September, For Me

Enjoying the final days of summer in September.

Matt and I enjoying the last day of summer
Matt and I enjoying the last day of summer

Highlights

Career

  • πŸ’» I rotated into my new team – Platform Engineering – as part of my graduate scheme this month!
  • ☁️ And I’m learning loads about Cloud Computing, Kubernetes, Docker, AWS, Linux/Uniux commands and more.
  • 🌱 Recieved some great feedback from my old team and new team!
  • ✨ I had the opportunity to be part of an exciting work project.

Life

  • πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§ I spent a weekend in Newcastle with my family, and visited the Angel of the North.
  • β˜€οΈ Matt and I spent some time away from the city centre to explore a bit more of Leeds for the last day of summer.
  • 🌱 My family visited me in Leeds and brought me some of their plants.
  • πŸ“š I’ve been heads-down reading some fantastic books!
  • πŸ“Ί I spent most of the month chilling out! I got hooked to The Good Place and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix.
  • πŸ’ͺ🏼 Business-as-usual: still working with my PT to continue my healthy lifestyle and gainz

Community

  • ⚑️ I attended the Empowering Women With Tech meet-up, after taking a bit of a break from meet-ups in general. I left inspired by the community, and the wonderful speakers that spoke that evening!

Online

  • πŸŽ™ I was keen to run with a new Instagram-Story-like portfolio, but after thinking it through and planning it out a little bit, I realised that my current portfolio site is probably the best for purpose. I updated it recently – including the addition of a speaking page.
  • ✏️ I finally published two travel posts this month, including our venture to the seaside and Norway.
  • πŸ‡³πŸ‡΄ I created a short video of our time in Norway!

3 things that made me happy

1️⃣ Starting my 3rd rotation

I’m onto my third (out of four) rotation as part of my graduate scheme with BT. I can’t believe how quickly time has flown since last September! My first year of working full-time post university has certainly been the quickest year of my life so far. πŸ™ˆ I’ve done a lot of reflection of the scheme this month, most of which you can find here.

As I wrote in my 12 months in blog post that although I finally got used to my second team and am going to miss them, I’m super excited for this next challenge in Platform Engineering!

I have very little DevOps Engineering experience, so this is going to be a challenge compared to my second rotation where I was very much in my comfort zone. However, I’m looking forward to the learning opportunities and skilling up in this area. πŸ™ŒπŸ»

2️⃣ My plants are happy!

…So that means I’m happy too. 😊

It has officially been 3 months since I introduced plants into my life, and although I have overwatered and killed some plants along the way… I’m truly getting better! I’ve learned so much about different types of plants and how to care for them.

My new rubber plant from my parents
My new rubber plant from my parents

It has also been a fun little hobby that has allowed me to take some time away from screens, and more into getting my hands dirty by re-potting plants into new pots. My parents visited my flat recently, and brought me 3 long-term family plants to keep. It has been lovely to have a bit of home back here in Leeds!

3️⃣ Just chilling out

It is a well-known fact that overwhelming myself with things to do is something that I just do. However, I’ve been spending most of this year trying to bring myself back and making more mindful choices.

In this case, I have been choosing to step back and spend my spare time watching Netflix shows especially after what became quite a busy summer.


September in Photos

September in Photos
September in Photos

Favourites

πŸ“š Books

  • I finished The Organized Mind by Daniel Levitin this month! I would rate it a 7/10, because although it was incredibly interesting… I felt like I couldn’t really take much away from what I was reading.
  • I’m also on a reading spree, I finally picked up Sapiens: A brief history of Humankind and I am hooked!
  • Good Reads is my new favourite website.
  • I listened to the Audible Show, “Introduction to Gut Health” which inspired me to take action with improving my own gut health.

🎬 TV & Film

  • I’ve recently been hooked to The Good Place, Explained series and Umbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. 100% recommend all these shows!
  • I watched Hustlers this month and thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought it was insightful and improved general awareness around stripers and that world. Again, 100% recommend.

🌱 Other stuff

  • I invested in a new everyday bag from Away. I even got it customised with PAW on the side! So far I’m loving the quality and how functional it is. 😍 You can check out the range here.
My new Away bag with a thoughtful message
My new Away bag with a thoughtful message

Quote of the month


Next month

  • I have a few London trips scheduled as part of work! Have I finally gotten to grips with work travel? Yep. Achievement unlocked! πŸŽ‰
  • Some more travel adventures with my family! πŸ‡¬πŸ‡§
  • More heads down learning to do πŸ™ŒπŸ»
  • My health and fitness goal is to ensure that I keep hitting my 5 days a week of workouts, eating as healthy and happily as I can, drinking enough water and getting the necessary shut eye. In other words, the usual, but with a bit more effort. πŸ’€
Spotted: caught taking selfies. Photo by David Lindsay.
Spotted: caught taking selfies. Photo by David Lindsay.

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