![\"cover](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/wedding-blog-post-cover-image.jpg\")
On July 8th, I wrote my last post. It was just a letter of recommendation from my last employer. The Germans call it an Arbeitszeugnis or simply Zeugnis, they use the same word for school and university marks. It was drafted by my supervisor Ali, written by the HR, and signed by my mentor and Ali's supervisor, Christiane.... Before that, half of the year I had been doing different things to get a promotion at work to prove my competence to myself. It is important to my soul even now. The craving for it and the fact that I couldn't get it at work was weighing on me. I sought - partly correctly - self-affirmation through my blog. I wrote different things and culminated in a video about the Android app. The posts required different time investment, but the video proved to be the most challenging in terms of time and energy required. I asked myself, why am I doing this? I wanted to be read, I wanted readers, the number of them and the number of likes, to give me a sense of depth, as I called it. But what really matters to my soul is self-affirmation through professional achievement. I looked back at what I was writing and what I didn't like about other bloggers and realized that self-promotion in posts, career advice, and describing my path was not what would soothe my soul. It's superficial, it's easy. I don't want to read or write it anymore. It's interesting, and maybe important, to the early career guys, though I did not do this even early on my journey. Understanding life is born in difficult moments, turning points, when you don't sleep well, when you don't understand yourself, not by running your pupils over other people's lines. And so I want to write here the only advice from me to the reader, don't believe that someone knows how to live your life. What people have written is most likely for their ego or to make money off of you. Only you can and do know what to do in the next moment of your life. Learn to hear and trust your intuition. It will take you years to do this.
\nSo why this essay? It's for my friends who read me, for my edification, maybe for others who are willing to think and read in an age of patchy thoughts and an endless stream of garbage oozing from everywhere. Here's what I want to write about: concentration is possible, but no more than a few hours a day.
\nFor the first time in my life, I was doing something just for myself and no one was paying me for it. I saved enough to give myself time to do what my soul asked me to do. I first solved problems on LeetCode using the NeetCode plan, and when I finished I remembered that I always wanted to solve Algorithms by Sedgewick & Wayne. So I started solving all the problems from the textbook on the topic of graphs. I managed to finish only the chapter on undirected graphs, 99% of the problems in that chapter. My sleep became undisturbed. For the first time, I felt like I was doing exactly what I wanted to do and I was where I should have been. I was doing things differently, not the way I used to. I took a notepad and wrote algorithms on paper without a compiler. I memorized all the algorithms in the chapter and wrote them from scratch every time. I especially liked writing a step-by-step analysis of the algorithm's execution, it required some creativity and often it helped me to get closer to solving problems.
\nHere I want to point out the difference between Sedgwick's algorithms, competitive programming and interview preparation. The authors emphasize creating algorithms from scratch from simple to complex in the readers' heads. Yes, that's important, but they don't teach how to quickly write code and their solution is usually done through classes and layering of abstractions. It is unfortunately not applicable as written in the book. But if you've invested enough time to understand the ideas and build up your hand - you should have no trouble writing the solution through functions instead of classes and avoiding unnecessary abstractions. Competitive programming, in turn, requires quick problem solving. Maybe it is in some way the apogee of problem solving, although as I understood there are about 26 types of problems and all of them are just variations on these themes. Here it is not only important to find a solution, you have to write it in a short time. There is no prompting here. Finally, a technical interview is where the person evaluating you cares about how you think and whether you can write code.
\nI've read various works by Calvin Newport and occasionally re-read Deep Work. 4 hours max - was his verdict on concentrated hours a day for the most coachable person. When working, I could almost never accurately track my focus hours. This time, I just put it off. And I was usually only able to put in 1 hour a day, a couple times I got 3 hours out of it. And I was never able to systematically work on a daily concentrated basis. This observation was sad but also liberating. Here's why. I believed that I could, combining with work, achieve mastery in algorithms, math, German, text analysis. And now having almost all the time (I was dropping off and picking up my son), I was moving extremely slowly by my standards. But I knew that I had an accurate grasp of the material covered and could reconstruct any undirected graph algorithm from memory. This realization, led me to believe that I hadn't concentrated in the past. Work + x != concentration. And even work itself can't require 40 hours a week of concentration, it just isn't there. It's about 5 hours a week. Everything else is shallow work. And it's limited by the human brain not by a person's desire, attitude, not even by knowledge and skills.
\nFaith. Faith in yourself, your strength. Keep it. Don't let yourself or others take it away. Every failure, every mistake will lower your faith in yourself. Do what is important to you, what you are afraid of, what troubles your soul. Surround yourself with people who will help you grow. To push you and love you at the same time, without condescension and indulgences: when it is necessary to go through difficulties together and help, and when it is necessary to give the necessary nudges for growth.
\n", "date_published": "2023-10-15T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/essays/2023-06-24-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/essays/2023-06-24-en/", "title": "My old “New Uzbekistan”", "content_html": "I walked along a wide concrete path. On either side was a garden with young trees. It was evening, about six o'clock. Hundreds of people were walking toward the stage. They were all locals with almost no tourists among them. Not far away there was a river, the Rowing Canal. A couple of seagulls were screaming and flying low. I was glad that people were walking in the green area - so few in my hometown. I was glad that there was foreign music playing on the stage in addition to our local motives. This was Samarkand City, the jewel of New Uzbekistan. After ten scalding days in Tashkent and Samarkand, I felt that there was a place where people could walk around and enjoy themselves. When I saw the stage and thousands of people in front of it, something inside me smiled. Could we do it now, too? Permission was granted.
