My first blog post

Hey, you found my website, welcome! I don’t know how you come across this website but thank you for checking it out and I hope you find it helpful to you in some way.

This is my first blog post, and I’ll explore why I’m creating my website and what type of content you may find on here in the future.

Why I’m creating a website and why you should too

The whole idea of having your own personal website appealed to me. It’s the perfect way to show and communicate your work and ideas to anyone. You have complete creative freedom in how you choose to share it. Usually in the format with text (for blogs), photos (for galleries) or videos. Or some combination of the three.

I’ve been thinking about starting my own website for some months now, in particular after a long dry spell in applying for jobs (graduating during a global pandemic didn’t seem to help), I felt having my own website would be an excellent idea for a candidate to shine. It allows them to find out a little more about you than just a cover letter and a CV. They can see your creativity at work, which is incredibly valuable when your application can look like everyone else’s on a pile.

But it’s not just a portfolio to find clients or pander to potential customers or recruiters, it’s so much more. A website allows you to share that work with anyone willing to listen. Not just for your gain in a job ladder in my case, but a platform to engage and help other people. Besides, if someone stumbles onto your website, chances are they found something that you can help them with.

It took a few months to finally overcome the procrastination and make one, but took just a few hours to get running. Companies like SquareSpace and Wix are a good place to start if you want a good user friendly experience at a fee. But you can go one step further, and host and create your website on the github.io domain. Given the barrier to having a website is so low, and free if you host on github, why not make one, and put your ideas out there on your own platform.

Often I find myself stuck in a cycle of variously consuming social media, especially in lockdown in London. In seems easy with all the apps and the algorithms designed to keep you engaged for as long as possible. I want to break free from that and a website is perfect for that. It’s one of the best ways to break out from the consumption cycle online we can often find ourselves in online and gives an outlet for you to create.

Having a website is a great way for you to put yourself out there organically, not boxed in by the platform and moulding your content to fit a narrative. With a website, you create the platform, and create your own narrative.

My friend Nordin, was the inspiration for me to create a website. He’s a keen photographer, https://www.nordincatic.com/ (Check his stuff out it’s pretty cool) and used his website as a portfolio for his photography work. After chatting with him, it inspired me to create my own website, and here it is (not as good as his but I’ll work on it).

Often I find myself stuck in a cycle of variously consuming social media, especially in lockdown. It’s easy to be pulled into the entertainment matrix with all the apps and algorithms designed to keep you engaged for as long as possible. I want to break free from that.

I’ve got plans about what I’m going to add on here, from my journey in academia, to my research, to graduating during a global pandemic and navigating the job market. Hopefully you will find something of value to you.

To Write or not to write, that is the question

I’ve always been interested in writing and have kept a journal since my 19th Birthday (I’m 23 now), which I annually go back to read to reflect on various events in my life. Memories are powerful and shape who we are, but so is writing. To be able to write effectively goes hand in hand with being able to think effectively.

However, with new technology, new alternative methods of sharing such as video and podcasts are slowly replacing written content. Writing seems outdated in contrast. Instagram, Youtube, TikTok remain firm favourites, and even the most popular text based social media is twitter, where you are limited to only 150 characters as anymore would not be enough to capture the attention span. But what writing is perfect for is formulating your ideas and thoughts as concisely as possible.

Learning to write effectively is incredibly important, but something that is often underlooked in society. Even if you’re not a writer or journalist, I would strongly encourage you to work on writing, just putting thoughts on paper are the easiest way to organise them. If you ever have brain fog, a pen and pad is often the solution.

I’ll try and make writing a constituent feature on the website, and will likely be the most common thing I decide to post, but I will also dabble in alternative content and experiment. You can check out some of my photography too!

Just as I will change overtime, so will the content you see on here, but this is the start!

PS:

Feel free to get in touch with me, I’m always happy to chat with people from all walks of life. You can drop me an email or contact me on my socials.

PS: if you fancy making a website then I assure to have a look at many resources online that allow you to do it for free and easily with minimal experience. I recommend Hugo/github, they have plenty of templates and tutorials.