My last post was in 2021! So much has happened since then.
First, I finally took a technical role and started working as a developer advocate at PayPal in 2022. Developer advocate was my dream role and it was really exciting to get to work in a company where I really understand the products it offers. I’ve been a PayPal user for decades. I was a year and some change into the role when my team was dissolved. That was a bummer but I still have a job at PayPal as a software engineer. I work on the developer documentation sites.
Another big change is after six years, I’m closing my company, PopSchools. The dissolving of my company is bittersweet. In so many ways it’s existence represented hope for a reality that I wanted to see in the world. It was also a burden financially. I paid taxes for six years for a company that made no money. I kept my company through the many years of searching for my first tech job. I wanted to create co-working spaces with a youth homeschooling and after school component. I needed to work and my kids needed a more enriching homeschooling environment.
So much has changed. The kids are in their late teens now and I no longer homeschool them. I’m also working full-time now when I was unemployed for most of the time I worked on the company. I tried to pivot PopSchools a few times. Nothing really caught on. The last attempt to pivot was the podcast I started last year under the company.
The podcast, Our Voices Podcast will live on after PopSchools is fully dissolved. Season one of the podcast is on Spotify now. For the next season, I’ll be publishing new episodes on Substack first. Once I start recording, a new Spotify link will be available. I was lucky enough to talk to eight people from my tech community in the first season. I’m so grateful that they took the time to record with me.
In my personal life, things are challenging right now but I’m still doing better than I ever was in the past. My kids are struggling. I’m struggling with my confidence and mental health. My job feels unfulfilling but I am more than grateful to still be working. My mental health is a challenge that I will probably have to deal with in some way for the rest of my life. I’ve come to terms with it and I retain a sliver of hope that one day things will just be fine and managed. I suppose it’s managed now but I don’t feel fine. I don’t remember the last time I did.
So that’s what’s new with me. Hopefully, I can keep up blogging so that years don’t pass between this and the next post.