\nThere were more artisan workshops waiting for me a kilometre away. My aunt told me a lot about them a couple of days before my visit: that food and lodging were paid for them, that only families were invited, that most of them were from Bukhara, that the concept struck her. When I reached - this is a year after the opening of this place - the first thing I saw was the quality of the buildings. How much money does it all cost? About forty structures of large halls, restaurants and small workshops - standing on a piece of land that is surrounded by water. The name of this majestic and realised idea is "Eternal City." When I reached it, at first I thought the passages reminded me of Bukhara. I entered through a portal into the rows where food and spices were sold. But afterwards, in the small square between the workshops and other buildings, I saw pandemonium. There was music playing. And there was dancing in the center. It was three women and two men. The movements were soulful. The crowd could feel their energy. And if the first (of the ones I saw) dance was performed only by this ensemble, the next one was with the audience. I hadn't seen that before. And I had lived in Samarkand for 19 years. Later I asked them how everything was arranged, when the guys from the ensemble were sitting on tapchans near the small square. They turned out to be actors from the Khamid Alimjan Theater. They work from 6 to 22:30 p.m., when everything closes. I also had the pleasure of talking to Timur, the son of an artisan from Bukhara, who told me that the host families live in a hotel nearby. Food and lodging are paid for by the state. The young guy in his 20s clearly wants to do something of his own, new. He was drawing oriental original patterns when I distracted him. Symbolically, the conversation crossed over into his nostalgia for Bukhara. He complained that all his days are spent only on this island and he never saw the city of Samarkand. It was already ten o'clock in the evening when I walked back to the car. A pleasant chill that was maybe a couple or three degrees below my hotel room temperature was all around. The trees were being watered at this time: chestnuts, acacias, oaks... And wide lawns. How much does it cost a day to maintain all this? How much does all that water cost? Where do they get it from? And, most importantly, how long does it last? I've heard a number of about €200 a day. I don't believe it. In Tashkent City, I was told, they introduced an entrance fee - about two euros.
\nIs the park a right or a privilege in a desert country with recent dust storms? I saw two such storms in my 16-day vacation, and though they can’t be compared to one in September '19, I learned that nature gives us a well-deserved neck slaps on the wrist in unexpected places for not agreeing as nations on a world level, for the GDP, not the percentage of greenery or air quality, metric that we are chained to.
\nSomeone blames developers that build everywhere. No doubt, Berlin is forever in scaffolding and cranes. But someone does cut down, already bald, the thicket of Uzbekistan. I wonder what the gardens looked like under Timur in the 15th century. Why did the historian write about melons in many gardens? Is it correct to compare it to Germany, where the forest has a sacred meaning, when we have deadly deserts instead of forests? Well to hell with scale (although maybe it's better to conserve what little there is)! Colleagues say that in Berlin you can't uproot a tree at will without the approval of the state, the authorities, even when it's growing on your property. Okay trees, but how often have you encountered digging up ancient Muslim cemeteries? They used to be located outside the city borders, near the gates. There is an Iranian mahalla in Samarkand on the "povorot" with its own shrine. The locals call it Murod Avliyo. Developers decided to construct an auxiliary building, next to a small mosque, and dug a centuries-old cemetery. The sensitive inhabitants of the mahalla even spoke of a spirit that came at night on the days of the vicious exhumation. Tall, with a beard and several children... But you, like me, should not believe in spirits! But what about the disturbed bones! Is that allowed? Does religion permit it? What about memory? What about respect - if not memory - for the passed away?
\nI came to Uzbekistan for my friend's wedding and my bobo's (grandfather in Uzbek) birthday. On the day of the registration, I came to pick up my friend to get him married. And then I learned for the first time in my life that there can be no light in the Uzbek capital for more than one day. There was often no light in Samarkand in the years when I lived there. We even used to celebrate a couple of New Years by candlelight. That's the regions! And here - "poytahtimiz", i.e. "our capital", in Uzbek. But I was struck by the unanimity of my relatives and friends in explaining what had happened: the line had probably blown out. Later, the power was cut off in the house where I stayed, also for almost a day. And then at our family friends' houses, so they couldn't work from home. I got scared. After all, there is a principle of redundancy, which is when there is not one station and not one cable, but several, so that in case of an accident you can switch to a working branch. Or maybe the principle works, but the system is overloaded? After all, Central Asia is a closed system, where we share limited resources with our neighbours. And the most important resource is water. I remember when I participated in various activities of UNDP, a UN subsidiary organisation, the manager of one of the projects talked about how we do not know how to save water. She gave the example of a man who shaves and opens the screen to the full. The water flows, and he slowly does his thing and a huge amount of this precious resource leaks down the drain, unused. And this man pays next to nothing. After all, he has no motivation to conserve water either. Also this time I myself saw people leaving watermelons in their tubs to cool them down. Living here in Berlin for eight years, and having once paid a €700 water bill, I understand the absurdity of the situation. Here - water surrounds both Berlin and Germany, they have access to the sea and many rivers flow through here, while in Uzbekistan there are few rivers and no sea. In Germany, water is expensive and prices are increasing day by day. But what will happen if you raise the price of water in Uzbekistan...
