Solo Queue Review 1

10 January 2020

Ok. Mostly as a disciplinary measure, I’m hoping to post a short and sweet update here regarding the things I’ve been working on. Why’s that?

Because I’m currently and deliberately in-between client work. That is to say, I’m purely working for myself at the moment, which includes self-funding.

But even though I’m only accountable to myself, I’ve learned over the years that I can’t always be trusted to hold myself to my intended or stated standards (I know, what? How deeply disappointing).

And on account of that, I’ll be trying to keep myself honest by posting updates. Which grants every person who reads this permissions to razz me if I fall behind, or aren’t getting enough done. Yeesh. No pressure, right?

Well, here are the big bullet points for this week:

  • Dramatic visual overhaul to this blog! Yes, its a pre-made free-to-use template, but darn it, it looks pretty ok.
  • This blog now includes some of the writing I’ve done over the last five or so years! The hope is that I can make this a living hub for all the ideas I’m supporting in my career. This should also have the benefit of letting people know what they’re getting into when they deal with me.
  • I added previews of Coupling and testmints to this site as well… scroll down on the homepage to see. I wish I had more to show there, but its a start!
  • Speaking of Coupling, I collected stats regarding its performance in 2019. See the previous post to learn more!
  • I also started connecting to the Brave browser tipping system, both on this blog and in Coupling. No, I don’t expect to earn substantial money in the short term future via this means, but I’ve been losing money on Coupling for years… it would be amazing if I could get it to break even. If you really do appreciate what I’ve put together, your support is welcome.
  • I’ve started a list of “things I could likely write a good number of words about”. My hope is that this raw idea list will be a precursor for a skeleton of other writing. It could be a book treatment, it could be more white papers, it could be a madman manifesto. The list will not be public, but I will say that I have 46 items on there currently… lots to cover.
  • In order to support that idea list, I’ve reread the main papers that I’ve posted on the site, looking for things that need to be unpacked further, or that deserve a deeper treatment. Its interesting stuff!… but it confirmed that down the road, I definitely need an editor.
  • I built a few documents that will help me better reflect on my career, including major projects, major technical achievements, the techniques I’ve become expert in, and the technologies in which I’m proficient. They’re not exhaustive, but I’m hoping they can give me better perspective on what I’ve actually built myself into during my career. I mean, what kind of work-horse am I? Other than a my-little-pony. Obviously I’m one of those. Wait… what’s my cutie mark?
  • I’ve also opened up conversations with other people in the industry about my career and what might be next. I’m hoping to learn a tiny bit about the state of the industry beyond my line-of-sight, and maybe make some connections in the process. More talks to come. No, I won’t tell you who. Yes, we can chat if you want. I miss you.
  • I started accidentally designing a micro-role-playing game I’m tentatively titling CouplingAdventure. I’m not intending to spend a ton of time on it, but its a small project to keep me sane, so that I can work on some coding while doing all this other stuff.

Alright, that’s all folks! Have a great weekend!

RoB