How I Curate Experiences For the Web - Interview with Noonies Nominee Marvin Kweyu

Hey Hackers!

I’m Marvin Kweyu and I’m a software engineer, nominated for the 2022 Noonies Award.

A huge thanks to the HackerNoon community and staff for considering me worthy of this opportunity. I’ve been nominated in the following categories and if you like my writing, please do check out these award pages and vote for me:

1. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- PROJECT-MANAGEMENT: Leaderboard
2. HackerNoon Contributor of the Year- SOFTWARE-ARCHITECTURE: Leaderboard

As a tech writer, I believe that the most exciting technology of the present is 1 + 1 because we all need the fundamentals. Learn more about my thoughts and opinions on software engineering and my journey in the tech industry via the interview below

1. Tell us about your journey. What do you do and what do you love about it?

Well, I guess it’s obvious at this point; I write code and stay weird. Hahaha. I’m kidding. Or am I?

I curate experiences for the web. Whether it’s an experience from a black shell, or from your favourite browser. What I like about my career in software engineering are the paces I walk before a random bulb pops up in my head. Another side project you might say? Well, yes, but also no. I might just have a different way of solving something that has been bugging me or might as well have come up with an automation script for my personal use, or yes indeed, added something to my product hunt page. Most of it comes as a side effect of a lot of daydreaming.

2. Tell us more about your work. What do you make/write/manage/build?

Other than the endless stream of side projects and careful accidents, I am a lover of the open source community.

While some of my projects are still closed-source, I may join a team of developers randomly online all because a guy was strange enough to create a site for his own wedding invitation. A whole project with tests and all. Hi Adrian! I may even go back and work on my development community organisation and or make a review. I am following a number of these and mostly go there to read code.

3. How did you start writing? What made you choose HackerNoon for publishing your work?

It boils down to the community in the end; the opportunity to interact with like-minded individuals with a goal in mind. After a while of reading from some of these incredible contributors, I realised I had more to say than the comment sections had to hold. You can say I took a dive. Building, writing, learning and engaging with these very people I looked up to and sat beside. Yes, I would do it all over again.

4. What excites you in tech? Tell us about your favorite technology and why you are passionate about it.

The most exciting thing for me is evolution. I’m a techie, but I am more grounded in the fundamental principles than I am about the up and new. In the end, I have found that they form a firm footing upon which anything else can follow.

To echo a wise sage in my circle: ‘Treat it like an art‘; evolve and grow with it.

5. What were some of the challenges you faced being a tech writer and how did you overcome them?

Research my fellow readers. Research. I do not go bland. I come back after escapades of reading through, experimenting and making sure that it is feasible. Because this is a process, I have found that it takes time. To anyone out there, I might suggest that you start off small, start with a simple project, product or implementation based on what angle or direction you want to head in with your writing.

6. What are you learning/reading currently? Any recommendations for our readers?

I’m reading about sand. Who would have thought? It’s all soil for now. Well, that and a little algorithm and architecture here and there.

7. What is your biggest achievement so far?

I’d say, looking at software engineering with different limelight. Building for me is fine and all but what really counts is what societal impact my creation goes on to enable. Listening to how someone uses a product I created a while back to solve a rather unique problem for them is my win. Sometimes, you, the creator had not even realized you could have done that. Strange, huh?

To add to this, I have had really interesting conversations with my readers over time. They span from curious inquiries that lead to more inquiries to project collaborations. Now those, are nice.

8. If we gave you 10 million dollars to invest in something today, what would you invest in and why?

Uhhh, do you have it right now? I want it.

No. I’m not going t mention NFT or web3.

I would channel it to a merger of mental health and technology; This is for my own cause.

Another avenue I would go for is agritech. No matter how advanced a civilization is, you will always need food. The only way this happens is if it actually exists and our advancements actually make the process more seamless.

9. What advice would you give to someone just starting in this field?

It takes time. Anyone who has done it knows this. Not only will it be time-consuming, but also energy-consuming as well. Remember to have a firm foundation with your algorithms if you are into software development. Give it not only the x hours but also the intensity it deserves; consistent, undivided attention.

As a plus to this, remember that things fail every time. Things break. Be kind to yourself on this path. Remember that this is a marathon. Have enough breaks in order to get there and see the creations you make come to light.

10. What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Go sleep. I’m not even kidding.

Rather than expending your energy feeling miserable on a challenging item that does not seem to budge, you would rather use that time to sleep. Let your neurons recover. Like any muscle, they get tired. The same way your brawny arm muscles need time to recover after 3 hours of boxing is the same way your neurons need time to relax and connect the new nodes.

Any final comments?

Watch out for the next publication on Software architecture. This series is going to take us into a dive.

And ohh, yeah, go forth and vote!

Project Management

Software Architecture