Who Am I: An exercise to discover content for my personal site.
I recently had a discussion with my older brother, Nick, about the progress of my personal website. While it was visually appealing, I feared the content was too generic… and in my brother’s eyes, it was as well.
The glaring issue to us was the lack of voice in the content. I think this is something a lot of young developers struggle with. While we learn these great technologies, we struggle to create content that reflects our unique characteristics.
To solve this, Nick recommended I write an essay about myself to discover what truly defines me. It’s like ayahuasca without the vomit or hallucinations!
If you’re itching to get started on your own essay feel free to jump to the bottom and read some of my pointers. But I recommend reading just a bit of mine to see where my thoughts are coming from!
So here is my take on my personal essay, and I hope it inspires you to do the same.
P.S - I wrote this piece in the third person, more on that below, so please don’t be alarmed.
Who is Matt Basile?
Matt Basile was born in London, England on a cold January morning. He would move to the United States with his family at the age of four and begin his life as a curious American boy.
Over the next 21 years, Matt would try many things:
Play several sports
Sports defined Matt for a while, he embraced the structure and comradery that came with being a part of a team. The two sports he loved were Lacrosse and Football. Lacrosse was the one that helped him get to college and Football would be the one he’d love the most.
Act in plays
Matt enjoyed the comradery of theater as well as the challenge of memorizing lines and performing for an audience. His favorite role was playing Nagrid, a nagging version of Harry Potter’s Hagrid, in his high school’s senior show.
Attend College
Matt attended Oberlin College where he studied sociology and played lacrosse. He was a two-time captain and all-conference player his senior year. However, his biggest take away from school was discovering how to learn.
Work in a Bar/Concert Venue
Matt worked at his college bar named the “Sco”. As a manager, he’d work closely with his peers to make sure the Sco staff and student body were represented when deciding the location’s programming.
Start an arts program in India
In the summer of his Junior year, Matt would go to India with his friends Emma and Eli. It was Matt’s first international exposure without his family and it’s one he’ll never forget. He looks back fondly on that summer and still can’t believe that it happened.
Work for the National Basketball Association
Matt’s first job out of college was working for NBA Entertainment. There he spent most of his time working with the Social Media department. This taught Matt a lot about the workforce and revealed what he loves to do: create.
Start coding
A chapter still unfinished in his life, but one that reflects everything that excites him. Building, teamwork, community, creativity, design, communication, and logic.
When you look at Matt over his 25 years it’s packed with action. But while it’s easy to handpick the best/influential moments in a person’s life what’s more important is how those experiences shape them.
When asked, “What traits best describe you Matt?” He pauses. Takes a sip of his water and begins listing what he thinks defines him:
Hardworking, dedicated and loyal
Matt lumps these three traits together as they were instilled into him by his parents but reinforced by his time as an athlete. Matt is willing to do anything for the group but also understands the necessary steps to achieve specific goals.
Self Learner
When Matt first arrived at college, he was more of a jock than a bookworm. But he learned quickly that he was going to need to change that. Four years later he developed a trait that dwarfs everything else he took away from college. This being the ability to sit down and learn anything.
Problem Solver
Akin to being a self-learner, Matt loves to solve problems. He always finds himself trying to challenge himself. Whether that manifests in him doing a crossword before bed or pursuing a career in Web Developer, Matt likes the process of coming up with solutions.
Self Motivated
Matt credits his time as an athlete for this trait; the fear of letting down his teammates often led Matt to be well prepared for any event. However, as organized sports have left Matt’s life he’s still maintained this fire, but he insists he plays for the NY Matts now.
Goal Oriented
Another product of his athletic background Matt likes to set goals for himself. He finds this is the best way to keep him in a consistent routine.
Structured
Having structure is important to Matt. He believes without it he falls into bad habits and continually gets down on himself. But with structure, he makes the right decisions and finds his productivity at a peak level.
Light-hearted
Matt likes to have fun! While he values hard work he’s not one to compromise a joke or good time.
Honest and Straightforward
Matt learned a while back that transparency is the key to a great relationship. People respect you for it and he’s witnessed lying and deceit ruining many prosperous relationships; that’s something he wants no part of.
