My ULTRA Exciting Life Outside Of Software Engineering

Transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.

all right this is going to be a slightly different episode of Code commute um because I'm not in a car obviously uh but I had a request I'm just checking my board I had a request to do a video on a couple things I guess so one of them that's coming up tomorrow I will do this is going to be like um perspective on like new developers like kind of getting into the industry like there's a lot of Doom and Gloom around that so I'll be sharing like my thoughts on like the positive side of that kind of stuff uh I'm going to talk about a day in the life of uh what it's like to be a software engineer I'll also do a day in the life of like what it's like to be an engineering manager I'm not I'm going to do those

from the car I'm not going to like bring you on my meetings and stuff like that because uh that can't work the kitties are playing together they just ran in um and then the one that I want to do now is and it made sense to do it at home is someone had ask like what do I like to do like outside of outside of work like what do I do so uh I'm pretty boring so I figured this would be an easy V I can't speak pretty boring so I feel like this would be an easy video to make um but at least then you know a little bit more about me and who's talking to you right so um so let me let me kind of just start from like the work side of things just so you uh know in case uh

you're this is like the first video you're watching or you've kind of seen one of the other videos and of me in the car but so I am a software engineering manager at Microsoft I've been there for about four and a half years prior to that I was working at a digital forensics uh company making digital forensics software and I was a software developer and engineering manager uh there for eight years so I've been in the industry for a little while I had uh two full years of internships before that like you know professionally writing software so what that's uh 10 years of writing code profession Prof Al and then uh eight of those were overlapped plus another four and a bit now so 12 years of managing engineering team so been doing this for a little bit I've been at uh startups I'm in

big Tech right now so um been around for a little while uh but what else right like what do I like to do aside from work and uh it's kind of funny because when I was working at a startup like the answer to that was uh was basically I I don't have any interests outside of work uh which is a bit of a problem right so if uh I don't know if I've talked about it on code commute but on my my main Channel Dev leader I've talked about this before where um I I experienced like pretty bad burnout in what I would say is maybe not like a traditional way because I think most people kind of see burnout like getting disengaged getting depressed like you know it's kind of the I don't know it's stereotypical burnout but for me it was like the

uh the experience at work was good like it wasn't burning out from work it was burning out from everything else in my life so uh basically like dropping uh you know like can't maintain friendships I don't like socializing uh my work uh my life was just work um and not because anyone made me like it was just something that happened over time because I like to work and um and the side effect of that was just like almost like a vicious cycle like work more do good work get rewarded so you keep doing it um so anyway um I've talked about like sort of a productivity feedback loop that I have for myself uh I've talked about that on code kute where if I have a period where I'm being like very productive it's a really positive feedback loop for me where when I say

positive feedback I mean positive feedback in the sense that I keep trying to make myself more and more productive but when I'm hitting a bit of a a slump like it's kind of the opposite effect where it's like really hard to get out of the slump so I have to be careful with myself and be very aware of what's going on because I I hyper focus on being productive whatever whatever measure that happens to be right and I end up doing a lot of different things so being productive means like I feel like kind of scattered because I'm trying to do too many different things so let me talk about like hobbies and stuff first uh before I talk about like what what fills most to my time because unfortunately I don't spend much time on my hobbies um and I think it's just because

like I I would say in like a good way I'm I'm sort of replacing some of the parts of my life that were like not I'm going I want to use the word like not productive like they were not they weren't conducive to like me being what I would consider like a how I want to see myself be successful maybe that's how I'd frame it so like sort of guilty pleasure hobbies for me definitely video games so I love video games I've always loved video games um I love playing role playing games in particular so um you know when I like one of the first games I played that got me hooked on video games was uh was the first Diablo game so love my role playing games I started you know with Diablo like way back like Diablo one and then I remember being

in high school and like I would when Diablo I was out I would wake up like roll out of bed and play Diablo I until like early in the morning and then go back to sleep and then roll out of bed like I would I was I probably had a problem um and that's like all that I wanted to do so um yeah like love role playing games I don't think I like I tried MMOs and I think that like they were in I played a few of them and like never really got into World of Warcraft um World of Warcraft to me just felt so slow that like I couldn't bring myself to playing it um but I tried it right like I dabbled um but never really stuck long with MMOs and I think part of it was just like the grind was

