🎓 Graduation Day

I graduated. Like, actually graduated.

It feels like ages since I last updated this blog, and honestly that's because the past year kind of swallowed me whole. 2023 was the year I decided to just put my head down and finish my master's while working full time as a front-end engineer, and if you've ever tried to do both at once you know it's the kind of thing that sounds manageable on paper and then slowly eats every single evening and weekend you have.

But I did it. I finished my MSc in Computer Science at Georgia Tech this December and I still can't fully believe it.

The graduation was on December 16th and I don't think I'll forget that morning for a long time. Atlanta was crisp, that kind of cool December morning where the air feels clean and sharp on your skin, and the sky was this impossibly clear blue, not a single cloud, just bright winter light everywhere. The campus was full of people in caps and gowns walking around with their families, parents taking way too many pictures, little kids running between groups, everyone bundled up and smiling. There was this energy in the air that's hard to describe, like collective relief mixed with pride mixed with "we actually made it." When I walked across the stage and heard my name, it felt surreal. Like something I had imagined so many times was suddenly just... happening.

The last few months before that were honestly brutal. I had this laser focus where everything that wasn't studying or coding basically disappeared from my life, including this blog. Less writing, less socializing, less everything that wasn't directly related to getting to the finish line. It wasn't glamorous or inspiring, it was just a lot of late nights and caffeine and telling myself that it would be worth it. And it was. Finishing earlier than I expected felt like waking up from something.

So now it's 2024 and I feel like I finally have space again, both mentally and in terms of actual hours in my day. I have all this energy that's been bottled up for months and I want to channel it into something new. I've been thinking a lot about starting my indie hacker journey, building small things, experimenting, maybe shipping something that's entirely mine for once.

More updates coming. This year is about turning all that accumulated knowledge and discipline into something tangible and creative, and I'm genuinely excited about it.

Here's to new beginnings. 🚀