\nIn the first days I met with guys who read my telegram channel. Almost all of them wanted to go abroad. I told them that not everything is great overseas, that it's difficult, and that it requires certain skills. I told them that in Germany, for example, there is almost no sun for six months. I told them that in the summer the sun is too much and it hardly ever goes down. And in winter, on the contrary, there is almost no sun, it gets bright at ten and it gets dark at three. I told them about a different attitude to life among Germans. Told them that the German people more encourage individualism, the independence of each person, even from the family. That is why children quickly leave families. One acquaintance said about her grandfather - "he is just an old nice man" ... I did not think that this had any effect on their desire to leave. And they weren't the only ones who wanted to leave, these people in their 20s and 22s. My aunt told me how the people who fill out the Green Card lottery paperwork go around universities and buy people's documents, pay money for every passport the university is willing to give them. Then they take those passports, fill out the Green Card for those people, and a little later, when one of them wins, they contact the winners and ask for, well, about $2,000 so they can go to America and get a unique code for the embassy. Many people in Uzbekistan play Green Card. But few people win. One story in particular is shocking. It's not even really a story, it's some kind of crazy trend. In my British newspaper, The Economist, I kept reading about problems at the American-Mexican border because of immigrant refugees. And then they told me that there are organisations that charge a few thousand dollars and help people get into America across that border. They told me how in these very mahallas people sell their last things and give the money in the hope of getting there, to this cherished America.
\nThis time I came to be more with my family and loved ones. I saw all this transformation to the New Uzbekistan. I saw this negligence in the treatment of water and trees. I saw this unscrupulousness on the part of the developers. And this old fierce desire of many to leave at all costs. Or if not to leave themselves, then by all means to send their children abroad. I saw this, and I was, of course, worried about what would happen next. But at the same time for some reason I felt very happy in my homeland in Samarkand. At eight o'clock in the evening it was night, as it should be in the summer. At five in the morning the sun came out. I ate a flatbread chap-chak (a thin, airy flatbread that is only good in the first hours) with kaymak. I snacked on a tasty meal of Samarkand flatbread. Every day I saw my relatives. While here in Berlin I live my little family with my wife and son, in these little 16 days I was able to see my loved ones, all the people who raised me. When I was driving from Samarkand to Tashkent, I saw many stork nests on high-voltage poles. A family was proudly perched in each of them. I involuntarily thought that this is the real symbol of Uzbekistan. A family that clings tightly to one another.
\n", "date_published": "2023-06-24T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-04-15-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-04-15-en/", "title": "Kotlin for Android and YouTube", "content_html": "This week I have been working with Kotlin and Android. I am actively preparing my first YouTube video. It will be a remake of my final year bachelor project. I finished reading the "YouTube Formula" by Derral Eves. Although there is a lot of marketing, the book provides solid recommendations on the beginner steps.
\nKotlin truly feels cool. REPL provides a fantastic feedback loop to try out things, fail and understand why faster. The installation process is easy. Even the package management felt thought through. There is a complexity that authors are bringing, like the focus on the functional way of writing things. Have a look at the following function:
\n
fun apply(number: Int, operation: (Int) -> Int): Int {
return operation(number)
}
var number = 50
number = apply(number) { n -> n*2 }
println(number) // prints 100
As you see, the syntax for the last parameter operation is very special. It is not included in the parenthesis.
\nIt is critical to understand this language as Kotlin is now the recommended language for Android. The change is also interesting in the app development, though - where I made a little progress. The UI can and should be defined within the Kotlin code, not XML. The so-called Jetpack Compose is the new way to do things. I will post more about it next time.
\nYou can check the result yourself here. You can learn it yourself with the Google course Kotlin Bootcamp for Programmers
\n", "date_published": "2023-04-15T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-03-19-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-03-19-en/", "title": "I quit my job", "content_html": "I quit my job. The decision was tough. Now I want to apply for a few Master's programs in Germany. I will sit the IELTS exam on the 15th of April. I will focus on NLP for the next weeks and months. I have been postponing this, and the moment has come. I will prepare my first educational video in the coming week.
\nI decided to start producing video content. One informal about me in Russian in the TikTok/shorts/reels genre. So far, I have done it in the TikTok only. One formal professional dedicated to the area where I want to build expertise - YouTube. This area is NLP / Text Analysis for the Russian language. This niche looks vacant to me. My mentee, Akbar, was surprised by my choice of writing about NLP for the Russian language in English. I see the need for tools and better services for the West to understand this language better.
\nI was off for over 2 weeks, so only a few people visited my blog. No wonder. Consistency is what attracts my community.
\n![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w11-ga-7.png\")
\nHere the number of my community members has just slightly decreased. The surprising twist was when 3 people unsubscribed after I shared the link to TikTok.
\n![\"Telegram](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w11-tg-3.png\")
\nWith LeetCode, the status is demotivating. Not only did I not solve problems, but I also participated in a contest yesterday and solved 0 problems. But such is a life full of ups and downs. This is not the last downturn, and I know I will shine even brighter in this area soon.
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w11-leetcode-6.png\")
\nMental health. How much do we care about it? How much does stress affects us? What stresses us? Do we understand it? I seriously underestimated how much my expectations from people influenced me. I learned that I seek deeper relationships while most people - at least in my circle - prefer superficial / "professional" ones.
\n", "date_published": "2023-03-19T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-02-24-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-02-24-en/", "title": "100%+ in number of subscribers", "content_html": "I started reading The Power of Ritual by Casper ter Kuile.
\nI was expecting it to be more pop.
\nThat person is a bold one.
\nHe went to Harvard Divinity School.
\nThere were at least three ideas so far.
\nFirst, communities are crucial for people to fulfil the deep need that people have.
\nSecond, one can read a text close to them, most probably in a native language, in a way that makes them reconnect with themselves.
\nThis person managed to build a successful podcast to prove the point.
\nHe started to read Harry Potter in a way that helped people find deeper meaning.
\nThey called it sacred reading.
\nI have yet to try it.
\nIt is hard for me to think of a work that can fit the purpose
\nReading was also more of an intimate process for me.
\nThe last idea that I touched on was a sabbath.
\nThe same idea is mentioned by many people.
\nAlthough it has its roots in religion - but what does not - it can be applied to daily life.
\nI tried it a couple of times but failed.
\nI failed to persuade my whole family to follow.
