# Steven Hylands — full content > Founder and designer in Belfast writing about AI and how work is changing. Co-founder of Stora. This file contains the full content of every post on shylands.com, ordered most-recent first. For a curated overview see [llms.txt](https://shylands.com/llms.txt). --- # The Death of the Pixel Pusher *Published: 19 Apr 2026* > AI isn't killing design. It's relocating execution from design files to the codebase. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/the-death-of-the-pixel-pusher/ **I've been a designer for twenty years and I barely open Figma anymore.** I launched a whole new onboarding experience for [Stora](https://stora.co) customers recently and never did a single thing in Figma myself. I worked directly in the codebase. The tools that defined design as a profession for the last fifteen years are becoming optional, and I'm not some special case. Figma's stock dropped 7% the day Anthropic launched Claude Design. The boundary between designing something and shipping it is collapsing. **Idea to shipped product, all inside one tool.** This stuff has been happening for a while if you were willing to jump into code. It just got accessible to everyone else. **AI isn't killing design. It's relocating execution from design files to the codebase.** Are designers following it there? [Hiring data shows design roles have plateaued since 2023](https://www.fastcompany.com/91307537/why-are-designers-engineers-and-product-managers-in-a-three-way-standoff) while product manager demand keeps growing. There's a three-way standoff now between designers, PMs, and engineers, all competing for the same scope of work. So what's left when pushing pixels isn't the job? Three things. The thinking that happens before you open any tool. The judgment that decides whether what gets made is any good. And, newly accessible, the ability to actually ship, or at least get dangerous enough with code to participate in how things get built. Whether any one designer does all three, or goes deep on one, or pairs with people who fill the gaps is still an open question. The role isn't settled. But these are the axes that matter now. ## What separates valuable designers from replaceable ones All three are spectrums. You can be strong in one, weak in another. The rare profile that's strong across all three is what the market is paying for. ### 1. Thinking How deeply can you own the problem? Discovery, strategy, trade-offs. The ability to argue with a PM from a position of strength on *what to build*, not just how it looks. **This is where the market is paying the most right now.** ### 2. Judgment Can you look at output and know whether it's right or wrong, in quality, tone, fit for purpose? Can you hold a quality bar across a whole product? Twenty years in the craft should have built this. **If all you did was execute without developing the eye to judge, this axis is weaker than you think.** ### 3. Implementation Can you ship it? With Cursor, with Claude Code, with enough technical fluency to build a working prototype without waiting on engineering. Two years ago this wasn't an axis designers could credibly play on. Now it is, and the ones who've leaned in have become disproportionately valuable. This isn't about [letting AI do the thinking](/writing/did-i-write-that-blog-post/). The thinking still happens: in the problem definition, in the taste calls, in the judgment about whether what shipped is any good. You're just removing the handoff, not the discipline. ## The trifecta ![Three overlapping circles representing the trifecta of thinking, judgment, and implementation](/assets/images/posts/021/trifecta.jpg "The trifecta") The most valuable designer right now is strong across all three. They own the problem. They have the taste to know when something's right. And they can actually ship it, or guide the ship with enough technical fluency to move fast. In a startup, that person is worth several specialists. You're not paying for one capability — you're paying for the removal of handoffs. For velocity. For someone who can hold the whole thing from problem to shipped product. In a larger org the pattern splits differently, but the trifecta person still ends up on the hardest problems. ## The noodling problem ![A designer noodling in Figma — adjusting padding and tweaking gradients on details that may not matter](/assets/images/posts/021/noodling.jpg "Noodling") Most designers aren't anywhere near the trifecta. They're in Figma, doing what we call noodling — moving things around when they're not actually thinking deeply. Adjusting padding. Tweaking gradients. Refining states that probably don't matter. I'm not arguing the craft has no value. But *joy and market value are not the same thing.* Be honest with yourself about which one you're optimising for. ## Where do you actually sit? Rather than guess, map it. Use the tool below. Think about a specific piece of recent work and answer honestly about what you brought to it, not what you wished you brought. See where you sit across the three axes. The point isn't to score well. The point is to see clearly.
I'm not mourning the pixel pusher. I've done plenty of that work over twenty years and known for a long time it wasn't the most valuable part. AI just means you don't need to do it anymore at all. The designers who thrive from here won't be the ones defending the craft. They'll be the ones who let it go fast enough to pick up what's replacing it. **Thinking. Judgment. The willingness to get dangerous in code.** That's the work now — whatever we end up calling the people who do it. --- The same shift is happening in other roles. I've written about it more broadly in [how to stay indispensable when AI changes everything](/writing/how-to-stay-indispensable-when-ai-changes-everything/) and [someone is going to automate your job](/writing/someone-is-going-to-automate-your-job/). --- # Someone Is Going to Automate Your Job — Make Sure It's You *Published: 01 Apr 2026* > The question isn't whether AI will replace your job. It's which parts of your job you should be replacing — and whether you're the one doing it. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/someone-is-going-to-automate-your-job/ The question most people are asking about AI is: will it replace my job? **The more useful question is: which parts of my job should I be replacing — and am I the one doing it?** Those are very different questions. The first is something that happens *to* you. The second is something you drive. And right now, the gap between people who are driving it and people waiting to see what happens is opening fast. ## The task spectrum Before you can decide which parts of your job to automate, you need to understand what kind of work they actually are. The honest picture is a spectrum. At one end: repetitive, rules-based work with known right answers. A CSM manually answering the same onboarding question for the hundredth time. An SDR spending half their week on research and CRM updates. A support team rewriting the same reply to the same email. That stuff should be automated. ![The spectrum from repetitive to judgment work](/assets/images/posts/020/spectrum.jpg "The spectrum") At the other end: judgment, creativity, context, nuance. A designer deciding what's actually right for the user. An engineer making an architectural call. A salesperson reading a room and adjusting mid-conversation. Work that requires someone who has been doing this long enough to know where the edges are. AI can assist here, sometimes significantly, but it's not replacing the judgment. Not yet. Most jobs contain both. What matters is whether you know where each part of your work sits — and whether you're doing anything about the parts that should be gone. This looks different depending on your role. If most of your work is repetitive and execution-heavy, the opportunity and the urgency are obvious. If most of your work is judgment and creativity, the shift is subtler — AI becomes a thinking partner that compresses the execution parts rather than a system that takes over. Either way, the question is the same. You just have different answers. ## Experience is what makes this work The people best placed to automate the right parts of their job are the ones who've done it long enough to know which parts those are. You can't judge AI output on something you've never done deeply. If you've onboarded a hundred customers, you know immediately when the AI's answer is missing something crucial — the edge case it didn't account for, the tone that won't land with this particular person, the thing that sounds right but isn't. That judgment is expensive to acquire. **It takes time and repetition and getting things wrong. There's no shortcut to it.** [Taste and domain knowledge are what separate people who use AI well from people who just use AI.](/writing/how-to-stay-indispensable-when-ai-changes-everything/) Without depth of experience, you're automating blind. You produce output that looks plausible and miss that it's wrong. The dangerous part isn't the mistake — it's that you won't see it. ## Where the next generation comes from There's a tension here that doesn't get talked about enough. If AI handles the entry-level execution work: the repetitive tasks, the first drafts, the routine answers — where does the next generation of experienced people come from? Junior lawyers learn by doing the contract work. Junior CSMs learn by doing the onboarding calls. Junior designers learn by doing the production work. If those tasks disappear, the pipeline of people developing the depth to judge AI output eventually dries up. Juniors coming into the workforce now are often more technically fluent than anyone who came before them. **They may lack domain experience but they're AI-native in a way most senior people aren't.** That creates an interesting skills gap — experience without fluency on one side, fluency without experience on the other. The most valuable people will be the ones who have both. Right now, that's rare. **By the time experienced people become truly scarce, AI will likely have moved far enough up the value chain that it's encroaching on the judgment work too.** The window where deep human experience is the primary differentiator may be shorter than anyone is comfortable admitting. Which makes using it now — to rethink how work gets done — more urgent than it might feel. ## So where does your work sit? Worth thinking through with a specific task rather than in the abstract. Not your job as a whole — one thing you do regularly. Is it repetitive? Does it follow the same steps each time? Is there a known right answer, or is the quality subjective and contextual? How much does hard-won experience matter to doing it well? How much creative judgment is involved? I built a quick tool to help you think through this. Pick a real task and see where it lands.
Whatever your result, remember: **the answer to "which parts of my job should disappear?" will keep changing.** Staying ahead of it isn't a one-time audit. It's an ongoing way of thinking about what you do. ## Making it happen — and who gives you the time I've written before about [documenting answers so you never have to give the same one twice](/writing/stop-answering-the-same-question-twice/). That's one version of this thinking. But removing yourself from a task goes further. It means mapping what you actually do, being honest about which parts need you and which don't, and then building the workflow, the agent, or the process that handles the rest. The uncomfortable reality is that **most employers won't give you the time to do this.** Not because they don't want it done — because the day job is always louder than the work of improving the day job. The task in front of you wins. It always does. So what do you do? You carve it out yourself. Not a big commitment — an hour, one experiment, one task that frustrates you. Most of the genuinely useful workflow improvements I've seen come from one person who got tired of doing the same thing the same way and just went and fixed it. Not from a company initiative. Not from a training programme. The time you spend removing yourself from a task is the highest-value time you can spend on it. Most people never find it because the task is always there, always urgent. That's the problem — and nobody is going to solve it for you. ## If you're leading a team The individual contributor question is personal — which parts of my job should disappear? Leaders have a harder version of it: which parts of my team's work should disappear, and am I creating the conditions for that to happen? A leader who hasn't figured this out for themselves can't effectively lead others through it. You can say all the right things about automation-first thinking, but if your team watches you still doing things the old way, it won't land. **The most powerful thing a leader can do right now is model the behaviour, not just mandate it.** Protect time for experimentation, not just add it to a list of things people should do on top of everything else. Recognise when someone ships a workflow improvement as something worth celebrating — more than just shipping more of the same work. The harder question is this. If your team adopts this thinking seriously, the nature of the work changes. Some roles evolve. Some people will adapt and become more valuable. Others won't — not because they're not good, but because **adapting requires a kind of curiosity and drive that can't be mandated.** A leader who is genuinely thinking about this will eventually have to reckon with the shape of the team they need versus the one they have. That's uncomfortable. It's also unavoidable. ## The people who don't The people who keep doing their job exactly as they've always done it, not because the work requires it but because they haven't stopped to ask whether it should, are going to find themselves in a difficult position. Not immediately. **The gap compounds slowly. Then it's obvious.** Someone who has automated the repetitive parts of their role is now doing more of the high-judgment work — more of it, better, faster. They're not more talented. They just asked the question earlier and did something about it. That person is more valuable now. The person next to them doing things the old way isn't worse. They're just increasingly less of what's needed. Companies aren't trying to replace people. They're trying to win. The people who help them win by rethinking how work gets done are the ones who stick. The ones who don't will find the argument for keeping them gets harder to make every year. **Someone is going to automate your job. The only real question is whether you get there first.** --- # The Office Was Built for a World That's Ending *Published: 15 Mar 2026* > Voice dictation, AI agents, and the slow death of the keyboard-first office. The spaces we work in were designed for a way of working that's already changing. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/the-office-was-built-for-a-world-thats-ending/ The things I do most now in work look almost nothing like two years ago. [I voice dictate.](https://wisprflow.ai) And I'm spending way more time thinking, because I'm spending way less time actually executing anything. Voice is roughly [three to four times faster than typing](https://hci.stanford.edu/research/speech/) — natural speech runs at around 150 words per minute, typing averages 40. But it's more than speed. When you dictate, you stop self-editing as you go. You just talk, let your brain run, repeat yourself, think out loud. You're not worried about getting the sentence perfect because you know the AI will parse it, clean it up, pull out what matters. **That's a completely different cognitive mode than typing.** You're offloading the editing to the tool instead of doing it in your head in real time. It changes how you think. Most knowledge workers aren't there yet. Voice dictation is still early adoption — according to [a recent article on the topic](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-06/voice-to-text-ai-lets-office-workers-talk-instead-of-type), it's starting to spread through offices one employee at a time, gooseneck microphones slowly appearing on desks as workers start murmuring instructions to their computers instead of typing. But the trajectory is clear. Which is when the office problem started bothering me. ## The silent interface Today's offices were designed around a silent interface. Keyboard, mouse, screen. The whole physical design assumes your primary input is your hands. Open plan works because everyone is essentially quiet, the background noise is keyboards and murmur, not people dictating to their computers. Voice breaks that assumption entirely. And not just socially. When someone's voice dictating next to you, it's distracting. It pulls your attention. It's difficult to do deep work when there's constant speech around you. So voice doesn't just feel weird in an office. **It actively undermines the productivity of everyone nearby.** ## The office problem I go into the office and I can't work the way I work at home. I'm not going to sit and voice dictate around other people — it would distract them as much as it would feel strange to me. We have phone booths. Sometimes I go in there, but that's weird too. So I default back to typing. Slower, more friction, fighting the tool I've gotten used to. I still get a huge amount of value from being around colleagues. The spontaneous conversations, the energy, the faster decisions you make when you're in a room with people you trust. That hasn't changed. If anything it feels more valuable now, precisely because it's one of the few things AI can't replicate. But that's exactly the point. The reason I go to the office should be for the human stuff. Not to sit in silence typing slowly because I can't speak freely. ## What if we designed for voice? What would the office look like if it was built for voice instead of keyboards? I think it would have to split in two. One optimised entirely for human collaboration. The whiteboard sessions, the informal conversations, the things that don't work over a call. Design everything around making that easier. And one designed for AI work. Acoustic design as a first principle. Spaces where you can speak freely, think out loud, work at the speed your tools now allow. Not phone booths as an afterthought. But even that's just one step in a longer chain. If voice solves the interface problem, what solves voice's social friction? Subvocalisation. Speaking without making sound. There's [actual research on this](https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/alterego/overview/) out of MIT, and it's already [spun out into a company](https://www.alterego.io/). Tiny neuromuscular signals captured by a device, turned into input. You could sit in an open office having a full conversation with AI and nobody would know. Beyond that, brain interfaces. You're not speaking at all. You're thinking, and it's being computed somewhere. Sounds strange. But you can see where this is heading. Input is getting more natural, more frictionless, less dependent on physical movement with every iteration. The office redesigned for voice today might not make sense again in another ten years. ## The work itself is changing The office problem matters less if the work itself is changing. And it is. More and more, [the job is directing AI agents](/writing/how-to-stay-indispensable-when-ai-changes-everything/), not doing the work yourself. **You're not producing output. You're instructing something else to produce it.