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DeveloPassion's Newsletter - 2021 Lessons Learned

Sebastien Dubois

Sebastien Dubois

— 8 min read
DeveloPassion's Newsletter - 2021 Lessons Learned
Hello everyone! I’m Sébastien Dubois, your host. You’re receiving this email because you signed up for DeveloPassion’s Newsletter or the Dev Concepts project. Thank you for being here with me ✨
If you enjoy this, please forward it to your friends 👍. If this email was forwarded to you, then don’t forget to subscribe and become a supporter.
Welcome to the 38th edition
Another week, another newsletter! I hope that you all had a great one 🤩
Last week my newsletter has appeared in the SPAM folder for many of you. This is apparently due to an issue at Revue, the newsletter service I’m using. Hopefully, this edition will actually reach your inbox!
This week, like most of you, I’ve been preparing for the holiday season 🎉
I’ve continued reading Sahil Livingia‘s book about bootstrapping: The Minimalist Entrepreneur. So far it’s a great read, and I will definitely recommend it along with Arvid Kahl’s latest book: The Embedded Entrepreneur.
Now that Christmas is behind us, my daughter’s birthday and new year’s eve are just around the corner. The end-of-year rush is not over yet. I enjoy the last days of the year, but as an introvert, those are also stressful to me as there’s little room for recharging!
Alright, let’s go! 🚀