Enjoys Bantering and Laughing
Like most, Matt likes to joke around, have fun and just smile. He finds these moments of joy to bring the best out of his daily life.
Wants to make a difference
At the end of it all, Matt wants to be measured by the impact he’s left on this world. Whether that’s creating web apps that unite people or joining a team focused on helping the community he wants to be remembered for doing his part.
Matt struggled with making this list because it’s tough to remain totally neutral in your own self-assessment. But as Matt grew more comfortable his list grew on and he began to point out parts about his character he’d like to work on:
Patience:
NYC has made Matt a quick mover but sometimes he forgets to SLOWDOWN. Life moves fast, but if you plan properly there’s always time for everything. In 2019, he plans to breathe more.
Balance:
Matt’s tends to binge. This can be in regards to coding super hard for weeks then taking time off. Or working out and eating well for two weeks then taking too much time off. He’s developed a more consistent routine of late, but it’s still something he’s striving to maintain.
Take more risks:
Matt believes that the recent life choices have made him more courageous. He points to pursuing Lambda School as the tip of the iceberg for him and more reassurance that he should push out of his comfort zone. He plans to continue pressing himself to pursue meaningful and new opportunities and activities.
All of the self-reflection is going well for Matt, you can see the lightbulbs going off above his head as he begins to plan what content should be on his website.
But now that we’ve looked inward, understand the inner makings of Matt, we need to consider, How does Matt want to be recognized? What does he want to achieve with his website? A few thoughts come to mind:
- Prove he’s a qualified Developer
- Prove he’s a hirable candidate
- Portray his hard work and dedication
- Inject some off his personal flair to it all
The list seems so simple? Why go through this whole process just to find a list like that?
Matt sits and laughs because he knows that although his work is just beginning he now understands the person he is and how to articulate that.
Knowing this much will allow him to tailor his content exactly to his liking, reflecting the story he wants to be told.
Wrap Up
Sorry to go all third person on you there! When I started writing this piece, I struggled to get anything on the page, but I found that writing in the third person allowed me to get thoughts down.
Here are some other pointers I discovered when writing about myself:
Start by writing in bullets:
As you can see I didn’t even bother to convert it to paragraphs, but it allows you to get thoughts rolling without worrying too much about cohesion.
Write a list of your hobbies/interests before you start:
I didn’t include my full list in this exercise but it allowed me to start thinking about the topics that excite me in this world. My list included: Web Development, Crossword Puzzles, Cooking, Cartoons, Fantasy Football, NY Jets, NY Mets, NY Knicks. Traits I would later derive from this list: Problem Solver, Team Oriented, Structured, Goal Oriented, Light-Hearted, Creative.
Take yourself seriously:
Spend parts of the exercise writing like you’re applying to a job interview. Your most marketable traits will come to the surface.
Have fun with it:
Then spend parts of it being a bit silly or writing in a more casual tone. This will allow some of your creative flavors to surface.
At the end of my essay, I point out the four concepts I’d like to portray via my website. Here are some of my first ideas on how I’d like to portray them:
Qualified Developer:
- Things that prove this: Github, Medium Articles, Freelance Work and Hackathons.
- How to portray that?: Portfolio, Medium API(to render articles).
Qualified Employee:
- Things that prove this: Resume, LinkedIn, AngelList, Recommendations
- How to portray that?: Work History, Links to Social Acts, Testimonies, Skills Component
Hard Work and Dedication:
- Things that prove this: Github, Medium, Resume, Recs, LinkedIn, Twitter Act,
- How to portray that?: Access to articles immediately, Easy access to a portfolio.
Flavor and Flair:
- What components do I want to share?: Creativity, Problem Solver, Light Heartedness.
- How to portray that?: Dynamic theming, Quizzes/Games, Easter Eggs, Unique layout.
This is just the beginning of my content outline but it begins to paint a picture of where I’m headed. If you’re interested in hearing more about the process of me building my site, please comment below or send me a tweet!
Ultimately, I hope this inspires you to start writing and to start coding your own personal site as well! 😄
