Matthew Lang avatar

Matthew Lang

Family guy and web developer

This afternoon I said goodbye to my Twitter handle, @matthewlang and deactivated my account there. It's been a move I've been thinking a lot about over the last few weeks. Since the start of the year my Twitter use has really declined. I just don't have the time for Twitter, and I was increasingly finding it to be more of a distraction than anything else.

In the last few weeks I've deleted my Google account and now another aspect of my on-line presence is gone. And it's no bad thing either. Having lots of networks and profiles attached to your name isn't a good thing in my book. Stretching yourself across multiple networks and services takes a lot of your time. That's time I just don't have.

There are of course accounts on networks and services I do have like LinkedIn and Github, but these are important to me and they don't require a lot of time.

I also have a personal website and blog that I post to on a daily basis. I find that writing for my blog gives me more to say on a topic than Twitter ever could. Given the choice between spending time on Twitter or writing for my blog, I'd much rather spend the time writing for my blog.

What's in a name?

What's in a name? Quite a lot actually. When I first started freelancing it was my wish to specialise in Ruby and a couple of the more popular frameworks that are built with Ruby, namely Ruby on Rails and Sinatra. Being fresh to freelancing I didn't want to narrow my field down too much either. I still have plenty of experience with the Microsoft .Net languages and frameworks. After considering this I used "Freelance Web Developer" as my title on my website and as part of my bio.

Now though I am re-considering who I am and what I do as a freelancer. I'm coming round to describing myself more as a Ruby on Rails Developer than anything else. Yes it is more focused than what I have done in the past, but it's what I have been working with for the last five months and will continue to do so in the near future.

I never thought that the Rails framework would involve so much. Every day I'm discovering something new about it and I'm really enjoying the experience. For now I'm happy to be marketing myself as a specialist rather than a generalist.

Time for a reading switch

I've been reading fantasy books for over 20 years now. I was first exposed to the genre through a friend at school who gave me the Dragonlance Chronicles to read. It was hefty book but I was immediately hooked. Since then I've read hundreds of books in the genre enjoying each and every one.

Over the years I've favoured authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, Terry Pratchett, Raymond E. Feist, David Gemmell, George R. R. Martin, J. K. Rowling and David Eddings. There have been a few authors who I have only read one or two books from, but I tend to favour books from the authors I just mentioned.

In the last year though I've become less and less patient with the books I have been reading. I've abandoned four books in the last year because they didn't hold my attention. Books that I am reading are becoming predictable or simply just don't grab me when I am reading them. Now I'm finding it especially difficult to find a new book to read from the fantasy genre because I don't want the next book turning out to be another turkey.

I haven't been reading books from the fantasy genre exclusively, I have been reading other books in the last few years including the Master and Commander series, Conn Iggulden's Emperor and Conqueror series and a few other military history based works of fiction.

I'd even consider the zombie genre if it means I'll find more books to enjoy. Perhaps it's time for a switch.

Life as a freelance developer isn't always plain sailing. I can deal with the bulk of my day to day activities including requirements gathering, designing and implementing features with code, testing and of course deployments. It's what I am paid to do by clients.

The one thing I have trouble with is rush jobs to meet a deadline. As a developer I would ideally like to write tests for all my code, re-factor it and get it to a place where I feel comfortable shipping it. In the real world though that doesn't always happen. Sometimes it's only hours you get to either rush some code changes through. A depressing experience for any developer who takes pride in their work.

In scenarios like this I like to remember that although the code I am shipping in not tested or re-factored to my preferred standard, I can always pick up the code the next day after the deadline has passed. Before I pick up any other tasks tomorrow, I'll ensure that the sub-standard code I previously shipped is correctly tested and re-factored appropriately.

My tips for keeping a journal

Keeping a journal seems quite an easy task to do, but remembering to update it and keep it going can be something else. I've kept my journal going for 18 months now and these little tips are what have helped me journal for this long.

Set a reminder

Set a reminder for your to do your journal entries. Last thing at night before you read a book or an hour before you go to bed are ideal times. Any kids you have will be sleeping, so you'll get a few minutes of distraction free writing.

Setting this reminder will hopefully turn into a habit where you will pre-empt the reminder and journal every day without being prompted by a reminder. If you find yourself forgetting to journal, then simply set up your reminder again.

Journal just two or three sentences at a time

Keeping a journal doesn't mean you should be writing epic chapter length journal entries every night. Just two or three sentences are sufficient. If you want to write more then do so, but just a summary of the day is sufficient for those non-eventful days.

Keep your journal close

Whether it's pen and paper or journaling with your preferred app, keep your journal close for those times when you want to write something down. You never know when you're going to want to write something down.

Don't knock yourself for missing a day

Journaling every day can be difficult. Family life, career, holidays, work trips and other things can distract you from journaling for a day. If you miss a day then don't worry about it. It's only one day. Get back to writing a journal entry the following day and make sure your reminder is set for a few more days until you get back into the habit of writing a journal entry every day.