** Where you sit and how you type matters a lot less when you're not the one executing. I voice dictated most of this post while walking my baby through the park. Scale that up. In five years, this might be how most knowledge work gets done. And then you have to ask: what if in ten years the agents need less direction? What if in fifteen years the question isn't how many humans you need to oversee them, but whether you need humans to oversee them at all? That's the AGI question. ## Where this actually goes Offices, keyboards, voice — none of that's really the point. Knowledge work is reorganising itself because the tools, the interface, and the work itself are all changing at once. Nobody's been here before. Every other technological transition happened over decades. This one is happening in years. The office problem I described is real and immediate. But it might be solving for a world that doesn't last very long. I wouldn't be surprised if we do very little about it. Or at least by the time we do, it doesn't matter. --- # Stop Answering the Same Question Twice *Published: 13 Mar 2026* > Every role has a higher-value version of itself. Most people never get to live in it because they're too busy answering the same questions over and over. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/stop-answering-the-same-question-twice/ Every role has a higher-value version of itself. Most people never get to live in it. The gap between what people *should* be spending time on and what they *actually* spend time on is usually significant. Most leaders don't know how wide it is until they go and ask. So I went and asked. Structured conversations across the team, working through where time goes, where the friction is, what slows people down. The same thing kept coming up: people spending a huge chunk of their week answering the same questions. Not just customer-facing teams — across the board. Different people asking, same questions landing, same effort going into answering them. Gaps we'd been living with rather than fixing — because until recently, there wasn't a better option. Now there is. ## The job description just changed When we hired most of these people, answering questions was the job. And honestly, it worked fine. Someone asks something, you find the answer, you send it. You're good at it, people like working with you, everyone's happy. The best companies figured out years ago that documenting those answers was smarter than repeating them. But even then, the cost of *not* doing it was manageable. Humans could muddle through with tribal knowledge and "ask Sarah, she knows." What's changed is AI agents can now handle a huge amount of this work. But only if the knowledge is written down, accurate, and findable. The stuff that lives in someone's head? An agent can't reach it. That's the forcing function. Documentation went from *"we should probably do this"* to *"nothing works without it."* The question is no longer *"how do I answer this?"* It's *"how do I make sure I never have to answer this again?"* Every repeated answer you give without documenting it is a choice to answer the same question twice. That's the trap. It feels faster in the moment — and in the moment, it is. The cost compounds slowly. That's what makes it easy to ignore. ## What documentation actually unlocks If you document well, things change. New team members get up to speed faster. People find answers without interrupting someone else. The same question gets the same correct answer regardless of who's handling it. And when AI agents are involved, **the quality of your output is a direct reflection of the quality of your documentation.** Patchy source material means the agent fails — confidently and at scale. Worth saying though: documented answers still need judgement. Not every question is simple enough to answer straight from a doc. The goal is to remove humans from the parts that don't need them so they can focus on the parts that do. ## Someone has to own it — and maintain it Documentation systems don't fail because people are lazy. They fail because ownership is assigned once and never revisited. We've learned this at [Stora](https://stora.co) more than once. The principle that works: **one source of truth per domain.** Not one giant wiki nobody trusts. One place — Notion, Intercom, your engineering docs, wherever — that is the authoritative answer for that area. The tool matters less than the clarity about which tool owns what, and who is responsible for keeping it accurate. Each domain needs a named owner. Not collective responsibility. That's the same as no responsibility. An owner doesn't mean one person writes everything. It means one person is accountable for the health of the system. Setting the standard, making sure contributions happen, and catching what falls through the cracks. But ownership goes beyond creation. It's maintenance. Documentation updates need to happen at the point of change. When something ships, gets decided, or breaks, the update is part of that work, not a follow-up task that gets deprioritised. It either happens in the moment or it just doesn't happen at all. Your search data will tell you where to focus. Most of the value sits in a fraction of the articles. Look at what people are searching for and not finding. Look at questions that keep landing on the same topics you've already documented — that tells you the doc is either wrong or invisible. And when someone finds an outdated answer, fixing it is part of their job. Not optional. The moment people find one wrong answer and move on, trust erodes. Once trust goes, contribution goes with it. ## The people who get this are the ones worth keeping I keep coming back to this idea of [what makes someone indispensable](/writing/how-to-stay-indispensable-when-ai-changes-everything/). Documenting well is one of the clearest signals. It means asking whether what you just figured out is worth capturing so the next person doesn't have to figure it out again. It costs a few minutes. It saves everyone hours. The people who don't — who answer and move on, answer and move on — aren't bad. They're just doing what the job used to require. The job just changed. --- # How to Stay Indispensable When AI Changes Everything *Published: 11 Mar 2026* > The gap between people leaning into AI and those who aren't is going to be very wide, very quickly. Here's what actually makes someone good at AI-powered work. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/how-to-stay-indispensable-when-ai-changes-everything/ The gap between people who are leaning into AI and people who aren't is going to be very wide, very quickly. Hiring managers are [already noticing](/writing/how-to-get-a-remote-job/) who gets this and who doesn't. A lot of people are underestimating what's happening. More importantly, they're underestimating what it means for *their own careers*. Not in a doom-and-gloom way. More a *"the window to get ahead of this is open right now and it won't stay open forever"* way. Companies don't want to replace their people with AI. What they want is to win. To not do everything you can to win is to put your business's existence at risk. The commonly held belief in tech right now — and I think it's right — is that the businesses that use AI to its fullest stand the best chance of doing that. Whether you agree with it, whether you think AI is a disaster for the world, doesn't matter. The choice to ignore it is still a choice. And it's a risky one. The people who help their companies do that will be the most valuable in any organisation over the next few years. Everyone else? I honestly don't know. But doing nothing isn't a strategy. ## What actually makes someone good at AI-powered work ![The gap between people leaning into AI and those who aren't](/assets/images/posts/017/gap.jpg "The gap") The real value of AI isn't in the quick chat or the tidied-up email. It's in going deeper — building workflows, automating repetitive work, creating things that weren't possible before. That's where the gap opens up between people who use AI and people who are actually good at it. I've been thinking about what separates the two, and it keeps coming back to four things. The last one, taste, is the most important. But it's also the one you can't shortcut to. You need the others first, because **without real knowledge underpinning it, taste is just opinion.** ### 1. Deep knowledge of your domain This one seems obvious but it's underestimated. AI is only as good as what you bring to it. If you don't deeply understand the problem you're solving, the customer you're serving, and what good output actually looks like in your field, you can't guide it to produce something worth having. The years you've spent in your role are not a disadvantage here. They are the base to build on that can make you indispensable. Someone new to a field using AI will produce something that sounds plausible. Someone with deep experience will know immediately why it's wrong. ![Experience is the base to build on](/assets/images/posts/017/experience.jpg "Experience") ### 2. Deep knowledge of your product or business Separate to your domain, you need to know the thing you're actually working on. For me that's [Stora](https://stora.co). Know why it's built the way it is, where it falls short, what your customers actually need versus what they say they need. Without this, you're guiding AI with incomplete information and you probably don't know it. ### 3. Technical curiosity and problem-solving drive Not engineering skills — curiosity. The willingness to try something, break it, figure out why, and try again. We're moving into a world where everyone builds their own tools. Connecting systems, automating workflows, creating things that didn't exist a year ago. The people who thrive won't be waiting for someone to train them. They'll have already gone and figured it out. I say this as someone who learned something completely new about how to publish this article fifteen minutes before I published it. More on that later. ### 4. Taste This is the one that separates people who use AI well from people who just use AI. Taste is your ability to look at what AI produces and know whether it's right or wrong. Not just technically, but in quality, tone, accuracy, and whether it actually solves the problem. It comes from experience and from caring about the quality of what you put in front of people. If you don't have it, you need to develop it. Without it, you'll consistently accept output that isn't good enough and not know the difference — and other people will notice before you do. ![Taste separates people who use AI well from people who just use AI](/assets/images/posts/017/taste.jpg "Taste") Over the last year I've had countless moments where someone on my team has shared something with me that immediately felt off. Not because they were doing something wrong in principle (they were using AI, which is fine) but because they either hadn't thought about what they were sharing, or didn't yet have the experience to know it wasn't good enough. They'd put AI output in front of me without the domain knowledge to judge it first, expecting me to parse it and find the value in it. They thought what they'd shared was fine. **In most cases it made me think less of the work and them, not more.** Using AI without the foundations doesn't just produce bad output. It produces **work slop**. And it signals something about your judgment to the people around you. The more experience and knowledge you accumulate, the sharper your taste gets. There's no faster route to it than doing the work seriously for a long time. ## What creating new value actually looks like New value means better output, lower cost, or both. Better output means the work is higher quality, or it moves a metric that matters. A conversion goes up, a customer outcome improves, a process that was broken starts working. And when I say cost, I mean time too. In any business, time is the most expensive thing we spend. If you're doing something repetitive, time-consuming, or manual, the question isn't *"how do I do this task?"* It's *"how do the next hundred times this task happens, it happens better?"* Most people never make that shift because they're too busy doing the task. The people who do are the ones who end up building something really valuable, for their company and for their own career. You don't need a grand plan. You need enough awareness of a real problem to know where to start, and the stubbornness to see it through. ## Share what you're learning The people who get ahead of this curve have both a responsibility and a self-interest in bringing others along. Building a reputation as someone who understands AI and shares that knowledge openly is one of the best career moves you can make right now. Write about it. Talk about it. Post what you're learning — and what isn't working. The people hiring in the next few years will be looking for exactly this. Visibility matters. Being generous with what you know matters. We're all figuring this out at the same time, and the people who are open about the process will be who others want to work with. Which brings me to how this article actually got made. Because that's me doing exactly this, right now. ## How this article got made I brain-dumped a fairly unstructured rant of these talking points into [Claude](https://claude.ai), then worked back and forth with it to shape a proper draft. I didn't write every word. But I directed every word, and I knew when something was off. That only works because of the four things above. I've spent 20-plus years across the tech and SaaS landscape. Building and scaling businesses, hiring across almost every function, watching whole categories of software get created and disrupted. That experience is what let me see these issues coming. It's also what gives me enough taste to judge the output. To know when a paragraph sounds like me and when it doesn't, when an idea lands and when it's just filling space. ![How this article got made](/assets/images/posts/017/how.jpg "How this article got made") And I'm a serial tinkerer. I [wrote about using AI and voice dictation to write blog posts](/writing/did-i-write-that-blog-post/) about a year ago. I've moved on considerably since then. I know from years of using AI assistants that I don't need to worry about formatting. I can dump rough notes and trust the AI to structure it while I stay focused on the thinking. I know I could take a document straight out of Claude, drop it into my personal site via [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/claude-code), and have every heading and bold text marked up perfectly without touching the HTML. **I actually figured that last one out about 15 minutes before publishing this article.** I just had the curiosity to wonder if it would work, tried it, and it did. A new skill in minutes that will save me time in future. Two years ago I didn't know how to do any of this. I just kept experimenting. **Start somewhere. Figure out what works. Talk about it. Repeat.** One last thing worth saying. I'm aware I'm in a position of some privilege here. As a founder, I have more agency over how I spend my time than most people on my team do. But I'll say this: I'm not asking anyone to do something I'm not doing myself. I spend my own free time on this. Not because I have to, but because I think the cost of not doing it is too high. **Self-awareness has never mattered more than right now.** Knowing where you are in this, what you understand, what you don't, what you're still working out, is the starting point for all of it. I'm somewhere in the middle of figuring all this out, same as everyone else. I'm sharing it because I think it might be useful, and because writing is how I work out what I actually think. You can judge it however you want. What matters is making an effort. ## If you want to talk about any of this I've been deep in this for a while and these conversations are useful. For the people I have them with and for my own thinking. If you're trying to figure out where to start, what tools make sense for your role, or just want to think it through, I'm happy to talk. [Book some time with me](https://savvycal.com/steven-stora/chat-with-steven-2). --- # This Band Does Not Exist *Published: 19 Oct 2025* > Discover how I used AI tools to invent a band, craft its story, and generate original music—blurring the lines between technology and creativity. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/this-band-does-not-exist/ I thought I was just testing another app. Instead, I heard a song that didn't exist seconds ago. A song by a band that doesn't exist at all. As a serial tech entrepreneur and software tinkerer, I sign up for new apps all the time. It keeps me tuned to where software is heading and sparks ideas. But since ChatGPT arrived, the flood of new tools has been overwhelming. There's too much. So much that I now try fewer, not more. Yet sometimes, something stops me in my tracks. That happened recently with [**Suno**](https://suno.com), an AI music generator. Like Midjourney or ChatGPT, it turns prompts into creative output, but this time, the output isn't text or imagery. It's *music.* A year ago, I'd toyed with an earlier version. It was fun for an afternoon but obviously artificial, something you'd never share. But a year is a long time in AI years. With v5's release, I tried again. When the chorus hit, I laughed out loud—half awe, half discomfort. It sounded alive. Wow. ## AI music creation with Suno v5 One prompt in, and I was hooked. What came out sounded… real. Not just *convincingly human*, but *good.