I got +80 subscribers, true.
\nIt was again due to shares.
\nIt is also due to the first real post that I have made - a book review.
\nAs you see, the second spike below was mostly attributed to the multiple shares of my two posts
![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w8-ga-6.png\")
\nAs you see here, most of my readers are from Uzbekistan.
\nYes, I want to bring value to people from my motherland.
![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w8-ga-5.png\")
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w8-leetcode-5.png\")
\nI solved only one problem last contest.
\nSo my rating went down.
\nThat was the contest when I felt close to solving the hard problem.
\nThe second, the medium one, I even needed to figure out how to solve.
\nAnd again, I got a problem with bitwise operations that I failed to solve.
Finally, for more than 70 days, I have been solving problems without a break, and finally, my max steak started to grow.
\nOnly a little important but motivating.
This week I had a chance to walk more during the day.
\nAs the days get longer, the evening walks will again be enjoyed.
\nOne of my friends made a ritual out of it.
\nHe truly followed all the three steps that Casper shows in his book:
\n(attention) he gives his complete attention to the walk
\n(intention) he walks when he decides
\n(repetition) he does it daily
\nAlthough he sometimes does crazy things, I consider him one of the wisest people.
\nIt always feels like he lived more than one life.
As a developer, it is hard to follow the trends, even within your domain.
\nPath-to-production mapping, team cognitive load, thread modelling...
\nBackstage, Delta Lake, AWS Database Migration Service...
\nio-ts, Kotest, NestJS...
Some argue that it is an unavoidable burden for our generation.
\nDr Kleppmann presents an alternative.
\nHis point is simple, charming and hard to believe.
\nVendors provide services and market the best application of them.
\nAWS, Azure, and Google Cloud have great shiny tools, true.
\nBut when not to use the tools is left in the shade.
\nWriting it, having passed Azure Associate exam.
\nMartin focuses on the ideas and principles behind technologies.
\nNot cool marketing names in the mist of hype.
The author possesses vast knowledge.
\nBut he does not stop with sharing them.
\nHe realizes the might that technology brings.
\nHe shows that he cares about the people.
\nThis care wraps the book.
\nDr Kleppmann starts and ends with a warning.
\nI believe he realized the value of his work.
\nIt will allow thousands to cut corners.
\nIt will help them dive into the material deeper and faster.
This book will be used again and again for another reason.
\nThe width of the material makes a reference book.
\nIf you look at the book from this perspective, it shines.
\nDefinitions are plenty.
\nThe explanations are simple because they leave marketing stuff outside.
\nComparisons are surprising, even shocking.
\nIn a streaming system, the joins are stored while the data is constantly changing as it is a stream.
\nThis Martin compares the joins and streams to data and queries.
\nHere joins are stored, and data changes while it is reversed in a database. (p. 465)
\nAnother fascinating facet of the books is exhaustiveness.
\nThe author prepares readers to prove the point that distributed transactions are not flawless.
\nHe analysed supporting concepts.
\nHe first decompiles the blocks, to only build them later by the end of the second part.
\nReplication and partitioning, consistency, linearizability, total order broadcast, atomic commit and two-phase commit...
The work is complex.
\nIt felt like experience in deployment, programming, database management, and a bunch of technologies is a must.
\nThe book also contains almost no code.
\nThat deprives a reader of the ability to gain skills and knowledge by following the steps.
\nOn top of that, the book is simply long, 500+ pages.
There is, however, one thing that I personally missed.
\nThe author praises stream-based data systems.
\nHe proves that they deliver the same value as synchronous systems.
\nThey also add properties that improve the design and development, like unifying reads and writes.
\nThat was perfectly persuasive for me.
\nWhat the author should have mentioned was what it takes to persuade people to follow this approach?
\nOr, more importantly what it takes to build a strong experience in those systems?
\nBut yeah, I am asking too much!
What is important for you in your work?
\nIs it a great product or mission?
\nAre that people whom you work with?
\nIs it the deep sense of self-realization that your skills help you bring to the table?
This week I learned the term algorithmic prison from Dr. Kleppmann in Designing Data-Intensive Applications.
\nAs developers, we have huge power over the lives of people.
\nWe can deny it or not feel it because of our poor skills in some areas.
\nStill, we should not have an illusion about every commit and pull request's effect on the users.
\nIf more decisions are made because of the growing complexity of the systems we build, we should ensure the people are not suffering as an outcome.
\nDoes it mean more work, more design, and more caution?
\nThere is a lot I have already learned in that regard that learned in my current team.
\nGerman culture encourages that way of development.
\nThat may explain why Dr Kleppmann, a German himself, mentioned it.
This week there was a huge jump in blog visitors.
\nThat was thanks to Jahongir.
\nHe shared my latest post on his Telegram channel with 3k+ subscribers.
\nIn Telegram, I got 62 new subscribers.
![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w7-ga-4.png\")
\nThe stats from Telegram surprised me.
\nThey provide much more than I expected:
![\"Telegram](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w7-tg-2.png\")
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w7-leetcode-4.png\")
\nThis week I continued with a sliding window.
\nI lost focus because of work.
\nI wanted to concentrate on one growing in complexity task.
\nSo I ended up just following the daily recommendation by the LeetCode.
\nToday I have a new contest.
\nLet's see how it goes.
What does decrease the stress level for you?
\nDr. Newport in a popular self-help book on attention management Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World mentioned walking in green areas as an effective way to decrease stress.
\nIn a cloudy Berlin, I am more surprised to see empty parks at whatever time of the year or day.
\nStill, this approach works wonders for me.
\nWithin 30 mins to 1 hour, I usually get back to a deeper touch with reality.
\nI move out of my thoughts to my feelings, to reality.
