January 2023 - A New Future š
Introduction
Hey fam.
I know, I know - Iām one day late. My b.
Iāve been so busy. Iām working on a new project at work thatās really tough for me. It turns out they give you harder projects when you get promoted. Itās a trap. Donāt fall for it. However, times like these are when you tend to grow the most in life. Iām grateful for that.
While driving home from San Francisco today, I specifically decided I wanted to make this introduction a āthank you note.ā That means specifically to you; you, the person reading this right this second. I want to thank you sticking with me and my newsletter through a year of emails.
I have big plans for the coming years, and Iāll be keeping this newsletter around for that journey. I expect it will slowly morph over time as I also change. Iād love to have you here for it.
Thank you for supporting me. Thank you to those of you who reach out to talk about the contents of this newsletter. Youāve made the last year a bit more awesome because of your friendship.
Thank you.
ā
Nathan āļø
Books
A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms
(I know. I cheated. This is a code resource in the books section. Sue me.)
I learned about this book from a tweet from Madison Kanna (Twitter). Despite the fact that I have been studying this stuff for years already and knew enough to get a job at both Twitter and Loom, Iām still learning a lot. I like this book specifically because of its clarity, a characteristic sadly lacking from a lot of computer science resources.
Code
ByteByteGo Videos
This YouTube channel is run by the same people behind the famous Grokking the System Design Interview course. Iāve talked about them before in this newsletter.
I wanted to specifically call out several videos they released this last month:
StatQuest
This YouTube channel is a great resource if you want a review of statistics. I know this isnāt technically code-related, but Iām not going to make a math section just for this one link!
Games
Tiny Towns
Tiny Towns is a unique and fairly quick game that finds you and your friends constructing your own small towns. Different buildings combo with each other for more points, and the game is different each time you play since the buildings you play with are based on random draws from a deck of cards. Warning - I know people who love this game and some that also hate it. Enjoy.
Gizmo
Gizmo really caught me by surprise by how fun it is. You build up combinations of āgizmosā that allow you to convert resources back and force, give you perks, and ultimately build up victory points to let you win. Itās one part Catan, one part deck builder game, and all parts awesome.
Music
āChicago Loftā by Nathan
I put this playlist together (which I feel like has the vibe of a Chicago loft) the other week. I want to share it with you (Apple Music link and Spotify below):
āthe recordā by boygenius
boygenius is a supergroup formed by Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus, all incredible musicians in their own right. Their original supergroup album was great, and they just released initial songs for an upcoming album which sounds awesome too (Apple Music link and Spotify below):
Videos
Pep talk from Doc Brown just because
I love this scene (and the Back to the Future movie series). This clip gives a lot of hope for your future, something everyone can use right about now:
āHow to Succeed With a Startupā by Sam Altman (from Y Combinator)
Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI who you all might know as the company that brought you ChatGPT and Dall-E (which have been in the news for the last half year for their AI-generated content). This video is a great watch on how to succeed at building a startup:
A financial pep talk from In The Money (YouTuber)
I have a lot of distrust for financial YouTubers. I think theyāre mostly influencers first and foremost who are in it for all the reasons other than to help you.
In The Money is the big exception. This guy battles encephalitis to bring solid, laid-back financial takes. This video is a pep talk that you should probably not be listening to the news right now to make your investment decisions. Be informed. Make your own choices.
Anyways, this isnāt financial advice from me. But you should definitely watch this: