I’ve been in California for two months now. It’s amazing how quickly that time has passed. I started a new job, moved to a new city, bought new furniture (ended up building it all!), made new friends, and the list seems to go on and on and on.

I only realized how much time had gone by when I called my younger brother, and realized that he was already moved back into his dorm, and getting ready for his sophomore year in college. It’s bizarre to me how I used to have such a rigid schedule – fall semester, spring semester, internship, repeat – for so many years, and in the blink of an eye, it all changes. But I think that’s what makes it that much more exciting. In 2 months, we have released our AIR app, added a public feed system, and really started to lay down a foundation for our future. It helps that we got an additional round of funding, and brought Bain Capital on board. I’ve also learned so much about all the wrong ways that I was doing things. My biggest lesson learned:

It’s always worth doing it the right way first regardless of the marginal costs you will pay to set it up and get things working. Doing it otherwise will always cost more in the long run. Too often the allure of short term optimization leads to long term inefficiency.

I think the next period of time, whether it be a few months or the next year, is going to see me really grow up as a developer, and hopefully as a person as well.

On that front, I’ve really found myself going back to the fundamentals. I’m reading like I did when I was in middle school, and I play soccer in nearly all of the free time that I have. By exercising my mind and body, I’m confident that I will neither burn out nor become one-dimensional. Both are states that I fear I could easily fall into, but so far I think that I’ve taken the steps necessary to come out on the better end of that battle.

And so now I wait to see the future unfold, but don’t worry too much because standing around and watching isn’t something I plan on getting used to.