This week I stood before the statue to Carl Linnaeus. Grandiose. Inspiring.
\nI may have read about him in a book on Darwin, or I may have heard it told by my grandfather. Classifying animals and plants was a step forward in understanding how life came about.
\nMy thoughts were on the value of this monument. Does it benefit Professor Linnaeus in any way? Who is the beneficiary if not him? The people? What is the memory of a nation? In what way does the memory of an outstanding person contribute to the nation? For a person who shares an identity with Professor Linnaeus, does it uplift the spirit?
\nThis week I would like to mention a word that the Germans use to describe the ability to improvise on the basis of an understanding of the situation. The word is "Fingerspitzengefühl". I first heard it 5 years ago. It was a tip from my manager on how to behave in a meeting. I would get "the feeling of fingertips" if I tried to translate it word for word. The Duden dictionary translates it as "[s]ensitivity; empathy in dealing with people and things". Somehow this word keeps turning up in my conversations. If people use it, does that mean they tend to use intuition?
\nGoogle Analytics show that there was a spike last week when I published last post but as I am not publishing links in social networks, there is little traffic. The change with the GDPR pop did not change the picture yet.
\n![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w6-ga-3.png\")
\nOn Telegram number of my subscribers did not change.
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w6-leetcode-3.png\")
\nLast week I failed to solve a sliding window problem in the competition. So I decided to concentrate on this type of problem. I have solved one almost every day. What are the key concepts that I am missing? I would say that I am good at using sets and maps. This type of problem requires a mixture of two indices and a set or a map. Here I used the birthday present from the Jahongir - Neetcode account for the first type. The author has done a good job of consistently describing solutions to numerous problems and wrapping them into one product.
\nWhat is the optimal level of stress? What if we are too soft on ourselves? What if we are always in the comfort zone? Who defined a comfort zone? I am even demotivated by the disproportion of how much people use the term "comfort zone" to what I now see on the English Wiki. The Russian version is even shorter, with a reference to the much-loved but outdated Soviet encyclopaedia. When I was in Samarkand, I always felt the aura of competition. Strive, concentrate, perform - that was my mantra at the time. In Tashkent, at Westinster University, I saw some slackers at university who managed to enjoy life and still study well. And finally, in Berlin, I saw people doing the bare minimum and enjoying life to the fullest.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-11T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-02-04-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-02-04-en/", "title": "week five reflections", "content_html": "I have this idea since maybe 2-3 months that even the best experts cannot predict what will happen next in life - it is so unpredictable. The longer one goes into the future, the less certain it is. We can treat it like insecurity, but I fund it charming. So you have your life and you own it and not even the smartest person not even the most sophisticated algorithm not now, not even in 100 years will be able to consider the infinity of variables that are defining our reality...
\nGoogle Analytics does not show any new much of a change.\nI will change the GDPR pop-up to force user to click by hiding the content.
\n![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w5-ga-2.png\")
\nOn Telegram I invited my friends to join the channel.
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w5-tg-1.png\")
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w5-leetcode-2.png\")
\nToday on the new contest I again managed to solve 2 problems out of 4. The results as usual will appear on the site only in the middle of the week.
\nI noticed last week that stretching has an unexpected relaxing effect on my body. My mood was also more confident and calm although some days were more challenging than on the previous week. I did as an experiment the following setup: stretching - random main workout - back workout - stretching. In total it took me 30 minutes. I have been doing workouts in the morning starting from October. That is the first think I do. This helps me to transition from sleepiness to day with mindfulness.
\n", "date_published": "2023-02-04T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-01-28-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-01-28-en/", "title": "week four reflections", "content_html": "Somehow more surprises than I expected.
\nI want to believe that consistency beats talent or luck (most probably nothing beats luck). In that regard, I have been doing small but consistent improvements to my blog. My approach is one commit a day: big or small but one a day. Some months ago I wanted to start blogging but the old library was completely brocken, I could not even build it on the new machine. After some resaerch I decided to go with 11ty. Static site generator written in JavaScript.
\nThis week I learned and implemented Open Graph (OG) images. I used the approach of Juan Fernandes. He uses the Cloudinary service. Their product builds on the fascinating idea that over URL one can define image processing, like cutting, blurring, and putting a logo (that is what Juan is doing). After two days and maybe 30 mins - 1 hour effort I got the following OG image in Telegram:
\n![\"Telegram](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w4-og-image.png\")
\nWhat I liked in the approach is the ease with which the URL API of the Cloudinary can be used. What I did not like is the dependency. I will follow up on that later.
\nOn Facebook, it also looks good, but Twitter still is not happy.\nI used Webpagebot to force OG image update on Telegram.\nI did not dig deeper into the OG and meta tags yet, but the topic seems important for the further development of the blog.
\nI want to start counting impressions on Google Analytics and subscribers on Telegram. So far I want to focus on two means: a personal blog and a Telegram channel. I am thinking about producing other than text forms of content but not now, only in the next months...\nAs you see from the weekly report below, either no one is reading my blog yet or no one accepts the cookies.
\n![\"Google](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w4-ga-1.png\")
\nToday I have created the channel. No one knows about it yet so the number is 1 - me.
\nHere is how my rating and ranking look on LeetCode:
\n![\"My](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/23-w4-leetcode-1.png\")
\nThis week I solved the Fibonacci numbers problem with recursion. That solution is not the most efficient. Moreover, it is the most inefficient among the provided ones. Only reading the answers I realized that the matrix multiplications approach was familiar to me, as I showed in 2016 how RasperryPi with this algorithm beats Core i5 with the recursive solution. I used the Python visualization library for comparison. Thus, problem-solving skills become rusty when not used actively.
