- First year in recovery
Month eleven of not drinking
I'm thirty-four days from my first sober year. Most of what I expected to be hard wasn't. The hard parts were the ones nobody warned me about.
- First year as a founder
The bathroom cry, month three
Three months in, I cried in the bathroom of a coworking space. Nobody had told me that the first year of being a founder is mostly hiding how scared you are.
- First year abroad
Two suitcases, zero German
I moved to Berlin with two suitcases and zero German. My landlord turned out to be a saint. The grocery store cashier still terrifies me.
- First job
What my first 90 days as an engineer actually looked like
Onboarding doc lied. The codebase was 12 years old. My laptop arrived on day 14. Here's what I wish I'd done differently.
- First year as a parent
Year one of being a parent
Year one of being a parent: I learned more about myself than in the previous decade. Not all of it was flattering. All of it was necessary.
- First year leading
The first time I fired someone
Two years into my first manager role. I'd avoided the conversation for four months. The day after the firing, I felt nothing. The week after, I felt everything.