so slow versus like an action role playing game always felt like yeah you're grinding to get like Loot and level characters up and stuff like that but like it's more fastpaced so it just seemed better um I don't uh but yeah other than that like in in University like I played a lot of Call of Duty and stuff um with my roommates but yeah I'm a I'm a role playing game kind of person uh so like Diablo 4 came out and I was pumped for that and I should have probably uh figured but like was pretty disappointed um it's had ups and downs but mostly not good um I've played Path of Exile so I'm not like a hardcore Path of Exile player it's definitely fun and I'll play Path of Exile Exile 2 when it comes out but uh something I've realized about myself

now is like when it comes to video games what used to happen is like I would get like I don't know if I want to use the word addicted because I feel like that's maybe too strong of a word and I don't like to misuse that word but I would like kind of get sucked into to playing games and like not be able to get my attention on anything else and over the past like in my professional career at least uh there's been times where I notice like hey I'm doing like I'm playing video games too much and like I could be doing something else and then I feel guilty and then I drop the video games but then I've gone through periods too where I'm like I'm not giving myself any personal time like if you like playing video games you should be able

to do that and give yourself like a bit of a break so you know trying to make sure that I can have some balance um but what's happened along the way is like instead of me getting to a point where like I'm playing a game and I have to play it until like until it's like a problem I actually get like almost like tired of it um and I can't remember I watched like a a YouTube video of like one of the streamers I want to say it was a um I think it was a Path of Exile streamer it I'm not I don't know the streamers I think it was zizaran who is a Path of Exile streamer um I'm pretty sure it was him who was saying like explaining to someone why he plays hardcore which I don't um and I think it

was him that said like basically I know that if I don't play hardcore like it's inevitable that I will like Master the game and it's just like because given enough time he will just like he'll know all the mechanics like there's it's kind of like once he figures out the mechanics like there's no there's no point Beyond it so hardore gives him this element of like like just something that even if he slips up or something like it there's a lot more on the line and I think what I've started to realize is like when I'm playing video games and say like I'm like hey this is interesting it's fun I'm progressing there's I feel like there's this point where like I the mechanics start to click in and I go okay like I know how to take advantage of the mechanics and like I

could continue down this path and just like use the mechanics and and win uh or just kind of like stop playing and because I don't play competitively like I don't play games where like I'm against other people because it's just not really for me um I feel like that's been happening more where I try things out it's fun for a little bit you know I'll get my like 10 hours of gameplay in tops and then I'm like okay like I like I haven't been completing video games in in a long time now so just kind of interesting it's really shifted for me but video games are definitely one of my hobbies um under under my desk that I'm filming on right now I have my gaming rig which is actually what I record on now because my laptop um if you if you watch my

other channel that's like my BL uh my their Vlog entries for that I do weekly um I had tons of audio issues on that laptop and it was all hardware for the audio card and not uh like my microphone and stuff like I went through like thousands of dollars of audio equipment and it was just a laptop in the end so yeah gaming rigs under here gaming is a big thing for me uh PC gaming for sure otherwise I have like Nintendo consoles because I find like anything that I would want to play on a PlayStation or an Xbox there's a computer variation that and enjoy but then there's games like the like fun like cartoony Mario games and stuff where I'm like I I want a like a Nintendo for that so um anyway that's the gaming stuff uh cars obviously for me uh

it's a hobby um since I've been in Seattle though which is like the last just under four years I guess uh I brought my car out with me which is my ttrs it's pretty pretty heavily modified um i' I've just been spending less time with modified cars um it's a huge Money Pit um and I found over the lifetime of owning that that ttrs it's been everyone like talking to people about it because this is what I used to do for Content creation was modified car stuff for my car and people would always say like they'd see all the problems that I'm going through and they' say oh but like it's worth it right like you know you get your car back and it's worth it and I'm like it's actually not though um you know the car that car has been off the road