\nI am this week trying out three 7-minute long sessions every morning: warm-up exercises for the back and stretching. I like the outcome. I also found that these ones encourage mindfulness more than HIIT.
\nWith meditation practice I am on minimum: only one 21-minute-long before going to sleep.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-28T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-01-21-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2023/2023-01-21-en/", "title": "week three reflections", "content_html": "This week was interesting.
\nThis month marks an important point in the history of the big four or the high-tech companies. The Economist has been pointing out for years that they - Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft - enjoy a special economical environment that allows them to be above the laws of Keynesian economics. Recently, we had a chance to observe the parade of massive layoffs. First Amazon on the 5th of Januray, then Microsoft on the 18th, and finally Google yesterday. The numbers are huge, but I do not know how many of them are developers or tech people. Who lost the source of a steady paycheck? I wonder. I know that low-performers and recruiters usually go first in tough times. But I read about a few cases of complete teams made redundant, like this person who seems to be quite an expert in his field. So as big tech companies start to feel the gravity, what does that mean for all of us?
\nThis week as many before I am reading Designing Data-Intensive Applications (2017) by M. Kleppman. The book is rich. The author has a strong sense of when a reader needs an anthropomorphic analogy and when a good visualization is due. I hope to write a review once I finish it. For now, I can tell that the content is dense, it is very technical although there is a little number of code snippets. By no means is it an easy read, it requires focus and grasp of the database concepts or a huge interest in the field.
\nFor a while, I wanted to share how I build my day. Two apps - Seven and HeadSpace - are part of my daily rituals. The first helps me to get closer to the body in which I live and the second is the same for my mind, as the mind is not only consciousness...
\nI am also solving problems on LeetCode daily. Solved an interesting one about the intersection of two linked lists. I used for the first time today WeakSet, as I wanted to use a complex type. My method was using extra space complexity of O(m), while there existed a better solution of O(1). The solution that I did not I frankly found charming. The idea behind it was to make two pointers align after the first loop/iteration of the two linked lists. Today will be my second tournament. Last time I solved 2 problems out of 4. My goal is to solve the same amount a little faster. By continuing to solve problems daily I want to brush up things I know well, like sorting and also learn areas that I seldom touched, like bit manipulations.
\nI am a problem solver. As I see myself, I want to be able to compete when it comes to programming assignments, like LeetCode problems. It seems to be a skill that should simply be. I was also always motivated by the (architectural) design of bigger components. That is the reason I am reading the "red book with a boar". It is just one in the pipe of critical foliants that I should swallow along with DDD, GoF and others. Finally, recently I realized that I want to master product management. Without good work on the product that answers "why" certain things should be built and what is prioritized, it is hard to imagine an effective solution. I read Inspired (2018) by M. Cagan last month and found more energy in myself as many thoughts that I had and had been pushing were mentioned in the book. In university, there were several things I learned but I never trusted those skills and knowledge of mine, as I was thinking of myself as a "developer".
\nI cleaned up my blog and now it is up and running. I still want to improve the visual design, and SEO. I have been pushing commits daily. There have been a few people that I know want to read what I write and a few people that motivate me to write, like Eric and Jahongir. I hope to reach their professionality in the domain of blogging. The goal is to build a community to which I am bringing value with my content.
\n", "date_published": "2023-01-21T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2022/2022-08-31-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2022/2022-08-31-en/", "title": "Looking back at German B2", "content_html": "Today I write this post as a reminder to myself and maybe to others that difficulties can be overcome. I've been learning the language since 2019, combining it with my work, and today I started speaking and got a confirmation of knowledge at B2 level, which is enough to enter the university and discuss technical topics.
\nIt came with a certain amount of effort. I studied the language from November 2019 to September 2020 two classes a week with a private tutor online. Then I got a B1 level from Telc and started studying on Sundays with a native speaker and it didn't get me quite far. I had a pause for about a year in learning German and I regret it. Last year I started again in the same way. So I continued from September 2021 to July 2022. And on 17th August 2022 I took my B2 from the Goethe Institut.
\nThe results surprised me positively, as I thought it would be somewhere on the borderline of 60/100. In listening I got the best score among other components of 90. Last time I got a lot of points on this part as well. I wonder if that means I know how to listen to people. I got the worst score - 73 - for speaking. Well, I guess I still need more practice. And honestly, I have a fear of not making mistakes and it gets in the way of smooth speech.
\nIn 2020 I only finished A2 and went to take the B1 exam. And it all worked out. This time I knew the step from B1 to B2 was wide. One acquaintance even said it was the longest transition of all the levels. I don't know how true that is, because C2 seems like something cosmic... So, I finished first the B1 textbook and practically the whole B2. I bought a book with the exam materials as similar as possible to the Goethe Prüfung. I did my listening and reading somewhere on the 16-17-18/30 range, which was a little over 60%.
\nI started speaking to people more frequently in July after my classmate, who is fluent in German, reminded me how many other accomplishments I have in my record. Before that, I had some kind of stupor. I still make a lot of mistakes and I hardly understand German jokes, but I accept it for now. I didn't learn English in a day either.
\nMy goal is to be able to make technical presentations and convince people in German. I'm still somewhere in the middle of the road. At the same time, I already have two confirmations under my belt that I can.
\n", "date_published": "2022-08-31T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2021/2021-12-06-de/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2021/2021-12-06-de/", "title": "eine usbekische Hochzeit", "content_html": "
Diese Woche habe ich das Kapitel über die Hochzeit aus dem Buch "Die Usbeken" von Arifchanova et al. (Moskau, 2011) gelesen.