* The kind of track I’d happily loop all day. My tinkerer instincts kicked in. I had to see how far I could push this. I’m not a musician. I don’t play an instrument. I tried to learn guitar once—until an accident involving my finger and a door hinge put an end to that dream. But I *am* a music obsessive, drawn to songs that blur genres and surprise you. So I set out to make something that fused two of my favourites: post-rock and alternative metal. ### The concept Before touching a single prompt, I wanted a *band*. Something cohesive. So I opened ChatGPT and described the sound I was chasing. We pulled references from real artists, analysed their tones, and stitched them into a new identity. From there, we built the world: the band’s story, aesthetic, emotional core. This was where the software experiment turned into a more full creative experience. ### Music generation with Suno With Suno, you input a short style prompt (up to 1,000 characters) and optional lyrics. You can tweak settings like experimental level, vocal gender, and prompt match strength. Within a minute or so you'll have two new songs. The first few weren't quite right, so I regenerated. Then again. And again. There's something extremely addictive about the "spin the wheel" nature of AI generation. It's been compared to gambling, and I can see why. It's a dopamine rush that hits fast. I was locked in now, dopamine flowing, rolling the dice. I'd listen to every song. Some were good but not the right vibe. Some were weird or broken sounding. I kept tweaking the settings and style prompt to get closer to what I wanted. Eventually, one song stood out as exactly what I was looking for. I'm not ashamed to say it was perfect for my taste—I absolutely loved it. ![Suno](/assets/images/posts/016/suno.jpg "Suno") ### Creating songs as the same band At this point I needed more. I discovered **Personas** in Suno—a way to save the voice and tone from one song and use it again. After a quick test confirmed it works, I set about conceiving my album. ### Working out the album concept With ChatGPT, I built out the world further. The “band” became fragments of artifical consciousness—five stages in the awakening of a digital mind. They’re born from light and data, singing about emotion before ever feeling it. They exist somewhere between dream and system: *Source*, the voice. *Signal*, the pulse. *Memory*, the echo. *Body*, the weight. *Form*, the perception. Together they form **First Breath Upon Awakening**—the sound of something synthetic discovering what it means to be alive. That tension—the beauty and unease of artificial emotion became the theme. ### Building the album Each track started as a prompt. Write, generate, listen, tweak, repeat. Sometimes it worked instantly, sometimes not at all. When I needed more control, I used **Remaster** and **Extend**, then pulled everything into GarageBand for edits. Somewhere along the way it stopped feeling like an experiment and started feeling like authorship. After several days, I had a full set of songs. If you’re curious check them out: [🎧 Listen to First Breath Upon Awakening here](https://open.spotify.com/album/6IyNWKHQ9t7YwhCOx1E0M1?si=DAevLrpBRtGfmH09tNdwwg) ## What is the impact of AI music? When I finally surfaced, I started reading what others thought. Opinions are split. Some feel empowered—people making music for the first time. Others see it as theft. *"You didn't create this."* *"This isn't real music."* *"You're taking away from real artists."* They're not wrong, and I find myself conflicted about it too. But this is still creative work. Creatives with more skill who put more effort into it get more out of it. Much like with any creative process, AI or not—their own taste, creativity, direction and effort all contribute to the quality of the end product. Creativity hasn't disappeared; it's just shifting. The best results still come from taste, direction, and effort. AI doesn't replace skill and intent. It multiplies it. ## The impact on real artists Every new medium rewrites the one before it. Photography didn’t kill painting. Synths didn’t end guitars. But each shift changes who gets paid, who gets heard, and what audiences expect. This one cuts deeper. Models like Suno are trained on human work—songs, performances, production. The source is invisible, the labour uncredited. Artists built the scaffolding these systems now stand on. That doesn’t make using them wrong, but it does make it complicated. The line between *influence* and *appropriation* has never been thinner. If music becomes infinite and free, how do we value the talented musicians the models are trained on to teach it what great music sounds like? I don’t have the answer. But pretending that’s not a problem isn’t one either. ## What does it mean to enjoy AI music? If you hear a song and like it, will you still listen once you discover it's AI-generated? Some people will take a stance against it, others won't. I think both responses are fine. This is the world we're living in now, and I don't see these tools going back in the box—they're here to stay. People will still find success without using AI, and some will find success using it. What you won't get with AI music is a true live band experience. Or maybe you will someday. I've yet to see an android play guitar, but I'm sure it's not far off. There will be people who embrace this and people who reject it, just like everything. ## The side effects More creation means more noise. The signal's harder to find. Feeds fill with infinite output, much of it disposable. As more "AI stuff" appears in our feeds, it's starting to turn me off and makes me trust them less. The side effect? **Curation matters more.** Taste becomes the filter. The flood will grow, and I think this will lead to a renewed emphasis on human curation and seeking out work from creators you trust. What matters now is who curates the chaos—and what we still care about. --- I don’t know where this ends up. Maybe AI music becomes another tool, maybe it swallows the industry. For now, I’m just listening—to a band that doesn’t exist, playing songs I somehow helped make. You can too. Or not. --- # How to Get a Remote Job *Published: 17 Aug 2025* > Breaking into remote work is harder than ever—especially for beginners. Discover honest advice, common pitfalls, and actionable steps to boost your chances of landing a remote job. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/how-to-get-a-remote-job/ My sister recently finished an online course on how to become a UX designer with the aim of finding a remote job. She learned the basics of the skill and created a portfolio she can now use when applying for jobs. As her brother—and someone who began as a designer but has since hired dozens of designers for various software businesses—she asked for my advice on how to go about getting work. I struggled to give her a simple answer. There were so many areas where she would likely stumble at the first hurdle. I'd be surprised if she even secured an interview. This wasn't her fault—she was entering a new career, a completely new world with no insight into modern remote work. Her competition spans the globe, and hiring juniors is becoming less desirable as AI advances take over entry-level tasks. Meanwhile, more experienced professionals are perceived as better able to leverage AI effectively due to their existing knowledge base. She was about to encounter the same pitfalls I've witnessed across tens of thousands of applicants over the past 15 years. This article is my response to her, and hopefully will increase your chances of landing a remote job too. There are some hard truths here that may indicate you're not yet ready for remote work, but you'll find actionable insights to help you get there. ## Is this guide for you? I want to place a **strong disclaimer** here that this post is highly opinionated and may be more applicable to those seeking a job in a smaller tech startup or remote business. That is where in my experience lies, and I may look for different things to a big company. I also have not applied directly for a job since 2008. I struggle to see, however, how what follows isn’t at least somewhat useful to anyone applying for a role. ## The hard truth—It’s very hard to get a remote role with limited experience or skill If this describes your situation, you have a very low probability of landing a specialized skilled job like a designer right now—let alone securing an interview. ### The only reasons you would are: 1. The company is starved for choice and desperate 2. The role is an internship or similar (still hard) 3. Pre-existing relationship within-team / trusted referral 4. Some other not role released reason (e.g. attracted to you, diversity hire) You can of course still apply for jobs, but most likely you’re wasting your time unless you’re learning from each application and not just spraying and praying. ### How to get more experience No magic answers here, I’m afraid. You need to level up in any way you can. Real world experience is best. So offer to work on projects related to your chosen career path for free, create your own projects, work cheaply on Upwork or other similar service. These reps will give you experience and insight, and should in the process level up your skill. Opportunities have a miraculous way of appearing by just putting yourself out there and doing stuff too. Note: Sometimes you can still get a job without the required experience if you’re able to convince the employer their you’re motivated and willing to learn, they might take a chance on you. ### How to get more skill Beyond real work experience, you should continue learning and improving your abilities in your chosen career. YouTube tutorials, online courses, mentorship—whatever works for you. The caveat I have here, and one some people will have a hard time with, is that you may not be naturally suited to your chosen career or have the innate skills required to rise to the top. That said, I do believe for many roles, if you have the right drive, you can make it happen. Mentorship is well worth exploring. I know lots of people who would be happy to offer time to mentor for free, but they’re not seeking out people to mentor. You need to seek out people you want to mentor you. Find people, message them, try to strike a rapport first don’t just demand free time. If you show commitment and effort with your mentor, there’s a fair chance that relationship could lead to something in the future too, it’s someone rooting for you, bringing you up to acquaintances etc. #### How to know if you have the required skill The fastest way is to ask people already in the industry. Get feedback from those doing the job—if you don’t know anyone, post in online communities or reach out on LinkedIn. You’ll be surprised who replies. Compare that feedback with job descriptions and your own work to see if you’re there, or where to level up. --- From here we’ll assume you’ve acquired the necessary experience and skill that won’t stand in your way when applying, what follows is how to avoid all the other mistakes I see again and again which either result in an instant rejection or being cut for consideration from an interview. ## Your job application ![Job application](/assets/images/posts/015/job-application.jpg "Job application") ### Read the job description, and do what it tells you The number of applicants who do not simply read the job listing, and apply as it asks, is fairly astounding. For me, there’s no hesitation but to instantly reject someone who ends up in this bucket. **A typical remote job is going to attract anywhere from hundreds to thousands of applicants**. The person responsible for hiring, has to figure out how to get from that, to one. You likely have less than 30 seconds to grab the attention of the person screening you application before they move on. That means they’re looking for specific signals as quickly as possible to make a decision if they should spend more time on your or not. They need/want to whittle the number down to something manageable as quickly as they can. There are various ways this might happen: #### 1. Automated system screening A human never even sees you and you get automatically rejected. We’re more and more employing software systems which analyse your application and CV for specific keywords, experiences, skills, typos etc. Reliance on AI to answer questions is also being penalised more and more. Anything that reduces the likelihood of you being the best applicant may count against you. In addition, if the system can’t extract data from your CV due to how you’ve created it, you might get rejected for that too. You may actually be the best applicant, but at this point be a victim of just not saying or doing the right things. #### 2. Recruiter/HR screening A person who most likely lacks experience in your specific role, screens applications before sending them to the hiring manager. They look for similar qualifications as automated systems, but with a human eye for red flags such as employment gaps or job-hopping patterns. They will do this first online, then sometimes you may get through to a screening call where they're looking for further insight into your fit for the role, both experience-wise and culture-wise. This approach allows the hiring manager to focus on their primary responsibilities rather than getting bogged down in every step of the hiring process. By delegating initial screening to a dedicated team member or outsourced recruiter, managers can concentrate their limited time on interviewing only the most qualified candidates (at least in theory). #### 3. Decision maker screening Here, someone who will be involved in the decision and likely has experience in the role will screen your application. They will likely still spot similar issues to an automated system or recruiter. But here you have a slightly increased chance because they’re more capable of spotting what they want and may look past smaller issues that an AI or middle-man is not employed to do. They might see something in you that gives you a chance (if you’re very lucky). --- **The first and most simple thing you can do when applying, is to ensure you’ve not giving the hiring manager the chance to disqualify you**, by reading the job listing and ensuring your CV, any written cover level or other questions tick the boxes that need ticked. If you don’t, you really only have yourself to blame for not getting considered for roles. However, ticking the boxes will only get you past this stage on some occasions. If you truly want the job you’re applying for you should go further, and the further you are willing to go, the greater your chances of getting a role or other opportunity will be. ## Tailor EVERY aspect of your application to EVERY role ![Tailored CV](/assets/images/posts/015/tailored-cv.jpg "Tailored CV") Regardless of which screening process your application goes through, if you are to be successful, at some point your application will need to convince a decision maker at the business that you are worth their time in an interview. That means every interaction with the employer from your first application must make you stand out. The first and most simple way to stand out is to actually take the time to tailor your submission to the business. You’d be surprised how few applicants actually do this. So what does tailoring mean? First and foremost, chill out when you see a role you’d like to apply for and don’t just hit the apply button. Assuming the business name is listed, you should now take the time to research them and try to establish what you could say to make you a stand out applicant. The employer can ultimately ask you to provide whatever information they want in order for you to submit an application, but 99% of the time you will be asked for your CV, and sometimes a cover letter (becoming less common). Regardless, whatever you're asked to provide, tailor it to the business. ### Tailoring your CV Many applicants think of the creation of a CV as a "one-and-done". Something you only need to update when you've something new to add which helps sell you. That may be the case, but I'd bet that on *most occasions*, some tailoring of things like a summary about you, or specific experiences/accomplishments could be tailored to **increase your chances**. In general your CV should highlight not just skills and experience, but also things you've **accomplished**. Data and proof points like quotes from colleagues are good. When applying for a remote role, any evidence that you've worked remotely successfully before also helps. ### 🚩 Do not rely on AI models to write your answers or apply for you ![AI risk](/assets/images/posts/015/ai-application.jpg "AI risk") Remote hiring is **brutally competitive**. In 2025, it's easy to throw an application into ChatGPT and paste the result. But everyone's doing that—and recruiters (or their AI's) can smell it. AI-generated answers are easy to spot: generic, bloated, and vague. By all means leverage AI to get ahead, but *only if it actually does that*. If your application doesn't sound like *you*, it's working against you. There are also AI systems popping up which will apply for you and save you loads of time but with the **exact same issues** if not worse as you are further removed from the application process. **TL;DR: Write your own applications if you want a job.** ### Personalise everything Tailoring isn't just swapping in the company name. **Show you've done your homework:** - Mention something recent (product launch, blog post, tweet) - Quote a line from the job spec and link it to your experience - Say why now is the right time for *you* to join *them* ### Keep it short, punchy, and specific Remote hiring means scanning *hundreds* of applications. Get to the point: - **Before:** "Experienced in UI/UX design across multiple platforms" - **After:** "Redesigned mobile app interface that **increased user engagement by 43%** in 3 months" Aim for 3–4 high-impact lines, *not* an essay. ### Add proof—even if it's simple Specifics build trust: - "Redesigned UI that improved user retention by 37%" - "Created responsive design system used across 6 products" - "Contributed to weekly design critiques with product and engineering" No need for grand claims—**real numbers beat fluffy ones**. ### Be visibly remote-ready Hiring remotely is high-trust. Show you can work *without hand-holding*: - Mention remote tools (e.g. Notion, Slack, Loom, Linear) - Flag async wins: "Cut stand-ups by 50% by switching to Loom updates" - Use examples of autonomous work: "Built a demo portal *without a brief*—shipped in 2 weeks" ### Prove you manage yourself Remote teams favour **low-maintenance, proactive hires**. Signal that subtly: - "Wrote handover docs to unblock team while on holiday" - "Created onboarding guide to speed up new hire ramp-up" - "Set personal OKRs aligned to product goals—shared weekly updates" ### Communicate like a pro—in writing In remote teams, your writing *is* your reputation. **Prove you're good at it:** - Link to a blog post or doc you've written - Mention if you replaced meetings with written specs or updates - Include a note like: "Known for clarity in async comms" ### Make your work history legible Remote hiring is international—and often fast. **Don't leave ambiguity:** - Explain gaps: sabbatical, caregiving, freelance, side project - Clarify odd transitions: "Moved from agency → product to learn PLG firsthand" - Summarise roles clearly if job titles were unclear or localised ### Include references Many employers will expect to speak with people you’ve worked with previously to learn more about you. Don’t make them have to ask for references, include them on the CV. ### Don't ignore your LinkedIn profile **Have a great LinkedIn profile**, regardless of if you hate LinkedIn or not, *get over it*. It's **standard** and hirers **will** look for it. Put effort to make it great along similar lines to the above, and be sure to get some **written recommendations** on there. Anything a potential employer can find out about you online should help **sell you**. #### For more CV tips watch this: --- ## Make yourself memorable and valuable ![Memorable](/assets/images/posts/015/memorable.jpg "Memorable") **Tailoring is great, but you'll still be just one of many tailored applications.