The past, present and future of my newsletter
Where we've come from, where we're headed and why
First, let me preface with…
This is a less formal article than you’ve gotten used to me writing in previous ones. Going forward, I'm making some changes to this newsletter and I want to be open about these changes, so you can decide if you want to continue on this journey together and if it will continue to serve you well.
So let’s get straight into it.
Where we’ve come from
In my past articles I had a broad focus - roughly anything that was interesting to me about software engineering (particularly Rust), advice for certain technical and relational skills related to software engineering, as well as trying to bring in a human relational overtone to as many ones as I could (hence the name of the newsletter).
And I think this has been an interesting and educational first version of this newsletter journey. Why do I think that?
Writing deep, thoughtful content on even a remotely regular basis is hard work and so worth aiming for. Writing continues to be one of the best exercises that I try and do every day (I maintain a daily personal journal) to help me be clear on what I think, feel and what action(s) I want to take. I’ve gained helpful knowledge every time I’ve created a new article for this newsletter.
A clear, well-defined and naturally energizing focus for this newsletter is critical to being able to continue producing new content. Without a specific enough focus, I found myself writing only when random inspiration struck. Going forward, my aim is to develop the right routines and topical focus so this can become a lot more automatic without relying solely on how I feel day-to-day.
Rust is popular! I knew this already but I really came to understand this when every article of my Rust-focused content has been by far the most loved and consistently read.
The articles focussed on softer skills don’t resonate as readily nor quantitatively as my articles that focused on Rust.
Where we’re going
So where is The Relational Technologist heading starting today?
It will overlap heavily with the main focus of my software engineering coaching and mentorship program Refactor SE.
I’m aiming for this not to sound like purely marketing-style mailing list that most people just end up tolerating (for good reason) in their inbox. Instead, I want it to serve both my needs (software engineer coaching is currently my full time job and how I make my living) and the wants + needs of your careers as a software engineers and technical leaders.I encourage you to hold me accountable on this aim. If this newsletter begins to sound like an unhelpful marketing list that doesn’t provide you with useful insights for your engineering career, please let me know. Seriously. I don’t want to waste your time and I don’t want to waste my time either.
Instead, you’ll receive insightful and software career-applicable articles, audio tips and interviews (possibly video too) that come straight out of my Refactor SE coaching program. My primary goal with this newsletter and is to help you achieve the following: to provide you specific ways to methodically strengthen your core set of software engineering skills and achieve a promotion. My goal is to make this be an indispensable place for learning how to advance in your software career more effectively than on your own.
Want to see something specific related to this? Let me know in the comments section below.
Of course you don’t have to become a coaching client of mine. However, if you find this newsletter content to be quite helpful to you in your career, you’ll almost certainly find coaching sessions with me even more so because it’ll be tailored to meet your specific needs.When I focus on technical areas which include source code examples, I’ll continue to prefer the use of Rust. Rust is popular for good reasons and I personally love working with it now more than ever. I’ve even begun building my own web-based coaching tool in Rust on top of the incredibly intuitive Axum web framework. I’ll be sharing more about this in the not too distant future (and it’s all 100% open source).
As I hinted at above, I’ll be experimenting with mixing different media types in future articles. Substack makes this incredibly easy to do and I want to explore this with you and help you get to know me and the other coaches I work with. It also gives me compelling new ways of communicating each subject area that I’ll focus on.
Why? Because I have a 12 month goal
As I hinted at above, my previous broader “focus” for this newsletter wasn’t working well for me and it seemed like it was creating confusion for you my audience. I found myself split and confused on what might be the most interesting next thing to write.
As a coach, I’m always challenging and modeling for my clients how to set clear and actionable overarching goals. After all, this is what coaching is for first and foremost. It’s impossible to achieve much of anything without setting clear goals ahead of taking action.
So let me apply my own coaching advice by clearly stating my overarching goal for this newsletter over the next 12 months.
I want a new routine creating content that’s naturally motivating for me to produce and compelling for my existing + future intended audience to want to read so that:
I continually grow to be a more effective communicator of specific concepts that I can model and support my existing software engineering clients with.
I consistently provide valuable free content to you with the aim of informally coaching and mentoring you today.
I can earn your trust well enough to begin a formal coaching relationship with you as a new client, methodically helping you clarify, set, execute on your specific engineering career direction and achieve a promotion for you.
All future content in this newsletter will aim to align with this overarching goal.
My growth and your growth
With a challenging and actionable overarching goal defined, you’re going to have a front row seat to watching me wrestle to achieve this. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I’m a professional with a lot of career experience, and still, a professional welcomes and creates continual growth opportunities for themselves. Producing valuable, insightful, focused and engaging software engineering career content is something I’m incredibly motivated to turn into a reliable new habit.
Thanks for coming along on this journey with me so far and providing me with your valuable feedback along the way.
Setting an overarching goal in your career for the next 12 months is crucial, especially if you're aiming for a promotion within this time frame. Together, we can start clearly defining this for you in Part 1 of my Refactor SE program.
You can enroll directly and self-schedule our first session together and begin as soon as you’re ready.
Another option is for you to get to know me better and ask me questions about my coaching program. Feel free to book a free intro call at your convenience.
Cheers to setting clear goals and working to achieve them.
~ Jim