\n![\"book](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/uzbeki-book-cover.jpg\")
Bevor eine Familie gegründet wird, werden fünf Schritte gemacht: Besuch der Ehestifter (sowtschi), Übereinkunft (kelischuv), Verlobung (Foticha), Hochzeit (katta tuj) und Besuch der Braut ihres Elternhauses (tschallar).
\nZuerst besuchen Ehestifter (sowtschi) des Jungen die Familie von der jungen Frau. Beide Familien loben die Tugenden der jungen Frau und des jungen Mannes.
\nDann wird eine Tischdecke (dastarchan) mit Brot, Süßigkeiten und anderen Gerichten drinnen von den Ehestiftern des Bräutigames zur Familie der Brautes gebracht.
\nDie Familie der jungen Frau kann eine Antwort geben, ohne die direkt zu sagen. Wenn die Familie der Braut absagt, wird die Tischdecke wie gebracht zurückgegeben. Wenn die Familie von der jungen Frau zasagt, tauscht die die Süßigkeiten mit den neuen Süßigkeiten in der Tischedecke.
\nWenn die Geschenke von der Familie des jungen Mannes akzeptiert werden, beginnt die zweite Familiengrüngungsphase - die Übereinkunft (kelischuv). Jetzt wird der Brautpreis verhandelt.
\nWenn eine Einigung erzielt wird, beginnt die Verlobung. Auf dieser Etappe treffen sich die beiden Familien und brechen das Brot (non sindirisch). Es muss zwei dünnen runden Brote sein. Das Brechen symbolisiert buchstäblich die Einigung beider Seiten. Nach diesem Tag sind junger Mann und junge Frau ein Brautpaar (kelin va kujov) und in der Nacht wird die Braut von dem Bräutigam besucht.
\nDie nächste Etappe ist das Gebetlesen, das "Nikoch" heißt. Danach findet ein grosses Fest statt. Die Braut sagt die folgenden Wörter zu ihrem Vater: "Danke für das Brot und Salz".
\nAm nächsten Tag macht die Braut im Kreise der neuen Familie die Begrüßung (kelin salom). Die ersten vierzig Tage (tschilla) kocht die Braut kein Gericht.
\nDie fünfte und letzte Etappe ist die Einladung und ein Besuch des Elternhauses der Braut.
\n", "date_published": "2021-12-06T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2021/2021-11-27-de/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2021/2021-11-27-de/", "title": "die Sprache & das Virus", "content_html": "Letztes Jahr habe ich B1 Prüfung von Telc erfolgreich abgelegt. Ich denke, das ist ein gutes Ergebnis, denn ich habe mich anhand der Bücher mit dem Niveau A2 vorbereitet. Ich habe mich ein Jahr lang mit einer Lehrerin auf die Prüfung vorbereitet.
\n![\"B1](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/B1-telc.jpg\")
Ich wohne in Deutschland seit 6 Jahren. Ich bin Softwareentwickler. Mein Ziel ist es, selbständiger Consultant zu werden, um Präsentationen machen und mit verschiedenen Leuten ohne Probleme über technische Sachen kommunizieren zu können. Um der Consultant zu werden, lerne ich jetzt Deutsch. Ich nutze das Arbeitsbuch „Begengungen B1+" von Anne Buscha.
\n![\"B1+](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/B1+Buscha.jpg\")
Meine Lehrerin kommt aus Russland und wir haben Online-Unterrichten zweimal pro Woche. Dieses Jahr habe ich mich entschieden, mir nur ein einziges Ziel zu setzten und es zu erreichen. Jetzt konzentrierte ich mich auf das Niveau B2. Mein Ziel ist die B2 Prüfung erfolgreich abzulegen. Um meine Deutschkenntnisse zu verbessern, habe ich beschlossen, Blogeinträge auf Deutsch zu posten.
\nJetzt weißt du, wer ich bin.\nJetzt lass mich beginnen. Seit zwei Jahren existieren wir mit SARS-CoV-2 / COVID-19. Der umgangssprachliche Name von dem Virus ist Corona. Heute ist fast 68% der Bevölkerung in Deutschland vollständig geimpft. Wie im November letzten Jahres steigen die Infektionsziele. Die Regierung hat Methoden entwickelt, um Corona zu gewinnen. Ich will nur über N-G berichten. Heute weiß ich über drei Varianten:
\nAfter a long break, I developed internal peace and energy started to fontain inside of me. I invested some time into my small npm package. The the package is a library that dereministically generates name and date of birth. It can be handy to those who want to fill data with fake personal data.
\nI "rewrote" the package to make use of TypeScript. I learned how to setup linter. (Though I still do not get why a separate formatter is needed apart from a linter.) I also getup continuous integration and continuous delivery. I used GitHub Actions and spend extra couple of hours because the documentation misses one line. 🤷♀️
\nIn general this is not the first time and I think I enjoy the process and with every setup or iteration it is in general easier because more concepts are familiar and more common issues are expected. Concepts of actions/steps/stages/jobs and triggers are main elements of pipelines. Common issues are version mismatch between the node version and project packages or visibility of environment variables.
\nMy mentor, Stefan Reichel, is a type wizard. He was quite into type system and showed a number of tricks for TypeScript. Here is one example of how optionality can be better typed:
\ntype Maybe<T> = T | undefined;One of Reichel's recommendations was to have a look at "Programming with Types". Riscutia gives in-depth example of the Mars Climate Orbiter that illustrates how deadly could carelessness to types be. He shows how unique symbol can overcome TypeScript structural subtyping. I found this charming.
I plan to invest a bit more time to complete the challenging exercises and see how can the author's examples live in different cases. My experiments can be found here. I particularly like iterators and want to learn more about this nice language construct/pattern.
Had a guest last night some years younger than me.
\nHe is keen on networking, puts it as a cornerstone of success.