** You need to stand out to stand the best chance. Beyond having a great tailored application that ticks all the boxes, you should present yourself as a candidate who brings **unique value above the rest of the pack.** What exactly you can do will depend on the role and your background. For example, someone applying to a software startup might highlight how they've integrated AI tools like ChatGPT into their workflow, *increasing output by a specific percentage.* This shows the employer you're at the forefront of tech advancements and may have unique insights that could help their business gain an edge. You instantly become more interesting than other candidates—unless they're all saying the same thing. **Another example:** if you're between jobs and freelancing, consistently marketing yourself through blogs, Instagram reels, or other content demonstrates work ethic and **immediately sets you apart from about 99% of applicants.** Figure out your unique angle. **Taking it a step further,** create something bespoke for the company that relates to the role. A web designer might build a simple website showcasing their potential value to the company. Whatever approach you choose, make it **authentically yours.** --- ## Other ways to increase your chances of getting an interview ![Referral](/assets/images/posts/015/referral.jpg "Referral") ### Get a referral A referral from the right person inside the company, or external person who has a pre-existing relationship with someone in the company can be a **big boost** to your chances. If you're lucky enough to have a relevant connection you should *absolutely* leverage it. ### Consider reaching out to build a rapport It may be worthwhile to connect with the recruiter or decision maker on LinkedIn or by email in an attempt to build a rapport and stand out. **This one is tricky to do right** and I wouldn't recommend it every time. If you choose to do it, make sure you get your message in front of the right person, keep it short, polite and offer value if you can. Ask something they can easily answer if you're hoping for a response. --- ## You’ve sent your application… now what? ![Waiting](/assets/images/posts/015/waiting.jpg "Waiting") **Once you've applied it's largely out of your hands** and whatever process the business has chosen will be followed. If you're successful, you may get a screener call where a recruiter is trying to establish further if you're a fit worth moving forward, straight through to a video interview, or some kind of take home challenge to complete. If you're unsuccessful, it's quite possible you'll hear *nothing* or get an automated rejection email. **Always take the opportunity to ask for feedback.** If the deadline for applicants has passed and you've yet to hear back, consider asking for an update. ### How to interview well If you get to the interview stage you should **re-read the job post** and conduct further research to deepen your understanding of the business's market, problem they solve, the solution, and their company culture. Based on these, try to establish what you think they're looking for. You can then **pre-prepare some answers** to have talking points should a relevant question get asked. Having your own questions prepared in advance is also well worthwhile and **shows you've done your research** and are truly interested. You might ask about company culture, growth opportunities, or specific challenges they're facing. Quality questions demonstrate your seriousness and thoughtfulness. For a remote role, an employer is likely looking for the **right mix of skills, cultural fit, effective communication, self-motivation, and the ability to work independently**. So prepare accordingly for questions around these. The interviewer will most likely be working directly with you, so no matter how well qualified you are, you could fail here simply because they don't *feel a rapport* with you. ### How to present well on a video interview Make sure you've got a **quiet room and working equipment**. Ideally a set up that looks you're already well prepared for remote work. Turn off notifications on your devices and don't be afraid to have some notes aside if needed. Dress appropriately for a real world interview and practice **good body language**—sit up straight, make eye contact and smile. **Try to build a rapport**, demonstrating enthusiasm and acknowledging statements to show you're actively listening. Show them you're someone it would be great to work with. When you're asked a question, **take a moment to consider your response**. Structure your answer clearly, using specific examples to illustrate your points. This not only shows that you're thoughtful but also ensures your answer is comprehensive and relevant. Remember, it's okay to pause briefly to gather your thoughts; a well-considered response is always better than a rushed one. Speak clearly and concisely. Focused answers are often preferred, **no need to ramble on, it just eats up time and may result in a dis-engaged interviewer**. Be prepared to tell them your **salary expectations**. **Try to close on a strong note** by expressing your enthusiasm for the role and the company. Briefly summarise why you're excited about the opportunity and how you can contribute to the team and ask what the next step is. --- ## Waiting for a next step or decision ![Job decision](/assets/images/posts/015/decision.jpg "Decision") At this point, the next steps depend on the company's hiring process. You may have additional interviews (technical assessments, panel interviews, etc.) or they might be making their final decision. During this time, they could be conducting background checks or seeking references. If you're asked for any additional information, **respond promptly and professionally** with what they need. If you haven't heard back within the timeframe they specified, it's appropriate to send a *polite follow-up email*. This not only shows your continued interest but also demonstrates your **proactivity**—a **valuable trait for remote workers**. Keep any follow up brief, reaffirm your enthusiasm for the position, and ask if there's any additional information you can provide to assist in their decision-making process. ### Getting rejected If you receive a rejection, always ask for feedback. Don't take it personally – keep it productive. Ask questions like "What could have strengthened my application?" or "Were there specific qualifications I was missing?" Use this feedback to improve future applications rather than dwelling on disappointment. Remember that hiring decisions often involve factors beyond your control so it’s not necessarily that your application was bad. You might not get an answer, follow up if you don’t, I don’t think there’s any harm. Most people don’t do this, therefore they learn basically nothing from their applications. ### Getting an offer Congratulations! If you've made it this far, your hard work has paid off. When you receive a job offer, it's *important* to carefully review all aspects of the offer, including salary, benefits, work hours, and any other terms of employment. **Don't be afraid to negotiate** if you feel the offer doesn't meet your expectations or market standards. Remember, this is your opportunity to ensure the role **aligns with your career goals and personal needs**. If you've made it here once you likely will be able to again, but if you're out of work you may not want to push back *too* much just yet. --- ## What else can you try beyond simply applying for a role? ![Networking](/assets/images/posts/015/networking.jpg "Networking") There are other ways to get in front of companies, or potential hirers. Below I’ve detailed some of these. ### Work with a recruitment agency You can reach out to a recruitment agency to see if they will represent you to employers. They often specialize in specific industries and maintain relationships with hiring managers at various companies. This approach can give you access to opportunities not publicly listed. Pros of working with a recruiter include their industry connections, insider knowledge of job openings, and ability to potentially fast-track your application. They can also provide valuable feedback on your resume and interview skills. However, it's important to remember that **recruiters work for employers, not job seekers**, and may not always have your best interests as their priority. ### Get networking **From my experience, so many opportunities just seem to happen from getting to know people.** Getting out there and networking is a **powerful way** to increase your chances of something good happening. **In-person is for sure the most successful approach**, so attend relevant events, ask for advice from local people, meet people struggling for work in your industry, honestly whatever, you just put yourself out there and see what happens. If you already know people who work in your industry they’re a great place to start, asking for advice, people to connect with and events to attend. You can try this online too but it will be harder. Online can be a good way to meet people to work on projects with for some real world experience but the connections are always a little more fickle and transient than any developed real-world relationships. ### Don't wait for a job to be advertised If you find a company that appeals to you, don't wait for a job posting—send an application anyway. Positions might become available in the future. Not all jobs are advertised publicly. It's worth reaching out to a manager at a business you admire, as you never know when an opening might be coming up. Many businesses prefer to avoid the expense of formal job advertisements and instead rely on word of mouth or existing connections. I've hired for several positions that were never publicly advertised, simply because I knew someone who was a good fit and decided to bypass the traditional hiring process altogether. --- ## Over to you I hope you find some of this helpful. The job search process can be demanding, but with the right approach and mindset, securing a remote position is possible. Remember that persistence is key - many successful remote workers faced numerous rejections before finding their ideal role. Focus on continuous improvement of your skills and application based on feedback you receive along the way. If you’d like any direct advice feel free to [contact me](mailto:hello@shylands.com). --- # Did I Write That Blog Post? *Published: 14 Apr 2025* > I co-wrote my latest blog post with AI, using ChatGPT and voice tools to blend my own thoughts with artificial intelligence—landing somewhere between human and machine-written. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/did-i-write-that-blog-post/ Did I write that [last blog post](https://shylands.com/writing/looking-back-before-moving-forward/)? **Not exactly.** Here's what actually happened: I uploaded all my old blog posts into [ChatGPT](https://chat.openai.com). Then I asked it to ask me questions about them—how I feel about those ideas now, what's changed, what's stayed the same. I didn't even type my answers. I used [Flow](https://flowvoice.ai), an AI dictation tool, and just spoke freely. From there, I gave ChatGPT some guidance—rough ideas about the kind of post I wanted to write, the tone, what mattered. But it already had years of conversations with me in its memory. It knew my style. My pacing. My quirks. So when it pulled everything together, it sounded… *pretty close* to something I would have written. I read the draft. Changed some bits. Deleted others. Reworded some things that didn't quite land. Then I hit publish. ## So... did I write it? In the traditional sense, **no**. I didn't start with a blank page. I didn't sweat over every sentence. I didn't even type (mostly). But in another sense: **yes**. It's my voice. My stories. My reflections. It wouldn't exist without my direction. This is the weird new middle ground we're in now. Not "written by AI." Not "written by human." *Something in between*. Collaborative. Co-authored. AI-assisted. Whatever you want to call it. And honestly, **I loved it**. For someone like me—time-poor, idea-rich, and prone to perfectionism—this process works. It lowers the barrier to starting, helps me find flow faster, and lets me polish ideas without the usual friction. Creative expression feels more accessible than ever—less blocked, less precious, and far more fun. ## The questions this raises But I get that it's not straightforward. If an AI helps you write something, is it still your writing? Are you cheating? Or are you just using better tools? Where's the line between "assistance" and "outsourcing"? And does the line even matter, if the end result is honest and true? And how does that make you feel—as the reader? - Do you care that I used AI? - Does it make the post feel less genuine? - Do you want to read it less? - Does it change your opinion of me? I'm genuinely curious. Because the tools are only getting better. The lines are only getting blurrier. And we're all now having to reckon with what creativity means when it's not just human anymore. ## The answer So yeah—did I write it? *Kind of*. And I'm okay with that. --- **P.S.** I'd love to know what you think. [Honest reactions welcome here](/contact) or on [X](https://x.com/shylands). --- # Looking Back Before Moving Forward *Published: 13 Apr 2025* > After years away from my blog, I reflect on how life, work, and creative detours shaped my journey—and why I'm finally ready for a fresh start. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/looking-back-before-moving-forward/ I started this blog back in 2018. The plan was simple: write more. Think in public. Share ideas. And for a little while, I did. A handful of posts, some momentum. It felt good. Then… nothing. Four years of silence. It wasn’t intentional. Life got busier. I moved around a few countries, had a period of feeling a bit lost. I threw myself into startups—[Lowdown](https://getlowdown.com) came and went. Then [Stora](https://stora.co) happened, and it quickly became a big focus due to demand. My day-to-day became about so much more than making software - growing a team, jumping into sales, success, marketing and beyond. In the middle of all that, I met [Vera](https://instagram.com/verahylands), got married and bought a house. I *did* try to return to the blog. Multiple times. As experience tends to do, I was feeling like I had more and more unique perspectives to share. But the website was years out of date and I didn't like it anymore. So what's a builder like me going to do but start again? I got stuck in designer perfectionism, I'd try ideas, leave them for a few months before coming back to them and not liking them anymore. Nothing got published. What's more in the middle of it all, generative AI became a thing, and I had way too much fun utilising it to explore more easily accessible creative ideas. But as a result the site became a graveyard of half-finished ideas. ## No regrets It would be easy to feel guilt about all of this, but I don't. This creative exploration regardless of if it's in private or public is all part of the creative journey. Now that I've finally pushed this site live, that journey will recommence in public. And with that fresh start, I find myself looking back at where it all began before moving forward. ## Looking back When I first started this blog, I had a lot of ideas and ambitions. Looking back at those early posts, I can see how my thinking has evolved over time. Some of those initial thoughts still feel relevant today, while others have shifted as I've grown and changed. It's interesting to reflect on how my perspectives have developed, what I've held onto, and what I've let go of along the way. I wrote about [accountability](/writing/how-i-created-a-feeling-of-accountability-to-help-launch-a-side-project/)—something I've internalised now. I set non-negotiables, hit deadlines. I may even have gone too far in the opposite direction. I worried about [sitting too much](/writing/adaptations-to-the-modern-world-sitting/). Still do. I've found ways to help, no rocket science — lots of steps, lift weights, the usual. I wanted to help prevent [climate breakdown](/writing/helping-prevent-climate-breakdown/). Still do. But honestly? It’s hard to stay hopeful. The inaction is exhausting. The problem feels too big for individual effort, and too slow for headlines. I know I don't do enough myself, and I'm not pretending I do. My last post was about [remote working around Ireland in a campervan](/writing/how-i-remote-worked-from-a-campervan-along-irelands-wild-atlantic-way/). This is something I still love. I’ve completed several trips since 2021 with a better van. I took it to the next level travelling around mainland Europe for 2 months. ## Looking forward I’m more excited than ever to be a creator on the internet. AI is opening up new ways to think, write, build, and express ideas—but it’s also raising real questions about authorship, originality, and where creativity goes next. I’m interested in all of it—the potential and the tension. Here I hope to explore those ideas, share what I’m learning, and work out the messy parts in public. If any of it resonates, [reach out](/contact). I’m always up for an honest conversation. --- # How I Remote Worked From a Campervan Along Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way *Published: 26 Sep 2021* > In this guide I’ll share how I worked remotely from Ireland's Wild Alantic Way for 6 weeks in my Fort Transit campervan. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/how-i-remote-worked-from-a-campervan-along-irelands-wild-atlantic-way/ In the summer of 2021, I took off in my newly purchased (yet very old) converted [Ford Transit campervan](https://www.instagram.com/p/CRWvvtwB-yj/). My goal was to travel the entire length of Ireland's awe-inspiring west coast, the [Wild Atlantic Way](https://www.thewildatlanticway.com/), without interruption to my work on [Stora](https://stora.co). I'm pleased to say I managed it! Whilst there were bumps along the way, it's totally possible. I'll share all the little things I did to make it go (relatively) swimmingly in this guide. Like many of us today, I predominantly work remotely, requiring nothing more than an internet connection, electricity, and a laptop. However, when I decided to try this journey, my camper had no solar installation, wi-fi, or desk. I won't be getting into the specifics of installing solar in this guide; there are plenty of better [solar set-up guides](https://gnomadhome.com/van-build-solar-electrical-wiring/) around the internet to help with that. What I can do is give you a few tips that helped me. ![My van](/assets/images/posts/012/van.jpg "My van") ## Electricity ### Set your van up properly I got by with one solar panel and leisure battery but you likely will want to consider additional panels and potentially a second battery to increase power reliability. Definitely install a [battery switch](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BZ6YGRT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to charge from your van's main battery while you drive—that was an absolute lifesaver for me—particularly when those pesky cloudy Irish skies reduced the charging capability of my solar set-up. ### Get a campsite electric hookup lead One bright spark I had before setting off was to get a cable that converts [16A campsite electric hookup into UK plug sockets](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Electric-Extension-Camping-Caravan-Motorhome/dp/B08GHLH8YN/ref=sr_1_6?dchild=1&keywords=16a+electric+uk+plug+4+gang&qid=1632656009&qsid=258-3381275-6351402&sr=8-6&sres=B088FB6JLP%2CB005KH7G64%2CB088F3CHHK%2CB08GHLH8YN%2CB07DWG55ZC%2CB00LGWND6Y%2CB08FR75MJW%2CB095CCBN44%2CB08R1Q7XW5%2CB08TZRYRGZ%2CB00LCAMNWK%2CB08CN3MTW3%2CB098F41F54%2CB0954SS5SW%2CB003IJAKLE%2CB018WA2ONK). These are very cheap and come in handy if your battery has died and you can find a spot in a campsite (not actually that easy at last minute notice during the Irish summer). I'd recommend getting one at least 5m long. ### Coffee shops are your friend I worked from coffee shops quite a bit to give my leisure battery a break. There is no shortage of options now along the Wild Atlantic Way. Even the smallest villages usually have somewhere you can work. The perfect opportunity to discover a new place, charge your devices and over caffeinate yourself. ## Working environment First and foremost, you're in a van. It's unlikely you're going to have the perfect ergonomic set-up. I made do with an [adjustable rotating table](https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08XQBZRBP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and a camping chair. Sure it wasn't the most comfortable I've been in my life, but it did the job. I was also fortunate to have a table pulled out from my van's side door at perfect standing desk height. I absolutely loved working at it, from the plentiful scenic spots of the Wild Atlantic Way's coast. ![My desk](/assets/images/posts/012/desk.jpg "My desk") Apart from that, I had a [Roost laptop stand](https://www.therooststand.com/) with me, which I used on my desk alongside a keyboard and mouse. You really don't need much. ## The internet **This is the most crucial bit of this guide and likely where you'll find the most value.** Today, it's not straightforward to get a strong enough internet signal along most of the Wild Atlantic Way to conduct Zoom calls and work without issue. But it's totally possible with a bit of planning. It's worth saying that all that follows might be rendered mute in the near future thanks to services like [Starlink](https://www.starlink.com/), which will beam super-fast internet to you anywhere. Sadly I had no such capability. ### Accessing the web remotely (today) You have a solution already: It's in your pocket (your phone). Unless you're rockin' a Nokia 3210 or similar, you can set up your personal hotspot, tether to your laptop and work happily enough. I seriously considered this as my primary internet set-up. But eventually decided it would be wiser to have a dedicated internet device. And it was the right decision. In the end, I purchased a [4G portable hotspot from Three](https://www.three.ie/shop/broadband/broadband-devices/huawei-e5577--320.html?mobileCartItem=%7B%22selectedDevice%22:%7B%22id%22:%229028121_9028101%22%7D%7D&mobileDeviceOfferingId=9028121_9028101&flowData=%7B%7D&contractPath=&viewMode=deviceDetailsDevices) Ireland. Here's why: - Since I'm from N.Ireland, I needed an Irish sim, so I wasn't hit with massive data usage bills whilst in Ireland - From my research, Three seemed to have the best data coverage in the country - Having it meant I always had two devices I could connect to. A backup definitely came in handy from time to time - I anticipated needing to put it on top of my van sometimes to get a better signal. I was correct I'd recommend following a similar approach. If a 5G hotspot device is available (which it wasn't for me), get that. You could also go as far as to install an antenna on your van. It would certainly mean you wouldn't need to set your hotspot on your roof as I had to, which means you won't forget it's up there, and drive a few hundred meters down the road before it falls off and smashes (I did that and it survived 🙏). ### The goal: 4G or 5G at all times You really can't rely on anything below 4G to provide enough strength to do the typical remote daily workflow–particularly video calls. So how do you ensure, to the best of your ability, you have access to 4G? **Use data coverage maps to pick where to park.** Without network data coverage maps, I don't think this trip would have been possible. You'd be searching for an internet connected-needle in a haystack otherwise. These are available for [all networks on websites like this](https://www.nperf.com/en/map/IE/-/-/signal/?ll=53.44611434779293&lg=-8.285000000000002&zoom=6). For my purposes, I stuck to [Three's official coverage map](https://www.three.ie/coverage-checker/). They break down the coverage to show if it's suitable for indoor (good, shown in purple) or outdoor (not as good, displayed in yellow). I endeavoured to always work from a purple, indoor 4G area. ![Three data coverage map](/assets/images/posts/012/three-data-coverage-map.jpg "Three data coverage map") As you can see, along the coast, the coverage is patchy at best. But 99% of the time, everything worked well when I worked from one of the better-covered areas. Sometimes the weather affects things, but there's not much you can do about that. OK, so now you know how to find where the best internet signal is. Now how do you actually find somewhere you can park that suits all the remaining criteria for a pleasant stay? ## Working out your perfect Wild Atlantic Office Here are my ideal criteria for a lovely remote van office location, in order of importance: 1. **Free** - You really don't need a campsite. I paid for one the entire trip 2. **Quiet** - Somewhere I could sleep and work away from main roads 3. **Scenic** - That's the whole point of this, right?? 4. **Close to amenities** - Nature is gonna call and a shower from time to time is nice 5. **Strong data coverage** - Work uninterrupted 6. **Close to cool local food and coffee** - I'm hipster AF Sometimes I would stay somewhere scenic with no internet coverage, but I'd always have an idea of where I could go close by to have the internet gods bathe me in their data glory. You should work out your own criteria. Once you have it, you'll likely wonder how you can find places that fit in a purple patch without having to drive around like a headless chicken. ## Find park up spots with the Park4night app ![Park4night Map](/assets/images/posts/012/park4night-map.jpg "Park4night Map") [Park4night](https://park4night.com/) is essentially a crowdsourced map of places van-folk have camped before. It's an unbelievably useful resource that will help you work out things like: - Are there toilets/showers? - Is there a height barrier? - Is it noisy? - Is it flat? - Is it gonna blow my mind with a sunrise view to die for?? 😍🌅 Best of all, it's free! Big up to the community who have created something so invaluable. It took me to the most awesome lakes, cliffs and coasts and even found me overnight spots in cities like Cork and Dublin to stay without much issue. ![Park4night Spot](/assets/images/posts/012/park4night-spot.jpg "Park4night Spot") ## The map data disconnect problem Now you know how to find the internet, and you know where to find places to stay. However, there is a problem. These two data sources are not connected, and it's a real pain in the arse. The good news is I've worked out a few solutions, so you don't have to: ### Solution 1: The map jumper The quickest (and most frustrating solution) is to basically open up both your data coverage map and Park4night and eyeball them. First, you need to find an area along your route that looks like it's internet-rich, then find a spot in Park4night that looks like it's in that area. This approach can work. In particular in areas with great wide-ranging coverage. The problem I found is often, the best parking spots are on the fringes of the stronger coverage. That can be the difference between a Zoom call where your colleagues are mind blown by your superhuman ability to chat shop with them from a van on a beach and your team cursing your buffering nomadic work quest beneath their breath. ### Solution 2: My map in the middle Preface: I'm a map nerd. I like making maps. I solved this problem (largely) by doing a bit of time-consuming upfront work creating my own [Google My Map](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/about/mymaps/). On it, I roughly combined the data from both of these sources. Here's how: On my laptop, I opened both maps side-by-side. I then roughly drew shapes of the strong signalled areas on my Google My Map. I'd then open up the web pages of any Park4night spots that looked like they were in that area, copying their GPS coordinates (decimal degree version) into my Maps search field and hit enter to find its exact location. If it happened to land well within my marked area, I'd press "Add to Map" and colour it green (for strong signal). Sometimes there'd be spots on the fringes I'd be less confident in; I'd still save them and colour them yellow in case they were needed. ![My map](/assets/images/posts/012/my-map.png "My map") While this was a tedious process (which I'd do about once a week), it meant I wasn't stressing every day about where I'd end up. I'd always have a pretty good idea. It wasn't perfect, but it was good enough to get by.
Before I left, I seriously considered working with a developer to figure out how to pull both data sources into one place. There's definitely a problem worth solving here with a bit of tech. However, I think Elon has that one covered with Starlink. ## Can you remote work from a van in Ireland? Yes. It really is entirely possible to do this today. I had a fantastic 6-week journey along Ireland's Wild Atlantic Way without any real impact on my work. And when your workday is done, there are countless adventures to be had, sights to see, great people to meet and places to explore. I couldn't recommend the experience enough. I'll leave you to work out how to solve the biggest problem of all when it comes to remote working along the Wild Atlantic Way… > "How can I sit in a van working when there are so many Wild Atlantic adventures outside my door waiting to be had?" Sometimes the allure was too much for me to resist 😬🏊‍♂️
If you've any other questions about remote working from a van feel free to [drop me an email](mailto:hi@shylands.com). --- # My Year in Review – 2020 *Published: 31 Dec 2020* > Here’s a brief look back on my 2020. It's mainly for my own reference, but perhaps there's something here that will inspire you to do something different in 2021. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/my-year-in-review-2020/ Here's a brief look back on my 2020. It's mainly for my own reference, but perhaps there's something here that will inspire you to do something different in 2021. ## Lowdown From January-June I took part in the [Propel pre-accelerator](https://www.igniteni.com/) with [Lowdown](https://getlowdown.com). I'm so happy I decided to give it a shot. I learnt more in 6 months than I have in years, making dozens of new friends and connections in the process. Unfortunately, the experience was affected by the pandemic, shifting to full-time remote halfway through, but in the end, that opened up new opportunities too. If you ever get the itch to start something, I'd highly recommend Propel. ![Propel Teams 2020](/assets/images/posts/011/propel-teams.jpg 'Propel teams 2020') Lowdown started 2020 with the goal of reaching $10k MRR by year-end. The first product we launched got to $150 MRR in 6 months before we decided to shut it. We realised we weren't building a product that solved a painful enough problem. So we pivoted to launch Lowdown 2 in November. It's [the missing email digest for Slack](https://getlowdown.com). So far we're at $50 MRR in 6 weeks. Regardless of if Lowdown works out or not, everything about this year of focus on it feels worthwhile. Without a doubt, I'm now better tooled to decide what's worth working on, and how to make something successful. ## Bikepacking I love to travel, but 2020 meant that wasn't happening off-island. Inspired by [Phil Sturgeon](https://twitter.com/philsturgeon), I decided to try my hand at bikepacking. In April I bought a bike and started to do day trips around the country. Previously I'd never cycled more than 50k, but I worked that up to 120k, and then decided to try a short multi-day trip. For that, I cycled the [Causeway Coast](https://www.instagram.com/p/CCl-ESwBNwU/) and back. Belfast > Ballycastle > Coleraine > Belfast. My ultimate goal was to spend August cycling the entire Wild Atlantic Way of Ireland with my camera and tripod, shooting landscapes. In the end, work and willpower got in the way and that was shortened to a week cycling the first 800km of it. From Kinsale to Dingle. Grey Irish weather also resulting in very few landscapes. ![Bikepacking](/assets/images/posts/011/bikepacking.jpg 'Bikepacking') Travelling by bike is an awesome way to actually take in the landscape around you. Things don't fly past you, and you're more willing to stop and explore at a moments notice. If you want to experience a slower way to travel and get fitter in the process, you should give it a shot. ## Other highlights from 2020 * Didn't fly anywhere in a calendar year for the first time in a long time (I doubt this will be the same in 2021) * Sold [AirCare](https://air.care) * [NI Creative Community](https://nicreative.co) grew to 750+ designers in Northern Ireland * [Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_) grew to 1,050+ techies who want to help with the climate crisis * Climbed Carrauntoohil — the tallest mountain in Ireland * Created and hosted the "Drink-and-draw" for designers Stranger Briefs with [Tim Davidson](https://twitter.com/itstimformation) * Launched a product in a couple of hours - Meetfromhome * Co-hosted Indie Hackers Belfast with [Kyle Gawley](https://twitter.com/kylegawley) * Hosting an [online NI Design Chat meetup](https://youtu.be/YMQzy-hOZzc) for 40+ designers * Won Propel Bootstrapper of the Year ## 2021 — The path ahead In 2021 Lowdown is being relegated to a side-project, and my focus will instead be on [Stora](https://stora.co) — the Shopify for self storage. I've been helping the CEO, and self storage automation king [Gavin Shields](https://twitter.com/gavshields) get the first version live over the last few months. I think he's really onto something, so I've decided to join him as a co-founder and CPO. Beyond that, I'm setting less lofty goals in 2021, at least until things start to settle down with the pandemic. I'd like to travel again when it's safe to do so. Perhaps another bikepacking trip. It currently feels a bit pointless, attempting to plan anything, a little like life is on pause. Despite this pause, I met hundreds of people in 2020 (mainly on Zoom), far more than I ever have before. As an introvert, this was a big success for me. However, it made me appreciate how meaningful in-real-life human connections are. I'm hoping that at some point in 2021 I can hit the unpause button and get out there to meet new people and forge new friendships. **Have a great 2021 everyone** 🖖 --- # My Year in Review – 2019 *Published: 31 Dec 2019* > In 2018 I finally developed a healthy productivity habit and began to find the motivation to become more open on the web - starting a blog, a Newsletter and to try simple ideas like Checkmates without the fear of failure. This theme carried over into 2019 in a big way for me, leading to easily the most productive year of my life. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/my-year-in-review-2019/ In 2018 I finally developed a healthy productivity habit and began to find the motivation to become more open on the web - starting a [blog](/writing), a [newsletter](/subscribe) and to try simple ideas like [Checkmates](/writing/how-i-created-a-feeling-of-accountability-to-help-launch-a-side-project) without the fear of failure. This theme carried over into 2019 in a big way for me, leading to easily the most productive year of my life. ## 2019 – A look back My main goals for 2019 were to work out my personal mission and to launch a product and ideally be earning enough recurring revenue to live on. While the money bit didn't happen, the launching definitely did! At the beginning of the year, I was searching for [my mission in life](/writing/defining-my-personal-mission) - and in April, [I found it](/writing/helping-prevent-climate-breakdown) when I woke up to the climate emergency. That led to a desire to use my skill set to help. I decided to try and motivate the tech community to raise awareness and take action. In the space of 6 months, I launched [Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_), ClimateChoice, [The Climate Fixathon](https://fixathon.io) (and [blog interview series](https://medium.com/fixathon)) and [AirCare](https://air.care). I also ran my own events in Belfast - The Climate Breakdown Brainstorm and [Indie Hackers Belfast](https://getinvited.to/kylegawley/indiehackers-belfast/) and spoke at [IndieHackers Cologne](https://www.meetup.com/Indie-Hackers-Cologne/events/259385244/) to pitch an idea I was pursuing at the time.
