jiratickets.com

Well, how did I get here?

Just a few hours ago I had no idea I would be writing a blog post for the first time. I began working on a new personal website, writing a little bit about myself, and then the words and ideas just started flowing. So here I am.

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself, "Well, how did I get here?"

Shitposting on Twitter

You most likely ended up here by clicking the link in my Twitter bio (otherwise known as X dot com, *the everything app*). Which is awesome, and is what makes Twitter and shitposting on the internet so great. You can reach the entire world at (almost literally) the speed of light. It's shockingly easy.

My tweets were viewed 5M times over the last three months. 1M times last week alone. And I only have 170 followers at the time of writing (most of which are bots and scammers trying to sell me AI nudes or freshly minted shitcoins). You can reach thousands, maybe millions, tonight, if you just join the conversation.

In addition to the petty personal gains from tweet impressions and website traffic (which might go a long way when it comes to building a personal brand, something maybe more important than ever with AI likely eating our jobs), it's also genuinely fun to participate in the culture.

Twitter is especially interesting because there are two classes of users: those posting anonymously ("anon" or "burner" accounts) and those posting under their real name. Not all places operate like this. Compare it to the quality of conversations on LinkedIn, a very public platform, and the conversations on Reddit, an almost completely anonymous platform. Anon users with nothing to lose clashing against domain experts with serious credibility makes for some truly insightful AND entertaining conversations. I think it must be part of what makes Twitter so great.

On second thought, I should specify I'm talking about the tech community on Twitter. Particularly the anime profile picture, indie hacker, effective accelerationism, techno-optimist, "I need to lock in" Twitter. A subculture I find inspiring (most of the time) and if nothing else, certainly educational. I'm aware there's plenty of low-quality content elsewhere if you just rub your eyes.

Now, let's discuss the anon advantage. I'm a relatively junior engineer without much to fall back on yet (like lengthy work experience, really-up-there technical expertise, substantial savings, a reliable professional network, or even a social media following). I'm working on building these things -- and it's going pretty well so far. I don't want to put that at risk if I don't have to. That means if I'm going to be silly on Twitter, leaving my corporate identity (who manages to acquire the goods necessary for survival) out of it might be in my best interest. At least for the time being. I'm sure at some point it will make sense to introduce the two.

This separation also spares me from having to worry about what my boss, potential future employer, and grandmother might think. It enables me to move faster. Not that I believe I would upset them, moreso it's just nice to know they're not actively listening. We instinctively tailor our behavior to our audience.

When speaking your mind without hesitation, you naturally discover likeminded people and build candid relationships (especially with an algorithm facilitating!). These are valuable things you won't find tiptoeing around elsewhere. Twitter is maybe the best place to actually answer the standard "What's on your mind?" social media prompt. Write your unfiltered thoughts straight from brain to text. Engage the world wide web the same way you engage the group chat. I've hardly spent much time in the online conversation yet, but I'm already beginning to understand its rewards.

John's advice

ANYWAY, now that I've finished justifying my Twitter addiction, I’d like to share a tangentially related anecdote. In college, I was frustrated because I couldn’t finish a proper book. I wanted to be a reader, one of those people with insatiable thirsts for knowledge. Many of my friends, more intelligent, curious, and aspirational than I, were crushing books on physics, financial markets, programming, Russian literature, life-pondering stuff, and even fiction like Dune before Dune was cool (hats off to Villeneuve). All just for the hell of it.

I picked up some of the stereotypical 21st century I-wanna-sound-smarter classics (like Nassim Taleb's Skin in the Game and The Black Swan, or Chaos Monkeys by Antonio García Martínez) but just couldn't get the job done. Rarely was a chapter painless.

My friend John, aware of my struggle, told me (while possibly drunk and not intending to sound profound in any way) the best way to learn things is to simply learn about things you're interested in. Don't worry about what others around you are reading or what you think you're supposed to be reading. It sounds obvious, and maybe even stupid, but this advice has had a big impact on me.

You won't enjoy anything if you force it. Read about the things you love and then it won't be a chore. I realized it's true while deep in a Wikipedia rabbithole late one night. Why do I lose track of time browsing Napoleonic war articles, but find myself rereading the same lines over and over in some highly recommended books? Simply because I find that pocket of history interesting, and I really don't care for habit building tips right now (sorry Atomic Habits fans).

Again, it's pretty straightforward advice, and John is definitely not the first to say it, but it's that mentality I'm going to try to apply to this blog. Just writing up posts on whatever the hell I'm interested in at the moment. No writing about what I think I'm supposed to be writing about (from a tech bro blogger perspective, subjects like überproductivity, Andrej Karpathy's neural networks videos, and Hubermanesque life hacks come to mind).

Quick note: I now realize the act of actually completing a book is not important, nor should it be a goal. It's okay to skip around a book or return to it another time. Nobody is keeping track or paying attention to your progress. Get whatever out of it it is that you want from it, and don't waste your time if you aren't finding it.

Quick note upon rereading that quick note: This definitely applies to non-fiction books, but I'm not so sure about fiction, and certainly not other mediums like movies. This is not a natural law of physics.

Hemingway's advice

Speaking of reading books, not longer after receiving John's advice, I found myself enjoying Ernest Hemingway's short stories. They're refreshingly simple, take place in interesting settings, are based on real life experiences, and offer insights into lives I will never live. All qualities I appreciate when it comes to storytelling. Here’s a great quote from him on his writing philosophy, one that I think pairs well with John's advice:

All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.

Hmm... sounds like a good starting point, right? What do I know? I know what it's like to write tens of thousands of SQL queries. I know where the best spots to swim in Lake Michigan are. I know how to speedrun some Call of Duty Zombies maps until the memory crashes. I know why attending concerts on a Friday is a pain in the ass. I know what it's like to take care of a dying dog. I know where to go if you're locked out of your rental overnight in Rio de Janeiro. I know how to navigate IT consulting company politics. And I know why I'm writing this blog post.

I have no problem illustrating the truths about these topics, because I know the truths and can simply spell them out. These are my lived experiences. It's really nothing more than recalling memories, being honest with myself, and transferring the thoughts into this Markdown editor.

Getting to the point

I created this blog for two reasons: 1) to start taking myself a little more seriously and 2) to put myself further out there (or maybe to build a brand is a better description, since I'm currently using a pseudonym). For now, this means writing more, and writing more thoughtfully than you may have seen me "write" elsewhere. I'm entirely new to this kind of thing but there's plenty of evidence that it's good for you. So I'm gonna go for it and give it a try. My planned approach:

I think if I remember these principles, it should all come naturally. So far this is proving to be true. Thanks for reading my hopefully cohesive spiel. That's all for now.

—JT