Alex.

Guiding Principles

This is a why page.

Documented below are the guiding principles by which I approach how I work on, and write for alexmbugua.me. These tenets are foundational across my site and are core to who I am as a human.

1. It’s meant to be fun.

   • For me, and for whomever comes here.
   • This is a personal site, If something stops being fun, I’m doing it wrong.
   • The moment it feels like a chore, I step back and ask why.

2. Unapologetic whimsy.

   • I like terminal colors, blinking cursors, ASCII art, and pixel avatars.
   • my aesthetic, my writing style, my art, my topics.

3. Uniquely me.

   • This site is not a template.
   • It reflects what I actually care about, how I actually think, and what I actually find interesting.

4. No creative boxing.

   • I don’t restrict what I write about.
   • Chip music sits next to reverse engineering sits next to personal essays sits next to web development. That’s not a bug. That’s the point.
   • Curiosity doesn’t stay in lanes, and neither does this site.

5. Learning and teaching.

   • I write to understand things better.
   • If something I write helps someone else understand it too, that’s a bonus worth having.
   • The best explanation is the one you had to figure out yourself and then translate for someone else.

6. Beginner’s mindset.

   • I try to approach everything as if I’m still learning. Because I am.
   • Expertise is not the absence of questions, it’s knowing which questions to ask.
   • I’d rather be curious than certain.

7. Living documents.

   • Notes, pages and posts here get updated.
   • I don’t treat published as finished.
   • If I learn something new, I add it. If I was wrong, I correct it.

8. Community building.

   • The guestbook is not decorative.
   • Neither is the hello page.
   • I genuinely want to hear from people who find their way here.
   • Say hi! I’m a friendly enough chap. 😄

9. Canonical presence.

   • This is the authoritative source for anything I’ve written or made.
   • This site is mine, and it will outlast any platform I’m on.