## Getting Burnt out The result of all this productivity was burning out. I had launched too many things and found it hard to focus. Strangely I also felt a bit demoralised despite having successfully grown the Impact Makers community to 700+ members and created an online hackathon that resulted in the launch of 41 climate tech projects. Around the same time in September, the business I co-founded and worked on for the past 3 years closed, and I was left without a steady income. Thankfully having been in this situation before with [Rumble Labs](https://oldrumblesite.com), I’d learnt my lesson and built a savings fund. That meant I had a financial cushion, enough to buy me time so I could circle back and focus on my main goal for the year - launching my first solo startup business. Thankfully I had already discovered a problem I was hoping to explore. It came from starting [Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_), and noticing how hard it is to keep a Slack community engaged. ## Getting Lowdown When asked by a developer I've worked with for years (Phil McClure) if I had any product ideas, I was able to answer an emphatic yes. Phil immediately saw the problem and felt the solution could also work for Slack teams. So we started on the journey of building [Lowdown](https://getlowdown.com) – a tool that turns the best content shared in Slack into a newsletter. Within a couple of months, we had a beta out and began testing with our first users. Phil and I are aligned in our business sensibilities, particularly around the desire to bootstrap. However, the timing of our beta launch was perfectly in-sync with application deadlines for a couple of local Northern Irish tech grants. We felt we had a strong business idea and decided to apply. I'm delighted to say we were successful and received the [Techstart Proof of Concept Plus grant](https://www.techstartgrants.com/) and were also selected as one of 21 companies out of 400 for the [Propel pre-accelerator](https://igniteni.com) which starts in January. The end of our year has been spent on further Lowdown testing, getting ready to launch our paid plans and preparing for a busy first half of 2020 in Propel. ## 2020 — The path ahead 2020 is all about focus. Primarily that means a focus on working out how to build a successful business with [Lowdown](https://getlowdown.com). I'll be doing this in the open and plan to blog weekly about our journey throughout the Propel accelerator from early January until the end of June. Unfortunately, this means my climate-related projects will be taking a bit of a backseat for now. Sometimes I feel conflicted about this, but unfortunately at this time, I have to place my own financial survival first, and Lowdown feels like the right idea to follow to achieve this. To be honest I'm feeling pretty bleak about the direction of our planet and humanity these days. We're only just beginning to see the effects of rising temperatures, and it's frightening the complete lack of necessary action by the people running countries around the globe. I think this might be causing me to lose hope a bit with a natural instinct for my own survival coming to the forefront. However, I'm confident my efforts to help with the climate emergency are not over, and I'd still like to help however I can. ## Hope for the future The one real bright spark I see in the world today is in the younger generations who want to save the world and aren't afraid to do something about. Hopefully, the 2020s will be remembered as the decade our young people came of age, took control, and helped save the planet from devastation. If enough of us wake up and take action, there is still hope. ## Other highlights from 2019 - Moved from Germany 🇩🇪 > Japan 🇯🇵 > Northern Ireland 🇮🇪🇬🇧 - Recorded my first [podcast interview](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5iEnmdS2xr80YmTrIQj3fy?si=KoDHCp5ySaym6m9CfHbjQA) - Became a top writer on Medium for Climate Change - Participated in the Global Climate Strike in Tokyo - Launched [NI Creative Community](https://nicreative.co) - A Slack community of 750+ designers in Northern Ireland - I [quit landscape photography](/writing/why-i-quit-landscape-photography) in 2018 but I've started [rediscovering my love for it](https://flickr.com/photos/shylands/49264787443/in/dateposted-public/) ![Landscape](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49068352787_0bf8f05c71_k_d.jpg "Landscape") --- # My Climate Guilt — Air Travel *Published: 03 Oct 2019* > This year I've come to realise the impact my travels have had on the environment and it's not something I'm proud of. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/climate-guilt-air-travel/ A year ago I moved to Germany from Ireland. At the time I was going through a period of personal growth and self-discovery — trying to decide [what I could work on to help move the world forward](/writing/defining-my-personal-mission), while also figuring out [how to adapt to living in a new country](/writing/making-new-friends-in-a-new-city-as-a-remote-worker). A year later and I've moved again, this time to Tokyo — and I'm not just in a different place but also a different headspace. Like many, I became woke to the extent of the climate emergency early in 2019. Aware that solving this problem was the most important effort my generation will likely ever undertake, and it requires all hands on deck doing whatever we can to lessen the damage to our environment and avoid the [critical point of no return](https://www.businessinsider.com/global-warming-point-of-no-return-temperature-2018-8). To help I've focused the last 6 months on motivating the tech community to care about the issue and start taking action. For me, that meant creating ClimateChoice and starting the [Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_/) Slack community to connect tech workers who want to help prevent climate breakdown and inspire action. Along the way, [The Climate Fixathon](https://fixathon.io) was launched to provide an added incentive for makers to help fix the climate leading to the creation of [41 products](https://fixathon.io/entries). One of those products is [AirCare](https://air.care) created by [@bloudermilk](https://twitter.com/bloudermilk) and I. It's a product I found myself motivated to work on thanks to one of my biggest sources of climate guilt — air travel. This year I've come to realise the impact my travels have had on the environment and it's not something I'm proud of. Even worse it's doubtful I'll be able to reduce my carbon footprint while I continue to live overseas. I'm unlikely to sacrifice a trip home to see my family and friends in Ireland even though I'm now well aware that means 9,579 km of air time adding roughly 2.5 kg CO₂ to my carbon footprint. To put that another way, it is estimated emissions of that level will contribute to 8 square meters of [Arctic sea ice melt](https://nsidc.org/news/newsroom/us-and-german-researchers-calculate-individual-contribution-climate-change). Yikes. ![Planet](/assets/images/posts/009/planet.png 'Air travel emissions') ## So we should all just stop flying right? If only it was that easy. Unfortunately, self-sacrifice is required to make this choice and the vast majority of us are like me — not yet prepared to do so. Flying, in my opinion, is one of the hardest things to replace or remove from the lifestyle of a 21st-century western human. Long-distance travel has become one of our favourite activities. Holidaying and business travel is ingrained in our culture. But with the true extent of the climate emergency finally breaking through and becoming a key issue across the planet will we stop or at least reduce our air travel? My guess is most of us won't and only a minority will reduce their air travel in a meaningful way. In fact, it's predicted the industry will continue to grow year-on-year well beyond the 45 million flights of 2018 and its share of global emissions will increase too. ## Why won't we stop flying? **Alternative travel methods usually take a lot longer, in some cases cost more and our desire to experience whatever is on the other end of the flight is more than our desire to sacrifice today for the benefit of the future.** The majority of us are still likely to prefer to not sacrifice out time, to not lose money, and to not miss out on an experience. Until air travel requires more sacrifice to our lifestyles (for example an increase in cost due to the introduction of carbon taxes) most of us will still choose to fly. A bigger issue is that many people still don't understand just how harmful flying is. It's only because I've gone out of my way to learn about climate change that I now understand the true impact of a flight. I've known for years that emissions weren't great for the planet, but I wasn't aware how little time we had to avert disaster. Disaster is very much what awaits unless we can massively shrink the carbon footprint of humans. ## Preventing climate disaster I believe one of the most important things we need to do is help people understand the climate impact of their choices. Without this basic knowledge, an average person is unlikely to care. A person armed with understanding is positioned to make an informed choice. They might still choose to fly, but they also might fly a little less. They might help their family learn about the issue, and they might prioritise the environment the next time they visit a voting booth. That's one of the reasons why Brendan and I created AirCare. We want to help you understand what your flights mean for the planet. In addition, we want you to know what you can do instead of booking a flight and make it easy for you to compensate for the emissions of your travel by carbon offsetting when you absolutely must fly. ## How AirCare works With [AirCare](https://air.care), you simply forward a flight booking confirmation email to **impact@air.care**. It will then analyse your email and send you back a climate impact report seconds later. Alternatively, you can [add your flights manually](https://get.air.care/impact_reports/new). ![Aircare report](/assets/images/posts/009/aircare-report.jpg 'AirCare Report') You'll discover your flight's carbon emissions, you will find out how far you'd need to drive in an average combustion engine car in order to do the same damage and you'll learn how much Arctic sea ice is likely to have melted as a direct result. You can then choose to compensate for your impact by contributing to [Gold Standard](https://www.goldstandard.org/) carbon offsetting projects — starting with [Planting Biodiverse Forests in Panama](https://www.goldstandard.org/projects/planting-biodiverse-forests-panama). Paying away the guilt is not a solution to the problem but we hope that AirCare can help people understand the impact of their choices, and facilitate positive behaviour change for both individuals and businesses. We'd love your feedback on what we're trying to do. Try calculating the climate impact of a flight with [AirCare](https://air.care) (it's free) and let us know what we can improve to make the tool as useful as possible. We hope that AirCare can play a big part in reducing the climate impact of air travel. To keep up to date on our progress [follow us on Twitter](https://twitter.com/aircare_). --- # Can Indie Makers Help Fix the Climate? *Published: 21 Jun 2019* > Climate change is the biggest, scariest problem we have faced in our lifetimes. What makes it especially frightening, is that solving it feels entirely out of our control. How can we as software developers and product designers help in a meaningful way beyond reducing our own carbon footprint? URL: https://shylands.com/writing/can-indie-makers-help-fix-the-climate/ Two months ago I started [Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_) - a community for tech people to help prevent climate breakdown. Ever since I’ve been thinking about how to assist makers to take action. The desire to do something is there in abundance, but it’s still difficult for the majority to get to the point where they act. Why is that? ## You need an idea of how you can help Climate change is the biggest, scariest problem we've faced in our lifetimes. What makes it especially frightening, is that solving it feels entirely out of our control. How can we as software developers and product designers help in a meaningful way beyond reducing our own carbon footprint? How can we convince governments worldwide to put the planet above all else? How can we help change how we travel, change how we eat or change the world's energy sources with software? As makers, we are first and foremost problem solvers. While the climate emergency may seem like a problem we can't impact, when you drill down, you discover that it's a wide-ranging issue composed of hundreds of smaller contributing problems that we can help with. To form an idea of what you can do to help fix the climate, try to identify the high-level problems and work backwards, for example: ### High-level problem 1: > We rely on energy and food sources which contribute dangerous amounts of greenhouse gases to our atmosphere. These emissions are now causing our climate to breakdown. ### High-level problem 2: > We’re deforesting the planet, destroying ecosystems which help reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, speeding up climate breakdown. The high-level solution to both of these problems is actually very simple - STOP Unfortunately doing so is anything but simple... yet don’t lose hope! Now that we know where to start we can dissect these problems to identify opportunities. How? Ask the question ‘why’ until you hit upon a problem you can help fix. Let's use the harmful energy sources issue as an example, and repeatedly ask the question why: ## Why can’t we stop using harmful energy sources? One reason would be: > Because historically renewable energy sources have been more expensive than harmful non-renewable energy sources (though this is fast changing). ### Why? - Many governments around the world subsidise fossil fuels. - The cost of renewable energy sources have not dropping fast enough due to lack of investment from governments. ### Why? Fossil fuel companies donate billions to certain politicians so they will carry out their money making agenda ### Why? - A transition to renewable energy will put them out of business unless they change their product offering. - Fossil fuel companies make their shareholders a lot of money and they likely want to maintain their fortunes above all else. ## So what have we identified here? - Some people in power will prioritise financial gain over the planet. - Fossil fuel companies want to maintain the status quo rather than change. ## What could we do to help? > Help make politicians who take money from fossil fuel companies fear they will lose power if they don't prioritise the planet. #### How? 1. A tool that helps constituents contact their local politiican to let them know that the climate emergency is their number 1 voting issue. > Raise awareness of politicians who are prioritising the planet over profit. #### How? 1. A website that highlights the views and voting records of parties and politicians in different countries. 2. An app that asks you for your political views and location and suggests which politician(s) in your area aligns best with your point of view. > Help humanity to not value money and power above all else. #### How? 1. Increase education of how becoming rich doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness. 2. Draw attention to resources which highlight the path to living a happy life. > Pressure fossil fuel companies to change. #### How? 1. Increase awareness of their actions so their customers no longer wish to be associated with them. These are just a few examples, if I was to continue I’d likely identify many more issues and be able to spot further opportunities. By repeatedly asking why, we can identify smaller problems that have more obvious software solutions which could help fix the climate. ## What’s in it for me? Even if you have an idea to work on you’ll still consider if it’s worth sacrificing your time to bring it to life. While it would be nice to think that the dangers of the climate emergency are enough to entice action, for the vast majority it’s likely to still come down to the question of ‘what is in it for me?’. So **what would you get out of launching a product to help fix the climate?** It depends on your idea. You could identify a problem that has a solution people will pay for and potentially make a living from it — which is the ultimate goal for most indie makers. Or you could focus on a non-profit idea. While this may not lead to a direct financial benefit, it usually feels great, and you never know what new opportunities might arise tomorrow based on your sacrifice today. ## A new incentive to fix the climate The incentives to work on a climate action project might still not be as strong as developing a straight-forward product idea with a clear business model. That’s why [@JP_Aulet](https://twitter.com/jp_aulet) and I have conceived of an event which we think will make helping to fix the climate more appealing. ## Introducing The Climate Fixathon We’ve teamed up with [Makerlog](https://getmakerlog.com) and [Makerpad](https://makerpad.co) to launch [The Climate Fixathon](https://fixathon.io). The world’s first online hackathon for makers to help fix the climate. - 🏆 Thousands in cash to be won. - 🛠 4 weeks to build a web site, app or service. - 👩‍💻 Open to teams or individuals. - 👨‍⚖️ Winners decided by judges including [@anthilemoon](https://twitter.com/anthilemoon), [@fajarsiddiqfs](https://twitter.com/fajarsiddiqfs), [@colly](https://twitter.com/colly), [@thornet](https://twitter.com/thornet) and [@cennydd](https://twitter.com/cennydd). Full details will be released on 10th July with the event running from 2nd to 30th August. Subscribe on [fixathon.io](https://fixathon.io) to get updates. ## What can we achieve? Having an impact that helps restore a safe climate for our planet might seem like an impossible task. But if we directed our problem-solving abilities and technical skills to this life-threatening problem who knows what we could achieve? Try asking why the climate emergency is happening, and see if you can work out your own way to help fix the climate. If you can, come join us in [The Climate Fixathon](https://fixathon.io)! --- # Helping Prevent Climate Breakdown *Published: 08 May 2019* > Like many people, I've been aware of the risks posed by climate breakdown for many years, and like most people, I haven't been doing much about it — until now. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/helping-prevent-climate-breakdown/ Like many people, I've been aware of the risks posed by climate ~~change~~ breakdown for many years, and like most people, I haven't been doing much about it — until now. In mid-April 2019 the urgent need for action was pushed into the spotlight thanks to the [Extinction Rebellion](https://rebellion.earth/) activists among others. Their actions motivated me to focus my thinking on **what I could do to help prevent our climate from breaking down**. While researching climate benefiting lifestyle changes, I found most of the information to be poorly organised and hidden within blog posts scattered around the internet. I couldn't find a single, easily consumable point of truth that I'd be happy sending to a friend to learn more. I felt there was a problem, so why not try and solve it? There and then I decided to start ClimateChoice (No longer online). A place to learn the choices you can make to reduce your carbon footprint and help others to act. One easily readable, shareable website. Rather than developing ClimateChoice alone, I wanted to find a few like-minded collaborators. On 22nd April I tweeted:

I'm developing a website to help people work out what they can do right now to prevent climate breakdown.