Things I've learned
Some of the things I've learned this week
Some of the things I've learned this week
This week, while exploring some resources for my PKM research, I stumbled upon a treasure trove of information about Stoicism, a subject that I should have explored earlier in my life. I didn’t realize before, but I’m apparently a stoic! Next year I’ll read a few books about this topic!
As you know, I’ve launched a paid version of this newsletter for those who want to learn faster with me. I’m psyched to see so many of you getting on board!
The first book notes I’ll share with my premium members will be those I took about:
Those will be quite detailed as I put a ton of effort into learning as much as I can from what I read!
Also, since my reading list is growing fast, I’ll let my premium members help me decide what to read next.
If you want to support my work and join our learning community, then hop on the train with us 🎉
Personal Knowledge Management Library 📖
As I’ve announced last week, I’ve launched an info product called the Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) Library.
It currently includes:
  • Links to 160+ articles
  • Links to 100+ videos
  • A list of 60+ tools
  • A list of 30+ books
  • Links to 50+ sites & blogs
  • A list of Youtube channels
  • A list of 25+ courses
  • A list of 20+ newsletters
  • A list of 15+ communities and forums
  • A list of ~1K PKM leaders, influencers, and enthusiasts
  • A list of 35+ starter kits and templates
  • A list of 15+ Twitter hashtags to follow
So far I’ve made 10+ sales, amounting to ~$150, which pays for our Christmas evening (before taxes 😂). I’m super grateful, and I hope that more people will get to discover it. It’s motivating to finally see a small bet that pays off! ❤️
I will continue adding new resources in the coming months, as I have curated a ton of information while researching for my startup project.
PKM is a skill that I consider incredibly valuable. I’m committed to helping as many people as I can to understand that and get started on their next-generation learning journey!
You can find more information about it here: https://developassion.gumroad.com/l/PersonalKnowledgeManagementLibrary
❤️ The first 20 people who’ll use the “pkm-20” discount code will get 30% off! 🎉
2021 Lessons Learned ⭐️
A few weeks back, I started looking back and began making plans for the coming years. This week while I was finishing this exercise, I’ve tried to summarize the key lessons I’ve learned in 2021. Here they are, in no particular order:
  • The best way to recover after a failure is to start something new (after a small break)
  • Don’t pour all your energy into a single thing to the detriment of your whole life. Work is a single dimension; life has many more that deserve your time and attention
  • It’s easier to lose momentum and energy than to gain it back. Keep going!
  • Finding the right co-founders is a HARD problem
  • Co-founders may be a perfect match on paper, but fail to work as a team
  • Co-founder alignment is multidimensional
  • Co-founders may be complementary, but too “distant” from each other
  • Co-founders might be aligned (vision-wise), but fail to steer in the right direction
  • The ego of some co-founders might be blinding
  • Co-founders (short and long term) personal goals might not be aligned, and cause friction
  • Trust your guts; they know faster, and better than your conscious mind. If something feels off, then something is definitely off!
  • Previous titles of co-founders don’t mean anything. Each founding team is different and each business is different
  • Words are but words
  • Unexpressed conflicts are actual conflicts and will come to bite you if you don’t resolve them
  • Be wary of empty promises. Some people will say anything to get what they want out of you
  • Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. People are not always what they seem
  • People who ghost you once they are done with you are not worth your time and energy. Get them out of your life asap
  • Entrepreneurship is NOT without risks, no matter what people may say. It all depends on one’s personal situation. If you have kids and a mortgage to repay, entrepreneurship IS risky
  • Working half-time and using the other half to explore entrepreneurship is super rewarding, and actually not too risky
  • Products don’t necessarily require code
  • Small and riskless bets are great. Start small!
  • Raising prices as a freelancer can backslash, but it shouldn’t stop you from doing it, as a statement both for others and yourself
  • Creating and growing a community is FUN
  • Starting with community is starting to succeed
  • Having a baby at 38 is MUCH HARDER than at 28 (seriously 😂)
  • The smile of a baby is worth a million unicorns (probably more!)
  • The world needs more social progress for fathers! 12 days is definitely not enough. Taking 3 months off was definitely worth it
Recent articles
No new articles this week!
How cool is that?!
blender.org - Home of the Blender project - Free and Open 3D Creation Software
blender.org - Home of the Blender project - Free and Open 3D Creation Software
Blender 3.0 has been released. I’ve spent many hours reading about 3D modeling and experimenting with Blender back in the day. I remember how difficult it was to learn and use 20 years ago and am amazed at how far it has come.
I’ve recently started explaining how it works to my son, and I’ve been astounded by the amount of progress they’ve made. Truly a wonderful piece of engineering!
www.blender.org  •  Share
Tips of the week
If you want to get started with journaling, try the 5-minute journal. Write a few sentences each day (tip: start with gratitude!), and make it a habit.
Later you can go further if it feels good! It’s always a great idea to start small!
Books corner
This week I want to mention a book I’m really eager to explore in 2022:
Rob Fitzpatrick shares ideas about how to write useful (non-fiction) books.
amzn.to  •  Share
Board game of the week
A legacy version of Clank!, a fantastic strategy game.
Legacy board games are games where we make choices that force us to modify the game once and for all (e.g., writing on elements, destroying cards, etc). To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of modifying game elements, but my son seems to enjoy that a lot :)
The good news is that once we’re done with the campaign, we’ll end up with a fully customized game of Clank! ;-)
amzn.to  •  Share
Quotes of the week
  • “Experience is something you gain right after you need it” — K.F. Breene
  • “Do not try to do everything. Do one thing well” — Steve Jobs
Links of the week
Here are a few links that I found interesting this week:
Oak National Academy Online Classroom
Oak National Academy Online Classroom
Nearly 10,000 free video lessons, resources and activities, covering most subjects, from Reception to Year 11
classroom.thenational.academy  •  Share
A manifesto for better linking on the Web and in Apps. A great read for all software developers!
linkingmanifesto.org  •  Share
The standard for modern web animation
The standard for modern web animation
GSAP is an industry standard JavaScript animation library from GreenSock that lets you craft high-performance animations that work in every major browser.
greensock.com  •  Share
SequenceDiagram.org - UML Sequence Diagram Online Tool
SequenceDiagram.org - UML Sequence Diagram Online Tool
Free sequence diagram online tool. Create sequence diagrams using textual notation or draw quickly via Drag and Drop with an easy to use interface.
sequencediagram.org  •  Share
CRDTs: The Hard Parts
CRDTs: The Hard Parts
A talk on the latest research on CRDTs, originally given at the Hydra distributed computing conference on 6 July 2020.References: https://martin.kleppmann.co…
www.youtube.com  •  Share
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