for uh disproportionately longer than I've had it on the road in the time that I've owned it so and like the amount of money that's been put into that is like um it's embarrassing so when people say like hey like you know isn't it worth it like it's not but I'm stubborn and I'm like I think the problem is I had a vision for what it's supposed to be and I know it's very achievable and I'm not sure like am I trusting the wrong people like you know like I just want to get it done kind of thing so uh right now it was very close to being like that but um the battery's dead and when I say the battery's dead like that doesn't sound like a big issue but like um it's a big issue because it keeps dying and I've had like

four people now kind of go through and do electrical work and the battery keeps dying um and I just don't know what to do like the entire car in the back was gutted and like all the electrical was redone and it's still the batter is dying to the point where the batter is destroyed so um it's crappy out this time of year but I need to get the battery out I'm going to bring it to a shop to number one test the battery because um my Trickle Charger won't charge it uh it's probably done for good and then I'll I'll put a new one in I have to change the struts in my my boot or my my trunk to keep the lid open because the wing on on top is too heavy the uprights are solid so they they weigh too much the wing

itself is extremely light uh it's carbon fiber but the uprights are are solid so um I have to replace those um I have to get the audio in it tuned because it has like a a very expensive sound system but it sounds like it's underwater it's like the dumbest stuff um so I got to get that addressed uh one of the air it's on air suspension one of the airbags is leaking so I want to look into that uh and that is a completely new air ride setup so since I've been down here when that car got shipped down here to the US the uh it was freshly painted in the shop that painted it just like complete imbeciles um and I don't it's funny like I don't I don't share names of anything because like there's no point I don't even want to advertise

for them even if it's negative and uh so they they me my car sorry they they loaded it up and I had uh I worked with another shop to have it shipped down for me but when it got here uh one of the airbags like would not hold air um so that uh that had to get replaced while I was down here and the guy that was looking at it was like like hey it's you know I've had the air ride on that car for years now and they're like he was like it's probably time to just like swap it all um that really wasn't that bad to replace which is fortunate um um but it was due for like a lot of little mechanical things like needed a the axles were like pretty beat up so we changed the axles in the in the

car um just like that kind of stuff but um it's all good like that's all like pretty minor stuff that's left like the audio tuning like solvable problem batter is a solvable problem I do want to get the cartooned again though down here pardon me the um shop I used up in Ontario the guy um love hate relationship with them he knows that um he tuned my car and we got it up to 650 wheel horsepower it's only using the one set of injectors so it's a 5-cylinder big turbo car uh but it has a two fuel rails and so it's using direct injectors but it's not using the the port injection I don't even think like we need to do that um just like it makes 650 wheel horsepower and like does not need to make that much power um and the kit supposed

to be able to go up higher like I said we're only fueling so much though but he tuned the car it has a cyx ECU in it and uh admittedly for him he brought in another guy that has two in those ecus but like they're not this is not meant to be an insult by the way but like they're not experienced with it so it's like I don't like it works but like now my car is in limp mode and I'm like shouldn't be in limp mode I just want to be able to drive it normally so there's a shop down here in Seattle area um that apparently knows how to tune these ecus I just want to bring it to them even if they lower the power I just want to say like I want to drive this and not have to think twice

that's it so um in terms of work on the ttrs it's like it's it's maintenance work in my opinion because I know tuning it again is not like maintenance but I want to tune it so that it's it's like drivable um so that's that's kind of what's left with that car when that car is good to go um so hopefully like it's probably not happening in the winter but uh you know in springtime kind of thing I'm hoping I can do code commute from that car as well it's fun like it's it's little it's loud uh like you can hear the turbo over the exhaust inside the car which is pretty cool so it's uh just a different ride so I like modified cars but like I said I I don't want to waste the money um I've been closeth I've even had my wife

uh convinced for modifying the the AMG GT um we were going to work with the shop so that car is like a gunmetal gray color uh but we have it wrapped in white with uh has like gold flake in the white it's actually like it's almost like two uh layers of uh of vinyl it's like vinyl plus a laminate layer and uh the shop that did um actually it's not even the shop that did that the shop that wrapped my my TT and fix the Sid skirt uh they know that I have that AMG GT and they said hey like do you want us to do a SEMA build for it but the uh the budget even though they're covering so much of it the budget I was like I can't do that like could I could I pay the money yes like uh would

I would it be responsible like absolutely not like we want to move out of the house that we're in right now um and like I've been telling my wife like anything that we go to buy like because the mortgage just instantly goes up it's like it's not really like unless my salary goes up like 50% like how like how do we expect to pay like 50% more on a mortgage right so um that's the kind of thing that I'm trying to balance right now so doing like a you know $75,000 SEMA build like probably not the best idea if I can't put us in the house that we want to be in so uh she was she was open to the modifications though so um I brought her in the the guy who owns the shop was talking with us uh and I thought when

we were in there together I thought she was like just kind of like sure whatever whatever and I thought when we were driving home that she was going to be like this is so dumb you wasted my time but she was actually like so are we doing this like she she actually was interested I was like holy crap um cuz that would have been like we wouldn't have like built the motor in that car but we would have had it tuned it would have had exhaust like a full Uh custom titanium exhaust um widebody kit molded on custom paint uh just like have wheels uh like basically huge wheels at Cost that'll get sponsored so there's a lot that was and the shop was going to do it at a loss right because it's a it's a marketing thing for them so there was a

lot but um if if I were a single uh maybe a different story because I'd be like I only have to like you know look out for myself kind of thing but uh I guess I guess I'm an adult now uh so I feel like that was the wise choice but um almost got back into doing some modified car stuff they almost got me um but yeah if you get a chance if you if you look up um like widebody AMG GT uh I can't remember I think the guy is a Pierre P I think it's Pierre carbonair or something on Instagram I probably have it wrong but he makes the uh the kits in Europe somewhere and man like it's it's nice so um maybe like this car is going to have to get rewrapped uh maybe even next year uh uh so I

don't know I I'd like to I don't want to rewrap the car unless I'm putting a wide body on it because that car is going to get a wide body at some point so we'll see um we'll see I just I should probably stay away from like the modified uh performance stuff because that's where it gets dicey so um video games cars I like cars a lot still but try not to spend money on the modified cars and then uh body building is a huge thing for me so um if I back up though um so at this point I've kind of like air quotes retired from bodybuilding even though I was never like a like professional by any means um but earlier this year I was going to do show number two and three uh so I've been going to the gym since I

was like 14 and I'm in my my mid-30s now um so I've been going for a long time uh and and consistently you know like I I'm really into nutrition and and uh and bodybuilding but I was going for show number two and three was supposed to be in like end of March and April time frame at the beginning of this year and I was like six weeks out so it was like just after Valentine's Day and I had to withdraw from the shows it's like it's just too much um it is too much of a draw on the rest of life so for example my first show that I did uh this would have been like six years ago um like even that was like I have to I have to get to the Finish Line kind of thing and I was single and

had like started to like I thought I guess I thought we were dating I guess we weren't but I thought like I was exclusive with someone uh during that time and like as soon as I finish my show uh and I definitely don't blame her but like as soon as I finish she was like yeah like we're done here um and and I get it like because I was a piece of crap the entire time and when I was going into to do these shows um I told my wife ahead of time I said hey like it's I'm probably going to be pretty sour like as we move along here uh so I wanted to make sure that I had her support and yeah it was like six weeks out uh which I was the heaviest and leanest I've ever been so I was even

leaner than when I was on stage the first time and I was still six weeks out so for me I was like holy crap like I've I've improve this is so cool um still have you know room to diet down and uh but yeah like I had to stop cuz I was like this is going to have too much of an impact on the rest of uh life going on now that doesn't mean I have to compete but I also told my wife I'm like look like so I'm in my mid-30s I'm 5'4 I'm pretty short um and I walk around like between 180 to I've been up to like 200 pounds but I don't weigh 200 pounds um unless I'm like pretty fat uh but I've done it before for bulking so being like 185 at 5 foot4 like I'm winded all the time

