Today I listened an interesting episode from the LifeHacker podcast The Upgrade. Titled “How to Pursue a Side Hustle”, the podcast hosts talk with Chris Guillebeau on side projects to pursue to bring in revenue on the side and/or for a fun learning experience.

As I’ve become increasingly apathetic toward my academic studies in my senior year of college, I’ve also become immensely interested in pursuing side projects to

1. make me happy in pursuing my interests
2. maintain my sanity by releasing stress working on things I want to work on
3. give me experience working on projects I could see myself working on in a full-time…

Slack is a productivity tool for chatting with people about projects, topics, events, etc., all organized by channels. It’s simple and intuitive, free for “small teams”, and extremely convenient. But as with everything and everyone, there’s room for improvement.

The most glaring problem I encounter when using the platform — Slack channels can’t store significant information vital to understand the channel itself. Channels have their respective “Channel Details” feature. …

It’s been too long since I’ve written something (personal) on Medium — almost two months, in fact. Long enough that I now feel like an imposter when I see the word “writer” next to my name on my website. Long enough that I feel as though I can’t speak to the benefits of writing, tell people I write on Medium and LinkedIn, or even have it as a project on my resume.

But I still do, because I know that when I need it the most, and even when I don’t, I can always write. …

Two weeks ago, my apartment mates and neighbors hosted a (lit) joint Halloween party. We announced the event a few days in advance, bought the drinks and decorations the morning of, prepped the apartments in the evening, and then let the night take away us and the 150 students who came through.

How am I supposed to act as though any of this matters? How do I go about my day today, tomorrow, and every day thereafter until my graduation, acting as though what I’m doing right now is making a difference?

Sure, I’m investing in myself now to make a difference in the future, if and however I so choose.

But how the hell can I sit here and know that tomorrow, I will be studying linear algebra for the entire day just for a midterm and for a class that I could not care less about. I will be “learning” things I will not remember nor need 3 months from now. I will be wasting my time, wasting my day, wasting my knowledge, brainpower, energy, happiness, passion, and EVERYTHING else I have to offer, just for a grade, just to meet another major requirement, just to graduate. …

It’s starting to set in, all at once. It’s just the second week of school, but it’s already here.

I have to get on top of all my homework and lectures (which I get myself to do ahead of time), make sure everything’s good for my business frat’s recruitment, keep my mental and physical sanity in check, recruit for full-time jobs, maintain a social life, and more!

But strangely enough, this stress doesn’t feel like that from previous semesters/years. This stress is familiar enough to the point where I’m feeling comfortable with it. I’ve been in it before, I’ve gotten out of it before. …

As a Computer Science and Economics double-major at UC Berkeley, I had always struggled to find a job or internship that “fit me”.

I started my professional career as a marketing intern for an early-stage virtual reality startup in the summer after my first year at Cal. I liked it for the most part. I liked thinking about potential users, putting myself in their shoes, and determining how best to market them our software and hardware products. But I despised marketing on social media. I didn’t like posting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and guerilla marketing on Reddit.

In the summer after my second year, I interned in a part-time business development role for a human resources and staffing startup. My job was to cold-email hundreds of startup teams in San Francisco and New York, asking if they needed help hiring non-technical employees. I absolutely loved the people at the job but once again, I despised the job itself. …

I’m sitting on my bed under the covers with my laptop, 11:40pm, staring at my open bedroom door. I know I’ll have to get up to close it after I schedule this post because there’s a light shining through that bothers me at night.

But just thinking about open doors — life has a lot of them.

How do you know which ones to enter? How do you know which ones lead to a happy outcomes, and which lead to dead ends? You can’t tell where each door will take you.

Do you put one foot in each door and “test the waters”? Do you run into one door head-first? Do you turn around at the first sign that things aren’t right? …