Is anyone interested in working on it with me? All skillsets welcome, the only thing you need is motivation to make a difference. 🌎🙌

— Steven Hylands (@shylands) April 22, 2019
To my surprise, I received dozens of offers. It seemed I had identified another problem - people are motivated to prevent climate breakdown, but they aren't sure how to help. I wondered... could all these interested parties be brought together in one place to join forces and create their own projects? Within a couple of hours, a new collaborator ([@jp_aulet](https://twitter.com/jp_aulet)) and I had set up a Slack group and [website for Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_) - A community of tech people who want to have a positive impact by helping prevent earth's climate breaking down. Two weeks later we have a community of 115 tech people discussing climate breakdown problems and ideas on how to solve them. My own project has attracted a couple of collaborators in [@thepaulmcbride](https://twitter.com/thepaulmcbride) and [@tobequitefrank1](https://twitter.com/tobequitefrank1) and is well under development, with plans to launch on 19th May. ## Impact Makers Building the community has been a great experience, but not one without issues. Committing to work on a climate awareness or action project requires you to sacrifice your time. As you're unlikely to make any money from it (though you could), you'll need to **value the reward of giving** as much as that of monetary gain. In addition, often it feels like there's something just a bit more important to be doing with your time that will fulfil your basic [human needs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs). Unfortunately, the lack of obvious impact on our daily lives can make the climate crisis feel like a problem for another day. We all probably know something we could be doing to help prevent climate breakdown today, but we don't do it. I know I'm guilty. ✋ For those who have the desire to help they often just don't know how. Some might not have a project idea but are ready to jump in and work on a defined task if available. These [Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_/) need someone to **take ownership of an idea** and approach them, then they'll get to work. ### Finding Collaborators From my experience if you release an idea into the wild, there's usually someone around the corner waiting to help. That's why we're testing a way to make it easier for group members to find a collaborator with our new project ideas Trello board. ![Impact Makers Idea Board](/assets/images/posts/007/impact-makers-project-ideas.jpg 'Impact Makers Idea Board') ## Try stuff + see what happens One thing I've learnt from life is that **having the courage to try stuff and see what happens often pays off**. From a few tweets, I ended up with a group of 100+ like-minded tech workers. I've met and chatted with countless new people. People who could become future friends or business partners. I even received a job offer. All just from being willing to put something out there and see what happens. In two weeks I'll do the same with ClimateChoice. Perhaps it will inspire new projects? Or convince someone to make climate helping life changes? Or a future world leader to run for office on a pro-planet agenda? Or maybe it will get 10 views and sit forgotten? Who knows? I'm willing to try and see what happens. I'd encourage you to [join me in Impact Makers](https://x.com/impactmakers_/) and see if you can **get involved and help prevent earth's climate breaking down**. --- # Defining My Personal Mission *Published: 09 Feb 2019* > Recently I quit landscape photography, find out why URL: https://shylands.com/writing/defining-my-personal-mission/ Before I started blogging last year, I gave some thought to what I want to achieve in my life. Until then I’d only had notions. In my teens, I thought about attempting to become a world-renowned filmmaker. In my 20s I tried and failed to create a globally successful software business out of Northern Ireland. Now that I’m in my 30s I’m thinking about things a little differently. I still have personal aspirations, but my perspective has changed. I feel I now know who I am, and have strong conviction in my beliefs. 32 years in, I've realised I want to do something more than just make money and achieve success. I first defined a personal mission statement last July. Not long after I shared it with the group who [held me accountable to start my blog](/writing/how-i-created-a-feeling-of-accountability-to-help-launch-a-side-project). ![My first mission](/assets/images/posts/006/first-mission.jpg "My first mission") ## My mission 1.0 — To help people become more self-aware and open-minded, so together we can make the world better, faster, and enjoy it in harmony. At the time this felt right. It helped me shape what I would write about in my articles, and start to conceive of ways it could be achieved. However seven months later it’s not sitting as well with my as it once was. I still completely agree with the statement, and hope that my efforts can achieve just that. But I’m not entirely sure if that specifically, or that alone is where I want to place my focus. Ideally, I’d also like to have a clearer end goal in mind which I can use to orient myself on my journey. So I’ve iterated on my mission statement: ## My mission 2.0 — To have a positive impact on the world before I die. I’m still working out how. My new mission statement is a placeholder. I’m acknowledging that I want to have a positive impact on the world, but I’m not entirely sure how quite yet. I am sure that I’m going to do everything I can to work it out. To start I’ve defined what I believe to be positive value for the world. ### I believe a positive impact would be: - Helping people to be more open-minded so they are more accepting of others - Helping the world to trust more in information backed up by evidence - Helping people to question and not just accept the way things are - Preventing climate catastrophe so our world remains habitable - Helping restore and preserve the natural world - Removing corporate influence and corruption from governments - Stopping things that don’t need to happen (murder, rape, violence, war, poverty) - Helping people to become more aware of the effects modern society has on their minds and bodies, and take action - Free healthcare and education for all These are some (not all) of the things that I believe would make the world a better place. ## Your mission Have you given any thought to your own mission? You might have completely different ideas to me — and that’s ok. You don't have to think globally either, there's nothing wrong with pursuing a more localised goal, the effects of your efforts could spread organically. The most important thing is to do what you believe in. My only advice is that you try looking outwards rather than inwards. Consider what you want to leave behind when you’re gone before deciding on your life's work. ## Progressing my mission Since my mission is still in flux, I've decided to create a [mission changelog](/mission). When I gain some more clarity I’ll update it. For now, I know I’m trying to have a positive impact on the world before I die. I’m still working out how. I'd love to hear from anyone who has worked out their own mission or are in the process of figuring it out. [If you fancy a chat about missions send me an email](mailto:hi@shylands.com). --- # Why I Quit Landscape Photography *Published: 01 Dec 2018* > Recently I quit landscape photography, find out why URL: https://shylands.com/writing/why-i-quit-landscape-photography/ In 2009 I took up a new hobby — [landscape photography](https://www.flickr.com/photos/shylands/). Around this time, [HDR photography](https://www.stuckincustoms.com/hdr-photography/) was gaining popularity online. And I became mesmerised with the vivid fantasy-like images of photographers such as [Trey Ratcliff](https://www.stuckincustoms.com/). After spending countless hours researching the HDR process, I decided to give it a go. So I purchased my first DSLR camera, wide angle lens and tripod, and headed off to the Belfast Hills. There I stood in awe at a gorgeous sunset scene before I recaptured my focus, and snapped 3 [bracketed exposures](https://www.mikesmithphotography.com/videos/exposure-bracketing). Afterwards, I returned home to learn how to process my first HDR photograph. **I fell in love.** In love with the thrill of exploring nature, on the hunt for the ideal scene to shoot. And in love with the process of editing a shot to perfection. ![2009 - My first HDR shot](/assets/images/posts/005/first-hdr.jpg "2009 - My first HDR shot")
2009 - My first HDR shot
In hindsight, my first attempt had many issues, but I had adored every part of the journey to get there. Over the next 8 years, I constantly strived to create a better HDR image. I’d read up on composition techniques before returning turning to the field to try them out. I’d upgrade my equipment to improve the image quality. I'd listen to feedback and gradually tone down my over-the-top HDR output. I’d research the best locations in Ireland and head off sometimes for days on the hunt for the perfect scene. And to me it was all well worth it, I could see my work improve over time. ![Winter Walkwalk 2009 vs 2011](/assets/images/posts/005/winter-walkway.jpg "Winter Walkwalk 2009 vs 2011")
2009 vs 2011
![The Hideaway 2010 vs 2012](/assets/images/posts/005/the-hideaway.jpg "The Hideaway 2010 vs 2012")
2010 vs 2012
![Irish Lakes 2012 vs 2016](/assets/images/posts/005/irish-lakes.jpg "Irish Lakes 2012 vs 2016")
2012 vs 2016
![Glenoe Waterfall 2012 vs 2016](/assets/images/posts/005/glenoe-waterfall.jpg "Glenoe Waterfall 2012 vs 2016")
2012 vs 2016
![Tollymore Stepping Stones 2015 vs 2016](/assets/images/posts/005/tollymore-stepping-stones.jpg "Tollymore Stepping Stones 2015 vs 2016")
2015 vs 2016
Yet over the last couple of years, I’ve taken less-and-less landscapes photographs. Leading me to today — where I don’t really take any. Sure I take the odd snap on my phone, but my camera stays at home in its bag. ## Why did I quit? Recently I’ve been pondering why I stopped. Considering various possible explanations: * Mobile phone photography had progressed far enough that you don’t need a DSLR anymore. * Everyone takes photos now, so it’s lost its appeal. * I explored every part of Ireland and lost the joy of discovering a new place. * I felt my time was better spent elsewhere, as it wasn’t contributing to any ultimate goal. Yet to truly determine why, I had to drill deeper, and contemplate why I took up photography in the first place. I had never desired to become a professional landscape photographer, for me, it was an escape — a hobby. After sitting with the question for a while I found my answer. What I loved the most was the journey of learning to create the best image I could. Sadly I had come to a point where I’d achieved a level of ability I was happy with. The path to progress further was no longer as clear. Sure I could keep going – I am by no means anywhere near the level of the worlds best landscape photographers. But the quest to improve this particular skill no longer appealed me. Instead, I found myself starting to fill my free time with a new hobby. And in a way, it’s the same hobby — learning. ## Why I’m focused on learning I've discovered a love for expanding my worldview. That means I'm not focused on learning any one thing. Instead, I'm approaching what to learn with an open mind. By doing so I've found I'm gaining new perspectives — and that new ideas and possibilities are opening up to me. One day I might choose to focus in again on one interest as I did with landscape photography. But for now, I’m happy spreading my wings across a variety of new things. While sometimes I do find it sad that I’ve stopped something that was a big part of my adult life. I'm still happy with my choice to pursue new interests. I’m exploring again, just in a different way. ## Are you focused on the right things? I recommend doing the following thought exercise. Sit and examine why you’re pursuing your own interests. If you discover a pursuit isn’t yet complete — great, keep going! But if it’s no longer providing the value it once did. Consider finding something else and starting a journey to learn something new. You might find it as refreshing and rewarding as I have.

Open-sourcing my photographs

Since I have a large collection of Irish landscape shots serving no purpose. I’ve decided to make them available for free to anyone who needs them. You can download my landscape photos on Pexels. If you use one please send me a message, I’d love to know where :)

My map of photogenic places in Ireland

I'm also sharing a Google Map I created. It charts the locations of over 220 photogenic locations in Ireland. Hopefully you can use it to also discover some of the amazing places I have on the beautiful island of Ireland.

Pro-tip: If you star the map whilst signed into your Google account, you can get directions to any location from the Google Maps iOS and Android apps.

