My Building in Public Newsletter April 2021

This is my personal building in public newsletter where I share my highlights, lessons and things I look forward to each month.

My Building in Public Newsletter April 2021

My Building in Public Newsletter April 2021

This is my personal building in public newsletter where I share my highlights, lessons and things I look forward to each month.
March 2021 will always have a special place in my heart. It’s when I started my first job, invited by the Canadian Government to host my first no-code workshop, graduated from the On Deck No Code Fellowship, and bought my first ever Macbook Pro. On the personal front, I colored my hair for the first time, my cat Bubbles gave birth to two munchkins, and Brownie is doing better.
On the other hand, it’s been a slow month in terms of content creation, and I’m determined to work on it in April to bring back my numbers on Twitter and my productivity newsletter.
Here are a few highlights from my month.

✨ Highlights

Starting a New Job

I started my first job this month after applying in public to work at On Deck, where I did my No Code Fellowship. While I was a Fellow, I had a chance to look at the internal functioning of the company and talk to the team that makes the Fellowships possible, and I knew that it wasn’t enough for me to be a cheerleader— I wanted to work with them and help them grow. I’m grateful for the chance.

Bubbles giving birth

My cat Bubbles gave birth to two little kittens at the beginning of this month, and it was very special for me. All my life, I’ve taken care of baby animals who didn’t have their mothers, but I never had a pet who gave birth. I learned so much about how to take care of a new mother, and it was fascinating to see just how instinctively Bubbles became a mom. Snowy was very excited too. It was also heartwarming to see Bubbles trust us all with her babies from Day 1, she even let Snowy come close and sniff them.

Macbook Pro

I’d been using a Macbook Air that was almost a decade old all these months. I loved it to bits but it couldn’t open more than two tabs in Chrome, and wouldn’t open any other windows. I knew I had to start my new job with a new machine, so I invested in a Macbook Pro with an M1 chip. It’s my first ever Macbook purchase, and I’d been waiting for around two years to do this. I also got myself a set of Airpods because of how well they integrate with my Macbook and iPad. It will obviously take a bit to even understand what this new power is capable of given what I was using before this, but I’m glad for a machine that can run with me.

ODNC Graduation

This month, I graduated from my No Code Fellowship at On Deck. It was easily the single most transformative experiences I’ve ever had, educational or otherwise. I have so much gratitude for the company and the community every time I think about it, and so many emotions. All I wanted was a chance to repay them for everything they gave me, and with this new job, I have just that. I launched three no-code projects in my time there, but I also plan to launch a capstone project separately in April.

No-Code Workshop

I hosted my first-ever No-Code workshop this month! I was invited at a hackathon by the Government of Canada and Voltas, a Canadian startup incubator, at the St Mary’s University, Halifax. It was such an honor to be invited and it was so much fun planning it and designing it. It went very well, and by the end of my workshop, the students created their very own functional app. The hackathon was about finding solutions for Human Trafficking, so it was heartening to show them how no-code could be used to design quick and effective solutions to social problems. My workshop was called ‘Changing the World With No-Code’.

Podcasts and Clubhouse

This month also had a few of my firsts at Podcasts and Clubhouse. I was interviewed for my first podcast by Ashish from No-Code Weekly, and it was such a delight talking to him. He’s doing some very valuable work in the community, and it was an honor being his very first guest on his new show. On Clubhouse, I hosted my first ever room, and this was about No-Code and was in Telugu. I talked to KP, Sharath, Madhuri, Bhanu, and Teja from the On Deck No Code community. It was so much fun and was a big hit, had more than 50 listeners! I didn’t foresee that kind of response for such a niche, specific room, but I was pleasantly surprised.

🎓 Lessons

Health

This month has been downright terrible for my health, there’s no better way of saying it. The shift to the PST schedule meant that my immunity is suffering, especially since i struggle to sleep during the day. It is also kind of heartbreakingly lonely to work while everyone’s sleeping, and go to bed when everyone’s finally up. This month has been especially stressful since I had to wrap up a number of my past projects so that I can focus on my job completely going forward. It took a huge toll on me physically and mentally. I’m trying to resume my Yoga practice, and start reading the Gita again, both of those usually help me find my grounding.

Content Creation Hurdles

Working on four separate projects, giving talks and planning workshops, while also starting a new job at a fast-growing company meant that I have had very less time for anything this month, including creating content. This month is an exception, since my schedule was truly insane, even by my standards (which are unreasonably insane always). All my graphs on Twitter are red, my activity at an all-time low, and my newsletter releases suffered. It was a conscious trade-off since I prioritized all my other projects over content creation since wrapping them up is important to focus on my new job. Intentional or not, my content has suffered, and I failed to reach the targets I set for myself. I hope to plan this better going forward and try to schedule my content calendar even more in advance.

Lessons in Bubble UX

This month, my friend Max from 100 Days of No Code invited me to present my app Doggie Diabetes at the Demo Day, and I was elated. Max was the first person from the no-code community I spoke to after my interview with KP, and in our first call in January, I shared with Max my interest in building an app to manage canine diabetes better. It was wholesome, therefore, to build it and present it at the end of my learning. However, something I truly struggled with is the design of the app. I realized I absolutely suck at UX, especially on Bubble, and I need to put a ton of practice before I can get it right. I’m looking at courses such as BuildCamp and I’ll plan to make some time to study seriously.

Letting Go

I learned a few more lessons recently, in relationships that didn’t go the way I wanted. This year has been something of a rude awakening for me in unexpected cruelty from someone I trusted, but that also showed me the unbridled kindness I see in so many people in my life, and I am all the more grateful for them now. And this gratitude also gave me the strength to let go of the hopes I held for some relationships. I realized that my gratitude for the people I have had in my life gives me enough joy to not have to find it elsewhere. In the end, all that matters is how gracefully you let go of things, and I’ve strived to give that to every person who means anything to me,

🚀 Looking Forward

April 2021 promises to be exciting: summer is here in India, Snowy turns 10, my birthday is around the corner, I’m giving more talks, and making new friends at my company.

Speaking at the United Nations

For the big news: I was invited to give a talk at the United Nations! I’ll be speaking at their annual Youth Forum this month, about my work with Law School 101 and democratizing access to legal education and aid. It is such an honor and I still haven’t adequately processed it.

Launching ODNC Project

For my Capstone Project at the No-Code Fellowship, I’m launching something that will be useful for people beginning their journey into no-code. There are still a few things I have to iron out about the launch, but I am excited for my first such product.

CopyAI

There’s a project I worked on with the CopyAI team that we’ll be launching this month. It was a delight to work with them and support them in the exciting work they’re doing in the field of writing and AI.

Shoutout Ambassadors

I’m working with Sharath and Curtis at Shoutout to design their Ambassador Program and work with some amazing people from Twittter. This is our first month, and I’m excited to see how it shapes up.
This has been my update for March 2021. Follow me on Twitter for regular updates about my work with no-code, talks and events I host, and other On Deck updates.
Vensy Krishna

Written by

Vensy Krishna

No-code operator and educator.

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