I have a problem: I absolutely love frontend software development. As a frontend software developer, that seems like a pretty OK problem to have (and it is), but it is starting to have serious impact on those I hold dear to my wee heart.

I recently started an exciting new position in which I am being tasked in redeveloping user interfaces across applications as the organisation matures from a plucky startup into an industry disrupter. This presents me room to flex muscles I have had scant opportunity to flex professionally prior, and I am thriving.

A new company, a fresh project, and room to grow in areas you want to are all good factors to freshen love for your career, even on their own. Being fortunate enough to bag all three in one go, I find myself waking up in the morning champing at the bit to try out new ideas and solutions at work that day. Whether that be a new animation for a UI component to enhance perceived fluidity of the application, the answer to a problem that had stumped me, or even being excited to approach my team mates with a UX consideration we hadn't thought of in a discovery session. I am constantly itching to get to work.

That brings me to my problem. I love my job, and I can not stop thinking about it.

Not being able to clear your head once you step away from your desk may not seem that bad when you are enjoying what you are thinking about, but it can lead to some pretty serious ramifications down the road if not taken seriously. Stress and anxiety accounted for over half of all work related illnesses last year in the UK, and workers often cite such things as poor work-life balance, and overthinking work as considerable contributors. Can you really say you have a good work life balance if you are at home, but only thinking about work? I'm frankly not interested in developing stress and anxiety about a job that I have fallen in love with over the past 4 months, so I did some good old fashioned introspection.

Introspection is hard, especially for a rather typical Kiwi male, not known for our great emotional intelligence or self awareness. Only one person can give you answers, and that one person is often clouded by an emotional bias. After some long hard thinking, and constant complaints from my partner that I am away with the fairies, thinking about that date-picker component again, I came to a conclusion: I am unable to debrief to a sufficient technical level once I log off for the day.

I am the only software industry professional in my household. My partner is a fantastic radiographer, and our cat is perpetually unemployed. One of the aforementioned is heavily invested in my career, as I am to hers, and she is always asking about my day, what challenges I faced, and what did I have for lunch. All important questions. But it's hard to discuss those small wins, and technical challenges with someone outside the field, no matter how much they care about the answer. And so debriefs often stick to how I feel, and what I have for lunch.

But what about the cat? I'm no stranger to using unconditionally loving pets as audiences, backboards for ideas, or even therapists. I have practised school speeches in front of dogs, and I practise my singing to the cat every night, so I tried it. With the cat sat on my lap, I proceeded to run him through an issue I was having with Safari on iOS devices (as I often do). As I was giving this sleeping cat my spiel, I was reminded of Rubber Duck Debugging, where you verbally run a cute rubber duck through your code, and in articulating the problem in natural language, your thoughts are organised, which can help solve your problems. And it worked! I had a great "Ah-ha!" moment, completely vacating my head of thoughts on this problem, the problem being rectified not 10 minutes after I got to work in the morning.

As fantastic as this deaf cat is at listening, he doesn't give great feedback, and sometimes doesn't even stick around to hear out my problem. This lead to a very millennial idea creeping back into my thoughts. I'll write a blog!

I've toyed with the idea of starting a blog or tutorial website for a while now, but doubts about whether anyone would read it, or find it valuable always stopped me from finding the drive to just do it, but no longer! Using a blog as a sort of "professional diary" means that it doesn't matter if anyone reads it, what matters is that I am structuring my thoughts in a way that helps me solve problems, and if someone gives me feedback on my small wins, that's just a great bonus. Not caring about whether others find value in your creative endevours gives you great freedom to just do things and learn, which leaves me very excited for this little project of mine.

If you do find yourself reading my thoughts, I hope you find value in them.

Happy hacking!