Video version of the post: This post covers: Singleton Pattern vs Global Variable Why people hate Singleton Pattern When to use Singleton Pattern Alternatives to Singleton Pattern Singleton Pattern vs Global Variable They both provide a global point of access for an object or a variable The single pattern guarantees there’s only one instance, whereas Global variables don’t The single pattern also allows lazy instantiation, whereas Global variable don’t Why people hate Singleton Pattern With a quick search on the internet, we can see lots of articles written about why singletons are bad. The first downside of the singleton pattern… Continue reading
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Hammer, Nail, and Overengineering: Become a better engineer with the toolbox mindset.
Video version of the post: There are two approaches to learn and adopt best practices: 1. the hammer mindset and 2. the toolbox mindset. The Hammer mindset goes like this: “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail”. This mindset not only leads to over-engineering, but it also leads to engineers becoming salves of the “best practices”. I certainly made the mistake of over-engineering in the past. The second way of thinking is the toolbox mindset: instead of feeling obligated to make use of all the best practices we come across, we should treat each of… Continue reading
Archives of covid19selfcare.com Issue #1: To Wander/Stray Is Human; That Discomfort You’re Feeling Is Grief Issue #2: The most important thing, people, and time
Surviving my first COVID-19 induced mental breakdown.
It’s a challenging time for all of us. All the fear, uncertainty, and changes brought by COVID-19 are unprecedented. For most of us, this is the first time we ever encountered such unsettling disruption in our lives. My experience is obviously personal. But I still want to share it thinking some might find it relevant. If you are not feeling so well, I hope my story helps you realize that you are not alone and we are all in this together. Building Up Of The Breakdown I wasn’t feeling so well. But I didn’t know that. I thought I was… Continue reading
All the “I”s living inside of me. All different voices inside of my head.
I’m always familiar with the voice inside of my head. It talks all the time. What I didn’t notice was that there were actually different kinds of voices: paranoid, hopeful, over-analyzing, etc. Each voice represents a different me. So there are multiple "I"s living inside of me. Another thing I didn’t notice was that the voices weren’t me, and I didn’t have to listen to them. I pay too much attention to my internal chatters. While in reality, they might mean nothing but noises. When I stop engaging with them, they come and go without disturbance. Another key is I… Continue reading
Letting go of the result.
I like to plan and execute. But above all, I want to ensure things go as planned. Specifically, I want to control how things play out for me in the future. I gather and analyze information, plan, and execute. Nothing wrong with that. But I freak out and get overwhelmed and paralyzed when I realize I don’t have full-control over something that’s important. A friend’s idea give me a way out: he says he doesn’t care about the result. The only thing he cares is doing his part. He would only regret it if he doesn’t give his life his… Continue reading
How are you feeling?
My manager always asked this question during my 1on1 with him: “how are you feeling?” And I always avoided it by answering how my project and the team are going. Then he would ask again: “Okay, but how are YOU feeling?”. Then I would stop and think about how I actually felt, mentally and emotionally. I realized this is a great question to ask people around me, so I could provide the care and support they needed. But it never came across my mind that this was a question that I should ask myself, too. In my last therapy session,… Continue reading
Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.
I used to be all about being productive and getting things done. I liked to quantify things: the number of books I read, the number of blog posts I write, the amount of time it took for me to get promoted, etc. I wanted to squeeze the most out of my time the same way one would squeeze all the juice out of a lemon. Every single drop of juice must be utilized. This mentality served me well, and I appreciate it. But then it became suffocating. There was an “I” pushing myself to do things and feeling anxious for… Continue reading