well, i first thought of posting this on linuxusers.in (go check it out if you haven’t yet, and hop on the fediverse, there are a lot of smart people there too). but i wasn’t sure if it would be appropriate there. i wanted this to live here for posterity. so here it is.
also, i already have a post titled for posterity. if you like this one, you might like that one too.
lately, i’ve been commenting a lot on reddit under posts related to colleges in general or my college. knowingly or unknowingly, i might have given more than a few kids some advice. first-years, second-years. man, i pity them, because out of everyone they could have found, they found me. i tamper with my college’s wikipedia page for fun, so how on earth am i supposed to show any love to my college. wiki once claimed that lju is among the top 5 technical colleges in ahmedabad. you’re reading the blog of the person who removed it (i loved doing it. here’s the diff). i honestly have no idea what to do. i don’t really know at all. all i know are a few things not to do.
what are the things i wish i had in my first year? (these are all free perks to take a chill pill. also, only get them if you genuinely want to tinker with things. and once you get them, use them. don’t just grab them and forget about them.)
first of all, you should get the github education pack. it comes with a ton of free stuff: domains, cloud credits, jetbrains tools, and a lot more. it’s a must-have.
also, please have an about page. i love those. i don’t mean a portfolio, i mean your little corner on the internet. i have a lot of design ideas about them. i like mine to be minimal. make it the way you want to. add things you like. add things you don’t. make it personal. you can use github pages for that. you can also use neocities or any other free hosting service. just have one.
if you’re into web development, get a free netlify account. it offers a lot. you can host static sites for free and even run serverless functions. vercel also offers the same.
if you’re into design, grab the student plan for figma. if i’m not wrong, framer recently started offering a free student plan too.
for note-taking or a personal wiki, students also get a free notion pro plan.
i’d recommend using x/twttr. i’ve made a lot of friends there who are into tech (and really good at it).
i’d also recommend using linux. if you’re on windows, install wsl2. it’s fun and might keep your curiosity alive. i’m writing this in vim on arch btw. i’ve tried pop, debian, mint, and now i’m playing with arch. (and yeah, i’m open to helping anyone with linux errors. just dm me on linuxusers.in, x/twttr, or mail me, whatever. i’m available any time of day or night for anything linux.)
i’m not sure yet, but i might be interning at this cool place. i’m also trying something new (more about it if i don’t change my mind on a few things). i’ll write a separate post about that.