Craft

Writing without a specific person in mind is writing into a void — picturing one real reader shapes every word and multiplies the impact of whatever you are trying to say.

Without pausing to assess your highs and lows, it is impossible to celebrate what is working or honestly reckon with what needs to change. A case for building regular reflection into work, faith, and life.

Skipping the step of defining success clearly means testing the wrong things and discovering too late that you missed the goal; this post makes the case for setting precise outcomes before any project begins.

Unfinished projects do not sit idle — they accumulate as mental overhead that slowly drains your focus; formally closing them out by capturing what you learned is the only way to actually set them down.

Customers do not remember the logic of what they bought — they remember how it made them feel. Building something that lasts means designing for the emotional experience, not just the product itself.

Burnout rarely arrives without warning — it builds quietly in the gap between what you need, what you have committed to, and what you actually want to do with your time.

Accepting that you are still being shaped — strengths, flaws, and everything in between — is not an excuse for complacency, it is the foundation for genuine peace.

Breaking a large, overwhelming project into smaller pieces is not a shortcut — it is the strategy that builds momentum and gets you to the finish line.

Sustainable change — whether building a 5:30 AM workout habit or shipping a software integration — does not happen overnight; it happens through small, deliberate steps that slowly reshape the whole system.

Knowledge without experience is a map you do not know how to use, and experience without knowledge is terrain you are wandering without a map. Wisdom comes from intentionally building both.

The hedgehog concept reveals that lasting purpose lives at the intersection of what you are passionate about, what you are naturally gifted at, and what creates real value for others. Missing any one of the three means trading fulfillment for frustration.

One of the most difficult things to do as a writer is to get over the hump of writing—the slumps that arise every so often.

Growing up, I always believed that in order to inspire & create impact, you had to be big or have a position of great power. But that's not true.

The impact that changes lives and captures souls requires a willingness to do what isn’t easy and to do what’s right. For me, even as I write this, I can’t help but know that talking the talk is so much easier than walking the walk.

Whether it’s spent working on a project, exercising, leisurely watching some shows, or reflecting on the purpose of life (a timely activity I partake in), being able to know where your time goes allows you to know how you’re using your time.

Through what we build, what we say, and how we live, I believe each of us has the ability to inspire and change the world.

Have you ever thought about how when we die, how many unfinished things we’ll have? 🤔 Whether it’s small things like organizing the closet, or big things like finishing a side project or hobby, in the end, we will have much-unfinished work.

There have been many people who have inspired me through their words of encouragement. Words that motivated me to pursue coding, enter into entrepreneurship, and serve as a leader in my church.

My last UTCS blog post—seven life lessons from college on journaling, saying no, building habits, community, and learning to be imperfect.

Walking into an interview with a full head of thoughts — how preparation, nerves, and presence shape the outcome on both sides of the table.

Following up on broad uncertainty: why finding and working within a specific niche — rather than staying wide — builds real depth and opens unexpected doors.

With most required CS courses checked off, finally choosing electives freely — and why a history course opened an unexpected window into learning and campus life.

After a nonstop semester packed with meetings, projects, and entrepreneurial events — taking a breath, looking back at what mattered, and setting intentions for a more deliberate year.

Confessing my pattern of saying yes to everything—cramming courses, hackathons, orgs, recruiting—and how a summer mission trip finally taught me to aim before I fire.

A tour through every interview format—coding challenges, phone screens, video calls, whiteboarding—and learning to stop performing for companies and just aim to be better than yesterday.

Spending two hours teaching Git at a hackathon and realizing I never truly understood it myself—a case for the Feynman technique and learning through teaching.

How hackathons became the gateway into entrepreneurship—shifting from 24-hour sprints to building something for the long run.

A final retrospective on SWE with Prof. Downing: the smooth early projects, the hard group work, the Python learning, and the takeaways.

An end-of-sophomore-year recap—cramming Texas history, surviving OS, running 100 miles, organizing hackathons, and looking ahead to junior year.

EarthHack's Pick It Up project using computer vision, coding a Gmail API script for a church grad night video, and prepping for SWE and Gov exams.

Writing a blog post about procrastination while procrastinating on a final project—digging into why I avoid work and what urgency actually looks like when it shows up.

Organizing Music Hacks, publishing a UTCS faculty profile, completing SWE Phase 3, and registering for fall classes including Korean.

Behind the scenes of organizing Music Hacks with Freetail Hackers—from API directories and t-shirt iterations to accidentally crashing the site on hackathon day.

Building the SWE Flask API, debugging a GCP deployment issue, and reflecting on overcommitment and what actually matters.

Algo and Gov exams, meeting Palantir, drafting a UTCS faculty article, and realizing how little code I was actually writing.

A practical walkthrough of hackathon strategy—brainstorming under pressure, building a diverse team, and making sure the presentation does justice to a sleepless night of work.

Catching up after Spring Break, shipping the SWE website, and navigating a paranoid game of Assassins with Freetail Hackers.

Spring Break camping in Texas, winning the SXSW hackathon with Credit Writer, and a staycation with church friends.

Winning Mobile Track at HackUTD with SensorStrike, planning the SWE website project team, and previewing a second short story.

From hating hackathons to falling in love with them—and joining Freetail Hackers to organize one myself.

Proctoring OOP and getting frustrated by lazy questions—then realizing the frustration is really with my past self, and making the case for owning what you don't know.

A pitch for CS majors to take non-CS classes—social dance, fiction writing, interpersonal communication—and how stepping outside the major builds you as a person.

Week one of a One-Desire meat fast, finishing Collatz after 15 hours of wrong optimization, and writing four simultaneous blogs at once.

Studying OS with Feynman's method, unboxing a Black Friday Echo Dot, and planning side projects for winter break.

Thanksgiving break: real sleep, teahouse visits, a new bike, and the OS project hovering in the background the whole time.

Spoiler: there isn't one. A walkthrough of languages across classes, hackathons, and jobs to show that the right language depends on what problem you're trying to solve.

Wrapping up OS Project 3 and the OOP Life project, narrowly missing a bike at a silent auction, and mixed feelings about the semester ending.

A case for code documentation born from a frustrating hackathon with an undocumented game engine—addressing every excuse I used to have for skipping it.

A lighthearted case for Python over Java after my first full Python project at the Indigitous #Hack hackathon—covering dynamic typing, the interactive interpreter, and easy library management.

Studying for the OS exam on a whiteboard, setting up VirtualBox out of code withdrawal, and the sophomore slump making itself known.

HackTX brainstorming, the Darwin project's big lesson: 60% design makes everything else easier, and the 50th anniversary UTCS celebration.

My very first UTCS blog post—a rundown of why hackathons are worth the sleep deprivation, from free food and swag to learning, building, and making friends at 3 AM.

Finishing OOP's Allocator project ahead of schedule, dereferencing a pointer I'd already seen and ignored, and Downing's best analogies yet.

Landing a UTCS blogger job, a 3-day OS bug hiding in a single line of C type declaration, and a rough week shadowed by a friend's passing.

A 4AM coding session in the lab and HackGT at Georgia Tech — building Hungry Cats over 36 sleepless hours with an undocumented Android game engine.

Finding the tight-knit CS lab community, finishing the first OS shell project, and starting a Netflix cache project with a partner.

Learning MATLAB and LaTeX, juggling C++ and OS projects, and discovering a typing-based note-taking method that actually works.

First week of sophomore year at UT Austin: installing Docker, writing C linked lists, revamping a resume, and teaching social dance.