This winter I spent in a small New England town provided a much-needed slowdown. The quiet pace gave me time to think deeply about my life and career trajectory.
More importantly, it reminded me of the geek part of myself that sometimes gets buried under deadlines and client demands. I found time to finally learn Vim properly, dove deep into computer science articles and books, started learning Rust, and even indulged in some nostalgic gaming with Quake and GTA3.
A Decade of Web Development
I’ve been building web applications for over ten years now, with the last five years particularly focused on Ruby and Ruby on Rails development. Working as an employee at various consulting companies exposed me to diverse projects and exceptional developers.
I had the privilege of collaborating with engineers from industry leaders like Thoughtbot and Pivotal Labs. These experiences taught me that both successful and challenging projects contribute equally to your growth as a developer.
The Value of Experience
Every project — whether it ships flawlessly or faces unexpected hurdles — adds to your toolkit. The failed features teach you about edge cases. The successful launches show you what sustainable architecture looks like. The tight deadlines reveal what corners can be cut safely and which cannot.
That’s the beauty of consulting work: you see patterns across industries, teams, and technical stacks that you’d never encounter working on a single product.
This winter break reminded me that continuous learning isn’t just about staying current with frameworks — it’s about maintaining curiosity about the fundamentals that make great software possible.