\nHe also believes that talent is a thing that outstanding abilities come by default to only selected ones.
\nHe is a so-far-successful youngster doing his masters in economics and finance, scholarship winner.
I do not like the idea of being predisposed with anything.
\nI want to believe that hard work that transfers into a smart work brings outstanding results.
\nIt was Dr. Ericsson in his popular work "Peak" who shed some light on these concepts.
\nIt was Dr. Dweck in her popular work "Mindset: The new psychology of success" who stressed that attitude brings tremendous progress.
\nIt was Dr. Newport in his numerous works who sparkled fire in souls with the idea of working effectively towards one's goals.
\nIt was Dr. Seelig who showed that by applying creativity you can morph your personality and grow.
\nIt was her colleague, Dr. Roth in my favorite "Achievement Habit" that did not leave place for talent.
Played around with deterministic anonymization to comply with GDPR.\nDug into geo json with the goal of creating visalization of Uzbekistan map.\nInvested Saturday evening and made it work.\nIt was a requirement to learn d3 basics on the way.
\n![\"Uzbekistan](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/2018-11-04-uzb-vis.png\")
\n\nUzbekistan Map Visualization
\n
It is still raw to be included to UzAnalytics\nI made heatmap based on real data though.
\n![\"Publising](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/2018-11-04-publ-heatmap.png\")
\n\nPublising Time Heatmap
\n
What I did not do yet is to verify Telegram API dates with real time of the blogger.\nThe visualization already makes sense.\nFriday evening is the slot most posts were written at.
\nSelf-monitoring has been a challenge for me.\nWhat keeps me motivated is the monthly.
\n![\"Monthly](\"https://www.normuradov.com/img/september.png\")
\n\nMonthly Visualization Sheet (A4)
\n
Seems to be working.\nI already see at which day I did what with a glance.\nI track exercises.\nI track sleep.\nNext step is to create visualizations based on the data.\nAlso want to track weight.
\nRan for 15 mins twice this week.\nStill, monitoring how that affects my brain work.
\nThe book suggested by a colleague.\nThe authors focus on the idea that you can be exceptionally good at work, but work is not the only part of our life.\nThe focus is on Harvard Business School graduates, at least at the beginning of chapters.
\nI just struck me this week.
\nThat is the phrase that my colleague used to say: "one is not born to work".
\nAfter a vacation and a week after it, I realized that memories are vivid in memory.
\nSo travelling and non-routine experiences make our life richer.
\nMr Strelecky stresses that many people have on their bucket list the point to travel the world.
\nHe brings similar point to the title of the book.
\nOn safari people have a list of 5 animals that people expect to see.
\nThey measure the success of the safari if they manage to observe them.
\nThe five for life then, is just a bucket list of key things you want to achieve that drive your throughout your life.
\nSays that the best mathematicians work for National Security Agency.
\nThe Economist in the article of quantim computers and cryptography also point to that.
\nThat is fascinating, at least for me.
\n", "date_published": "2018-11-04T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2018/2018-07-22-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2018/2018-07-22-en/", "title": "Week 29, 2018: quotes and thoughts", "content_html": "Luring opportunity of doing masters while working is what I have been thinking for a while. Not for the first time I read:
\n"The wage premiums for a master's degree and a professional degree over a bachelor's are 19% and 57 respectively." (Business, 2018)
\nThe Economist argues that the market is growing and service that is provided is not student-oriented enough.
\nThe article mentions the following personalities:
\nI learned that Noodle Partners pairs with universities to bootstrap them in the real of online education.
\nIn my favorite column on disruptive ideas that I always try to read, the Economist discussed how companies might change to think of time/future effectively. The newspaper brings up the following key phrases: "lionise the "long term"" and "follow big, futuristic "mega-trends"".
\n"...firms need people who are adaptable but self-confident enough not to be swung too much by fashion, as well as balance-sheets that are strong enough to absorb the mistakes." (Schumpeter, 2018)
\nThe article made me think of the price of error and the place of error in business model pivoting/development (Blank and Dorf, 2012, p433). Only business that generates money can give some room for learning, experimenting. It also means that until a sound business models is in place, nothing can be a priority, nothing can be in question for experimentation. The other thing that I thought of is there are trends that every developer falls into from time to time. The buzz around artificial intelligence and blockchain exists. It is painful to implement cutting edge technologies, though you are part of a "big trend" and it takes courage not to follow the fashion.
\nBlank, S. and Dorf, B. (2012). The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company. California: K&S Ranch, Inc.
\nBusiness, (2018). Learning difficulties: A third of America's graduate degrees are now taken online. But the bulk of the spols go not to famous universities but to obscure firms. The Economist, 428 (9101), 51.
\nSchumpeter, (2018). Schumpeter: A minute of your day. The Economist, 428 (9101), 52.
\n", "date_published": "2018-07-22T00:00:00Z" },{ "id": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2018/2018-07-07-en/", "url": "https://www.normuradov.com/posts/2018/2018-07-07-en/", "title": "My first post", "content_html": "Short post.
\nYegor inspired me. Reading the last book by Dorie Clark was the last drop.
\nIt was in two attempts: Web App in Azure and now on Azure Storage Static Web Site feature.
\nIn the first setup the Jekyll and Google Analytics about a month ago.
\nI setup GDRP popup message to inform the readers.
\nIt is my 5-6 blog. All previous attempts failed. It does not demotivated, though, when I look back at it. This time I want to deliver value to people through content and build a large community of people that benefit from the content.
\nI am making many mistakes but I am honest and quite open.
\nThe next small step is add newsletter sign-up mechanism and write the next post.
\n", "date_published": "2018-07-07T00:00:00Z" } ] }