng job there. - I have basically accomplished this. From August I'll be living and working from NYC.
2. [Redacted health-related] - _will unredact if I accomplish it_ - I am basically not on target for this because of goal #1 I decided to focus fully on that and I've ended up neglecting this I'll try and get this sorted for the next 6 months.
3. Cut down on spending and focus on underconsumption. Build savings and increase my investments hit [Redacted target numbers]. - I'm doing well on this front and I think I should be able to hit my target numbers.
4. Make meditation a daily habit. - I'm so so on this hasn't become a daily habit but I am definitely more mindful and better because of this.
5. Run a half marathon (or marathon if I'm able to do a half decently). - Zero progress on this.
6. [Redacted personal related] - _will unredact if I accomplish it_ - There is some progress on this but not much lol.
7. Get to 1000 subscribers on YouTube, and build a TikTok following. - No motion on TikTok but I've been posting to YouTube and I've been getting some views, haven't posted in a while but at time of writing 216 subscribers.
8. Keep a regular habit of journaling either via computer-based apps or ideally offline with pen and paper. - I've been journaling but not as regularly as I'd like.
9. Keep in touch with friends and family, and foster new relationships. - I've definitely been doing this well.
10. Be more open, smile more, talk to random people and give more compliments. - Yep I've been doing this.

But yeah overall I'd rate myself pretty decently on how I'm tracking. I set some pretty ambitious and far ranging goals and for the most part I'm doing good so far. But again a lot can change in the coming months and I can definitely do a lot more. I'm in the process of writing a blog for work that I will eventually change up slightly and repost here. So stay tuned.

Naveen


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Intro

Writing

Consuming