1024 Reasons to Celebrate: Journey and Future of 'Confessions of a Code Addict'

Oct 07, 2023

Hello everyone, I am taking a break from our regular posts to celebrate a phenomenal milestone in our community. We’ve just crossed the significant threshold of 2^10 subscribers for 'Confessions of a Code Addict'! I want to celebrate this achievement, express my gratitude for the growth and praise received so far, and chat about our community's future.

The Metrics and Stats

Although I don’t like talking about numbers too much except when they reach a substantial milestone. And, as we have reached a relatively significant milestone in our journey, it’s good to reflect on some of these stats.

First let’s look at the rate of growth. It’s the same graph as shown above, I pulled the dates on which I published all my posts and overlayed on top (showed as dashed red lines) to show their impact.

Subscriber growth overlayed with article publishing timeline

As you can see, usually there are spikes after a post is published. Certain posts have done better than others.

Next, let’s also look at the the weekly growth in the number of subscribers.

It looks like that the first two months were not quite great, and it’s true because I was trying to identify what topics I should write about. However, as I understood what resonated more with the readers, I doubled down on those ideas and the last 3 months have been incredible.

Nonetheless, let's move on from the stats and dive into our backstory and what lies ahead.

The Background Story and the Journey So Far

In my first post on this Substack I wrote about my motivations for starting this community. With more than 1,000 new people joining since then, it is worth revisiting.

In April, 2023, the start-up I was working at ran out of funding, and had to cut down the work force. Unfortunately, I was part of that. Even though, I could have easily moved on to another job, I wanted to do something different. Something which allowed me to explore my interests, expanded my horizons while also being creatively fulfilling. Inspired by several tech writers killing it on Substack, I decided to give it a try. Learning and exploring a variety of technical topics and talking about them is something which has always brought me a deep sense of joy, so this was ideal.

Although, I have to admit, it has not been easy. Writing on technical topics publicly is demanding, one mistake and and you can be going viral on social media for all the wrong reasons. Most of the topics that I write about are right at the edge of my own knowledge sphere, which means I need to research hard, internalize many new concepts, and read/write tons of code before I can start writing about it. My articles take several days of work before I push them out. But the warmth and engagement of the community continue to fuel my dedication. So for that, I thank you all.

That said, our journey has only just begun, so let's look ahead.

The Future of this Community

I immensely enjoy sharing my thoughts and insights with you through my posts and hope they have brought value to you as well. For me to continue doing this and to sustain myself, I need your support.

Here's how you can help. I'm planning to introduce paid subscriptions for this Substack. I plan to offer following perks to the different tiers of subscribers.

Free Subscribers

Free subscribers, don't you worry! My regular long-form articles will remain open and accessible without a paywall because I believe in freely sharing educational resources.

Monthly Paid Subscribers

By subscribing to a monthly plan, you'll receive additional benefits including:

Access to the Archive: All open and paywalled posts.
Weekly Resources: A weekly email containing a compendium of articles, books, and resources, that compliments what I write about
Chat and Discussion Threads: Interact with me and the community.
Bonus Content: Interesting discoveries from my research, not included in the articles.
Opinionated Articles: My subjective takes on various topics asked by readers.

Note that the frequency of bonus content and opinionated pieces is not guaranteed. My focus remains on giving my 100% on educational content but as and when I find something worth sharing as bonus content or an opinionated piece, I will do that.

Annual Paid Subscribers

An annual subscription brings the perks of a monthly subscription, plus:

Option for one on one mentorship or consultancy sessions.
The ability to suggest or vote for future article topics.

Apart from these, I do want to start additional initiatives, such as virtual hang outs with the community, maybe a discord server, and perhaps a video version of some of my code walk-throughs of open source projects. But all in good time.

Support Confessions of a Code Addict

In over a decade of my experience in the tech industry, my explorations and learnings have spanned an extensive range of topics — from operating systems and systems programming to programming languages, compilers/interpreters, and database internals - not to mention, distributed systems and ML/AI. Yet, feel I've simply nuzzled the tip of the iceberg, and there are countless more topics to cover.

Rather than giving a surface level coverage, I prefer to dive deep into every subject I tackle. I accompany most of my articles with code or cite from real-world implementations. Fundamentally, I believe that learning comes to full fruition only when you see things in their actual context — how they are implemented and operated in real-world scenarios.

As a reader of this Substack, you gain access to an invaluable resource for such deeply technical topics. These insights and deep-dive discussions will have you learning and growing in leaps and bounds. This isn't just about content consumption—it's an opportunity for transformation. Top employers appreciate such an in-depth understanding of technical concepts and your ability to discuss their real-world applications holds immense value in the industry. By supporting 'Confessions of a Code Addict', you are proclaiming your commitment to upskill as an engineer.

With your contribution, we can maintain the rhythm of quality content that resonates with you and 1,000+ readers worldwide. Your financial support encourages me to persevere in creating insightful, valuable content. If you believe in the work we're doing, consider becoming a paid subscriber today.

While I'm still working out the payment setup (which can take few weeks), you can pledge your support now. Rest assured; no charges will be incurred until the paid subscription system is activated.

Expensing the Subscription: If you are working at a tech company or institution, you should be able to expense the subscription cost using the learning & professional development budget of your employer. I will be happy to provide a template for the letter that you can send to your manager for this.

Wrapping Up

Once again, thank you for subscribing and reading ‘Confessions of a Code Addict’, this milestone is hopefully the first of many. Here’s to the next one!