it's not healthy um even if I would like to assume that a lot of its muscle I know right now it's definitely not but um it's just not healthy and as I get older I'm like I'm not going to be about that so that's why if you're watching my videos like I'm at CrossFit now um I hate CrossFit and I'm saying that like half joking like uh like I love bodybuilding I don't enjoy CrossFit that's the difference right um so the the reality is though that like CrossFit is probably the best thing for me because I can lift weight so I still get my weight training in but it's a lot more cardio it's it's literally everything that I'm bad at from Fitness all inone so probably a good thing for me to do it and kind of force me to get my cardio up

so I do it this is kind of crappy like bodybuilding was something that I loved uh it was my kind of like meditation part of my routine um so I've given that part of my life up and replaced it with something that's hard um bodybuilding like it's a lot of routine it's a lot of effort it's a lot of like uh I don't know like you have to put yourself into it no doubt but the the reality is like for someone that enjoys routine for someone that enjoys the movements and that style of working out like it feels good CrossFit to me does not feel good so the big difference is like I used to go to the gym being excited to go do it and now I like wake up at 5: in the morning and I'm like I don't want to do this

but I'm making myself do it because I I need to I think it's going to make me more healthy and I want to be around for a long time so um that's why I'm doing it so yeah um the fitness stuff for me has always been a big part um I you'll probably hear me talk about it a little bit but uh so I'm building brand ghost now but uh before brand ghost I was building a SAS that was called meal coach and like that was kind of the intersection of uh you know my Fitness and Nutrition stuff and and and the software engineering side so that was a failed startup attempt uh lot of fun to build learned a ton um and that's the context I want to give you because you'll hear me talk about meal coach when I'm talking about brand ghost

just because there's lessons to be learned so um yeah so those are the three major things that I like to do outside of work um and then we got animals here so we got three dogs and two cats so we love our animals um and then probably like the last thing I'll mention is like I spend a lot of time making content like I just filmed my uh my weekly Vlog entry uh that I do for Dev leader which is just like documenting my my journey so like uh I have you know my lights and stuff are on my mics there uh my setup there's a lot of a lot of monitors like that's work that's personal um so I make a lot of content um and that's like a hobby I guess but like also I'm trying to take it seriously so uh I'm

just I I it feels rewarding for me to be able to share stuff about software engineering with people so they learn and uh you know what you're getting from me is my perspective my experiences on this stuff but uh I never try to tell or make it seem like this is the only way to do it that's uh literally against what I believe in uh so yeah just want to give you that disclaimer like it's I try not to use words like always and never um because I think there's always exceptions um so yeah I think that's probably it I'm like I said I'm pretty boring um it's uh it's really funny that uh the hobbies that I have are all like like very much like bro Hobbies like um oh just to give you an example so I remember um when I was working

at the the startup uh it was no longer a startup at the time the friends at company before Microsoft I remember I got my dog Lyla and I remember um I had a couple people being like Oh man like you're G this I was single at the time like oh you're going to meet so many girls with that dog is the dog so cute and I would go around with the dog and I would have guys coming up to me and I'm like H why is this happening and then like I go to the gym all the time right and then it's like oh like if you're really in shape obvious like girls are going to no it's just dudes at the gym that come up and they want to talk to you about being a bro at the gym and the same thing with

cars it's like oh like you're into cars oh you have a nice car like oh girls must love no it's just guys so it's been really funny then you add in the video games obviously that's like very male Centric so it's really funny that like I have a bunch of these hobbies and I've had them for forever but I got very lucky and and met my wife outside of all of those things which is great uh because otherwise I think I would have been doomed um but yeah I think that's it for me um so hopefully you know a little bit more about me I know I'm not in the car I'm sorry it's not an actual commute um there's the TT peeking through so that's on my wallpaper that's when it was purple actually uh it used to be red so there it is

in a calendar I'm not sure if that's focusing or not there's the underglow I think it's coming through yeah it's coming through so I got my bodybuilding metal I got first place because there was no one else on the stage that's from like six years ago um win's a win though right but yeah that's me so of course if you guys ever have questions ask them in the comments DM me um and I'll try to answer so I appreciate it and I will see you on the next commute take care