April, For Me

Pauline taking a break on a run
I started a new hobby ๐Ÿ’œ

Main Highlights

Online

After recording a bunch of podcasts!
After recording a bunch of podcasts!

Career / Learning

  • ๐ŸŽค At work, I had the opportunity to host a stream in our annual Tech conference! I was on a Zoom webinar call, facilitating the stream for 2 days straight. ๐Ÿ˜‚ Although Iโ€™m still a little exhausted by it, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would love the chance to do it all over again. So, if you ever need an MC for an event – hit me up!
  • ๐Ÿ“ฑ At work, I supported my first event โ€œon-callโ€. It was a fun experience!
  • ๐Ÿ“š Iโ€™ve started doing some serious studying for my Kubernetes exam! Iโ€™ve committed to at least 30 minutes or so of reading and practising my YAML engineering ๐Ÿ˜‰
  • ๐Ÿ˜ฌ Itโ€™s been a busy month at work! Iโ€™m excited for some downtime next week.
  • ๐Ÿงก Some news… Coming soon!

Community

  • ๐Ÿ›  After inspiration from a recent podcast recording with Erleene, Yasmin and Rahmat, I launched the โ€œLadies in DevOpsโ€ community! Since its launch day which was only a week or so ago, weโ€™ve already had an uptake of over 400 community members. I didnโ€™t think it would blow up the way it has, but Iโ€™m so grateful to connect with more DevOps-y female engineers. You can find out more and join us here. Thank you to my talented brother, Clark, for designing the logo and overall brand.

Personal

  • ๐Ÿ’œ Because of some mental health reasons, I decided to return to Sheffield this month. Iโ€™m glad that I could be at home with my family again and have the time to focus on taking care of myself properly. Being in a larger space (and garden!), around family and having quicker access to nature has done wonders for my mental health. Iโ€™m grateful!
  • ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธI started running. And itโ€™s great.
  • ๐ŸŽ I enjoyed the Apple event this month and got myself some AirTags. Iโ€™ve been actively stopping myself from buying the new purple iPhone. Update: I bought it. ๐Ÿ˜‚
  • ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐Ÿ’ปTo help me get comfortable, my dad made me my own little space to work remotely from. I now have a nice set-up at my parents house too! The flexibility is fantastic. ๐Ÿ˜Š
Sheffield Office
My lil’ Sheffield office
  • ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿผ Because Iโ€™m home and less stressed with everything going on, Iโ€™ve finally had the chance to get my shit together. Booked appointments and check-ups, organised digital stuff, had time to think and overall feeling pretty good about it all.
  • โ˜€๏ธ The weather has been wonderful. Iโ€™m starting to feel very optimistic!

Things that made me happy

The key thing that has improved my mood this month has had to be doing more stuff for my mental health. So, I took up a new hobby – running. ๐Ÿ˜‚ Now if you all know me, I hate running and most forms of cardio. But exercising outside has given me a sense of freedom that I havenโ€™t felt in a long time because of the pandemic! I have been physically challenging myself to do something different with my exercise which has just been so nice. Maybe itโ€™s the runners high? Who knows! I hope to keep this habit up this year. ๐Ÿ˜Š I ran my first 10k this month which Iโ€™m super stoked about.

Iโ€™m also super thrilled about the Ladies in DevOps turnout. For the first time in a long time, Iโ€™ve not felt so isolated and alone as an Engineer in tech. Itโ€™s been great sharing stories, making new friends and connections and just learning from others! Members have also said the same about the community creating a wonderful, safe space for them too. It just warms my heart. Tech can be isolating especially if youโ€™re a woman, but itโ€™s less so with a community right behind you. ๐Ÿ’œ


April in Photos

Presenting, pre-workout selfies (y'all know how it is) and Sheffield ๐Ÿ’œ
Presenting, pre-workout selfies (y’all know how it is) and Sheffield ๐Ÿ’œ

April Favourites

  • ๐Ÿ“บ Parks & Rec – I was getting The Office vibes initially, but now it’s become it’s own show and I absolutely love it!
  • ๐Ÿ“บ Falcon and The Winter Solider – ONE OF THE BEST, LOVED EVERY EPISODE.
  • ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ I broke my โ€œno activewearโ€ rule ๐Ÿ˜‚ I got myself Lululemon running leggings (mostly because all my other leggings kept slipping when I ran), a running jacket, long-sleeve base layer, a headband, ~things~ holder and some new Bluetooth trainers from Underamour. Who understood the assignment? ME. I DID. ๐Ÿƒ๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ

Quote of the Month

This tweet is spot on.

3 responses to “April, For Me”

  1. Girl I am so happy to hear you’re doing better mentally. People don’t realize how having poor mental health literally affects every single thing you do (or dont do in some cases).
    You’ve always been a source of inspiration for us ladies trying to get into the tech industry. For me, unfortunately it has taken a back steat as I somehow cannot grasp python. At. All. Not. Even. A. Little. Bit.
    I’ve gotten stuck and seem to have zero time lately working a job I completely despise, feeling sorry for myself because I have a degree in something I can’t make money with where I live, and feeling hopeless about trying to learn coding to work my dream job of front end developing, which I continuously feel will never happen if I can’t grasp coding. It’s a crazy cycle how your mental health affects you. I think you made a hell of a wise decision to go home for your health, and hands down gardens always help, lol!
    You do look much happier in your photos too girl. It’s amazing!

    1. Awh, Shanae. Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿป

      Honestly โ€” I didnโ€™t realise how much I struggled until Iโ€™ve actually been home for over a month and feel like Iโ€™m *thriving* now and on my way back to feeling like myself.

      Iโ€™m sorry about the frustrations that youโ€™re feeling on getting into tech and learning. ๐Ÿ˜” I totally relate โ€” there are still some concepts I donโ€™t fully understand the imposter syndrome hits me like โ€œugh, why donโ€™t I know anything.โ€ I really hope that you continue persevering (in a sustainable, healthy way of course ๐Ÿ’œ) It will come!

      Sending you lots of love ๐Ÿซ‚

    2. Also, let me know if I can support at all! ๐Ÿ˜Š๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿผ

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