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This Was A Nice Blast From The Past
I first started writing on Medium in 2019. I was pursuing a career pivot from quantitative finance to data science. I told others I was writing to gain exposure and to demonstrate my knowledge. But the real reason was I needed something that felt like linear progress during a time of professional uncertainty.
Writing was that for me. I could publish an article and watch the views, claps, and followers gradually accumulate. It was a great comfort during a time when I spent my days wondering why this company didn’t even think I was worth a phone screen or why that recruiter ghosted me after sounding so friendly and interested at first.
The Medium of 2019 was a great place. I was just starting to get my feet wet as a data science and finance blogger. I remember staring up at the giants of the day like Will Koehrsen, Susan Li, Shannon Ashley, and Shaunta Grimes and wondering what it would take to be like them.
One up and coming blogger that I admired a lot was Jun Wu. She was prolific, putting out multiple poems and blog posts each week, often writing everyday. She was also honest and upfront about her successes and struggles as both a writer and a person. I patterned my own blogging work ethic after her.