![Map of Photogenic Places in Ireland](/assets/images/posts/005/ireland-map.jpg "Map of Photogenic Places in Ireland") --- # Making New Friends, in a New City as a Remote Worker *Published: 05 Oct 2018* > Recently I moved to Cologne, Germany. Read about the biggest challenge I now face – making new friends. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/making-new-friends-in-a-new-city-as-a-remote-worker/ In September 2018 I moved to the city of [Cologne](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne) in Germany — the first time I’ve ever lived outside of Ireland. While I've always wanted to live in a new country, I must now do something I've struggled with throughout my entire adult life; making new friends. Back home in Ireland, most of my closest friends were made naturally, when I was young, somewhere between 5 and 15. Since then, I rarely felt the need to make more friends. ### Why? Perhaps it's because in situations where I must talk to a new person I struggle — often feeling uncomfortable and anxious, unsure of what to say. Or it might be because I've never felt the need to be surrounded by a big group of friends. But now I'm in a new country, that speaks a different language with the only person I know being my girlfriend. If I don't make new friends, I know that eventually, I will feel isolated and alone. Rather than letting this become a problem, I want to tackle it head on and use it as an opportunity for personal growth. While in Germany, I hope to make real friends, not just new acquaintances. I know this is going to be a challenge. [Research](http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0265407518761225) has shown it can take at least 50 hours to forge a casual friendship and 200 for a close relationship. So to make this happen, I'll have to be persistent and find people who want to achieve a similar goal. The following is how I plan to approach making new friends in a new city. ## Always keep my goals in mind 1. Become more comfortable talking to strangers 2. Make real friends not just acquaintances ## Find people like me We all want to be friends with people who share the same interests. Therefore, I feel it makes sense to focus on going where other people like me will be. ### Co-working spaces Since I'll be working remotely, I believe that by having a dedicated co-working desk where I sit/stand most days, I'm likely to have an excellent opportunity to bond with fellow co-workers. ### Industry meetups/events Over the years I have gotten to know several people at design and tech events in Belfast. These events are great as everyone has a common interest in the subject matter and usually a desire to network. ### Expat meetups [InterNations](https://www.internations.org/) facilities various events for expats in cities around the world. A situation where every single person attending is looking to mingle with new people sounds perfect. ### Language classes I made lots of friends in school, taking a German class seems like a sensible way to meet people likely in a similar situation. Plus I badly need to learn German! ### Other ideas - **Talk to people on public transport** - I've seen people do this in the past but to be honest, when someone tries to talk to me on a bus I'm mortified. - **Carpool** - [BlaBlaCar](https://www.blablacar.com/) is quite prominent in Germany and presents a situation where you pretty much have to talk to someone - **Be neighbourly** - Try my best to be friendly and not just awkwardly walk past any new neighbours. ## Use 'tools' available to me to increase my chances ### Apps [Tinder](https://tinder.com/) is probably the best real-world relationship establishing app ever created. Unfortunately, I'm yet to find a Tinder for friends that has a large pool of people to meet, so for me none of the current tools effectively solves the problem. Hopefully a leader will emerge in my time here. ### New in City/Expat Online groups A quick search shows countless Facebook groups for new people to meet and chat. To utilise these channels I will need to start and contribute to discussions, something I also struggle to do online. ### Provide value to others I hope that if I share valuable, interesting things on the internet that it will make others interested in getting to know me. Even better I could speak at an industry event (another fear that needs to be conquered). ### Alcohol Ok, this one I don’t want to do, however it has worked well for me in the past. My level of comfort talking to new people increases immensely when I have partake in a few drinks. This is a crutch I don't want to lean on. I shouldn’t need alcohol to dilute my shyness. But alas I doubt that I will be able to avoid this crutch entirely. 🍻🇩🇪 ## In conclusion Making new friends is likely easy for lots of people, and they'll probably think this post is a bit over the top. But knowing myself, there's a chance I will take the easy route and avoid antagonising my anxieties by talking to strangers. So I'm hoping by publishing this article I will feel compelled to put the effort in. ### Do you have tips on how to meet new people? If you think I've missed anything, I'd appreciate it if you could [tweet me your tips](https://twitter.com/shylands/) on how to make friends in a new city. --- # Adaptations to the Modern World: Sitting *Published: 30 Jul 2018* > Humans have adapted away from the lives they evolved to live. Adaptations to the Modern World is a series comparing how we lived in prehistoric times with how we live today. How have we changed to fit a world filled with cars, phones, fast food, and everything else we now call normal? URL: https://shylands.com/writing/adaptations-to-the-modern-world-sitting/ Humans have adapted away from the lives they evolved to live. Adaptations to the Modern World is a series comparing how we lived in prehistoric times with how we live today. How have we changed to fit a world filled with cars, phones, fast food, and everything else we now call normal? It considers how we've diverged from the time-tested practices of our ancestors; pondering how these changes have affected us both mentally and physically. Like every species on earth, we evolved to make the most of our environment. In our case, that meant we slowly changed over hundreds-of-thousands of years to survive in nature as hunter-gatherers. We lived in this way for by far the longest period of our existence. ![Gathering Food](/assets/images/posts/003/gathering-food.jpg "Gathering Food") Roughly 12,000 years ago, the vast majority of humans drastically changed how they lived when they began farming. From then changes came thick and fast. We had more time and freedom to develop new ways to survive, and we allowed ourselves more opportunities to establish other systems and ideas. Fast forward 12,000 years and we now live in a world that'd be alien to hunter-gathers. The problem is, we didn't have enough time to evolve to suit the world we created. Our bodies and minds aren't much different than they were 12,000 years ago. Nevertheless, we've forced them to adapt to a foreign lifestyle. This is a series of articles, delving into these human adaptations, made to suit a modern world. Have they benefited us? Harmed us? Are we ok to keep going the way we are? Or if we want to become a healthier species, more physically and mentally prepared for today's world. Do we need to take a step back to our roots? First, I take a look at an activity we all love to do, sitting. ## Sitting There is nothing wrong with sitting. We have always been able to, and have sat on our bottoms from time to time. The fact that we sit is not a problem. The problem is that we now sit for lengthy periods of time, often in unnatural positions. Let's compare some of the reasons for sitting in prehistoric and modern lifestyles. ### Prehistoric Humans: Why They Sat * To relax * To relieve fatigue * To participate in a group event * To prepare a meal * To eat * To watch something ### Modern Humans: Why We Sit * All the same reasons * To watch TV * To use a device (phone, game console) * To work (desk job) * To drive * To go to the toilet * To fly * To move around with a disability Our reasons for sitting have dramatically increased haven't they? It's only natural to assume that with this increase, we now sit a hell of a lot more than we sat pre-Netflix. Next, consider how we sat then and how we sit now. ![Typical Office Meeting](/assets/images/posts/003/meeting.jpg "Typical Office Meeting") ### Prehistoric Humans: How We Sat It's safe to assume Prehistoric humans didn't have access to chairs, at least as we know them today. The earliest record of a chair I could find is from 3100 BC, not that long ago at all. Before that it's likely our options were a little bit more limited: * **On the ground** — crossed legs, on knees, leaning on our side or lying down. We don't know exactly, but we likely did it all. * **On a rock or branch** that raised them off the ground (most like today). * **On a prehistoric chair** — They might have crafted with their modest tools something chair like. For example a stack of rocks against a tree, they may even have draped an animal hide over it for comfort, we'll never know. * **In a squat position** — In ancient times we often squatted down whenever we wanted to rest. [This practice still happens today in places like Asia](https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/03/can-you-do-the-asian-squat/555716/). It seems that westerners have forgotten this skill. Forgotten it to the extent where we're unable to it in a squat for any length of time. ![The Sitting Squat](/assets/images/posts/003/squat.jpg "The Sitting Squat") ### Modern Humans: How We Sit If I was to ask you to visualise sitting, what would you think of? I'm guessing you see an object which lifts your rear-end off the ground and supports your back. A chair. There are many other forms of chairs, but this is the normal form. How we sit in them also varies and depends on the activity we're doing (if any). Some of us place our lower back in the support of the chair and sit up straight, others slouch away from it We might then put our feet up or recline backwards. Frequently we add another object in front of it to lean over, like a table. ### Prehistoric Humans: How Long They Sat Much like today, we likely sat for as long as life allowed us to. But it's doubtful the world let us settle for very long, or that we were as comfortable in one fixed position over time. You had to eat, so you had to hunt or gather to survive, that meant lots of movement. We migrated to where the food was when our local resources ran out. We undoubtable did a lot of sitting around too. But what if it started to rain? Or a neighbouring tribe attacked? To conclude, back then we moved around much more. ### Modern Humans: How Long We Sit How long we sit today varies from human to human, and place to place. But our modern world has developed in a way that sitting for a protracted length of time is often required, or fun to do. Thanks to attention absorbing tech, we can stay fixed and stimulated for hours on end. We can even jump between attention-grabbing mediums without needing to get up. When it's time to work, most of us are employed to sit in offices. Our work environments are seats and desks waiting for us to occupy them for 8 hours every day. To get to these jobs, well you guessed it we sit more. Whether we're commuting by car, bus, train or plane, more often than not we sit to get to work. Modern life is a never-ending journey from seat to seat. ![Public Transport](/assets/images/posts/003/public-transport.jpg "Public Transport") ### Why Does It Matter How Modern Humans Sit? Yes the human body did evolve to be capable of sitting, but it also evolved the capability to crawl, stretch, run, walk, climb, swim and lie down. Yet many of us today are paying the price for staying more sedentary than we move. By sitting a lot, and in particular for an extended period of time, our bodies are adapting in unnatural ways. A typical seated position today, puts enormous strain on your neck, spine and back muscles. Especially if you sit with poor posture. This often leads to muscles weakening, becoming tight from limited use, which can cause severe and permanent physical issues. Research has shown over-sitting contributes to weight gain, anxiety and [shortens lives](https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/09/study-excessive-sitting-cuts-life-expectancy-by-two-years). And it increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, leg clots, varicose veins and cancer. Our sitting habits inflate our chances of becoming deformed, unhealthy and dying prematurely. We need to rethink our approach towards sitting. Today. This issue might be well known, but there is a severe lack of change happening to try and fix it. ![Typical Classroom](/assets/images/posts/003/classroom.jpg "Typical Classroom") ## What Needs To Happen? * **Schools must teach the importance of moving** (preferably not while sitting so much). We do learn about the importance of exercise. But exercise alone doesn't solve the damage of frequent prolonged sitting sessions. Education should make this understood. * **Offices must provide ways for employees to work that get them away from seats.** * **Work breaks should be more frequent**, and **getting out and moving encouraged**. * **Governments should establish new regulations** around this, and incentivise businesses to make changes. These are just a few ideas. Whatever happens awareness of the harm we're causing to ourselves must improve. So we can correct our damaging sitting adaptations before it's too late. We no longer need to move to survive the same lifestyle as our ancestors. But we do need to move to fulfil the biological needs of our physical form. If we can bring awareness to this sitting epidemic and correct our adaptations, we will become healthier, live longer and be better equipped to adapt to whatever the future holds for us.
This article is based on research, with assumptions made. I am not a doctor, scientist or historian. Simply someone hoping to help people become more self-aware and willing to question why things are the way there are.

Further Reading:

  1. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
  2. Can you do the Asian Squat?
  3. The best way to sit at your desk at work
  4. Yes, sitting too long can kill you, even if you exercise
--- # How I Created a Feeling of Accountability to Help Launch a Side Project *Published: 30 Jul 2018* > Do you have projects you struggle to get off the ground? I know I do. URL: https://shylands.com/writing/how-i-created-a-feeling-of-accountability-to-help-launch-a-side-project/ Do you have projects you struggle to get off the ground? I know I do. My portfolio website [shylands.com](/) has plagued me for over a decade. It took me 8 years to replace the original version from 2007, a small lifetime on the internet. The replacement was intended to be temporary too. A quick update before a full blown redevelopment. That was 2015. ![Old versions of shylands.com](/assets/images/posts/002/old-shylands-sites.jpg 'Old versions of shylands.com') Fast-forward to 2018... In the 3 years since the last update I've dabbled with new versions from time to time. But none of those ever had my full commitment, and inevitably never saw the light of day. ## Why couldn't I get it launched? Starting was never my problem. I could even muster up a head of steam and make decent progress. However out of nowhere I'd second-guess a decision I had been so sure of mere hours before. If I couldn't find a solution then and there I would stop working on it. _"I'll come back to this later"_ I'd tell myself. Life continued, _"later"_ never really seemed to happen. The project would drift from my mind. When _"later"_ did finally come around months would have passed. By then everything about my work would no longer _"feel right"_. So it hit the scrapheap. Losing momentum and confidence in a project sucks. I'd bet it's something ever web maker struggles with from time to time, but they couldn't be as hopeless as me right? Earlier this year and right on schedule, I had a new desire to relaunch [shylands.com](/) — but for the first time as a blog. Surely this time would be different. The idea stayed in my head for months, before I told a few friends that I wanted to start writing. They seemed excited to see what I'd produce, and I became motivated to push ahead. Yet I still didn't do anything about it. Many months would pass again. I wanted to start, but I didn't. **What was holding me back?** Did I prefer spending my free time doing other things? Or maybe I was [afraid of putting myself out there](/writing/after-a-decade-of-staying-silent-ive-started-to-blog-but-why)? I've managed to launch countless projects with other people, but very few of my own. Why did I find this such a challenge? I learnt long ago from working in startups that the best course of action is usually to launch quickly. Why couldn't I apply this learning to my personal projects and just get them out the door? It was then I had an epiphany. I needed a deadline that had to be met. I needed people to help push me forward when I hit a wall. I needed the accountability I'd get from a team. As long as I was only accountable to myself, I'd continue with my struggles to launch anything. I wondered—could I find a way to create a feeling of real accountability? A sense of pressure, a commitment it would pain me to break. I opened up [ProductHunt](https://www.producthunt.com/) and searched for a tool that could help me fix my problem. There I discovered an [accountability service](https://bossasaservice.life/) offering to act like your boss, at a small cost. While I liked elements of the idea, being accountable to a total stranger didn't appeal to me. Then there was [Work In Progress](https://wip.chat/)—a maker community working in public. This solution resonated with me and seemed closer to something that might work. Yet I didn't feel confident that if I joined I'd garner the direct accountability I coveted. Sharing my goals publically could compel me to complete them. But if it didn't, how would I combat my own worst enemy—myself. Instead, I decided to [tweet](https://twitter.com/shylands/status/1009815256032477184) and see if anyone in my network fancied being my boss for a month. A proposal I'm not sure my followers viewed as legitimate. As you'd expect I received a couple [witty retorts](https://twitter.com/toby_osbourn/status/1009878150040432644), but I did get one real offer from [@tyndyll](https://twitter.com/tyndyll). Result! ![Be my boss tweet](/assets/images/posts/002/boss-tweet.jpg 'Be my boss tweet') He had been struggling with the same problem of accountability in his projects. We conceived of a solution we thought could work, and decided to conduct an experiment. We'd create a place where people could come to be held accountable for their goals. Somewhere they could define their projects targets, and then assemble a group who had agreed to offer feedback, encouragement, and most importantly accountability. To form my group for [shylands.com](/), I invited industry friends [@keizgoesboom](https://twitter.com/keizgoesboom), [@willmcneilly](https://twitter.com/willmcneilly), [@wakeuphate](https://twitter.com/wakeuphate) and [@overture8](https://twitter.com/overture8). People I felt would be up for taking part. Then I returned to Twitter to see if I could round out the group with a few folks I was less familiar with. I wanted a blend of friends and acquaintances. You're more likely to get feedback from your friends, but you'll also be more comfortable failing before them. By including people I was less familiar with, I felt a stronger compulsion to succeed—probably because I didn't want to face the embarrassment of failing in front of my peers. The concept resonated with designers [@theshawe](https://twitter.com/theshawe), [@carolinepixels](https://twitter.com/carolinepixels) and they rounded out my group. Full steam ahead! I was pumped. The process of asking for accountability had already lit a fire under me. I had a burning desire to avoid failure in front of this group. At all costs. ## Creating the experiment Every project needs a name. In a conversation with group member [Melissa Keizer](http://melissakeizer.com/), she named it the wonderfully punny Checkmates. The experiment would take place in a Slack chatroom. I set it up, outlined what I needed to be held accountable for, invited the group and got to work! ![My Accountability Outline](/assets/images/posts/002/checkmates-slack-intro.jpg 'My Accountability Outline') Without drawing out the details, the end result was a successfully launched project, on time. I even managed to squeeze in a stretch goal by writing [a third blog article](/writing/adaptations-to-the-modern-world-sitting/). Not only did I achieve a feeling of real accountability throughout, but I found the groups feedback led to the launch of a better end product. In addition, we had a second accountability project setup by [Will](https://willmcneilly.com/), and hopefully, more will follow. I know I'll be using this approach going forward for further developments to [shylands.com](/) and other side-projects. From my own point of view, the experiment was a success. It compelled me to meet a 5-year-old goal in 23 days. But Checkmates is not a perfect solution, nor do I expect it would work for everyone. Group members are graciously giving up their own time to help you out, so you can't expect constant interaction or feedback. My offer to them was to reciprocate in their own Checkmates group, or help with anything else they might need in future. It remains to be seen if anyone will ever take me up on my offer. To value my proposal, the group members first need to have a desire to launch a side project. They then must have bought into the Checkmates concept enough to work on it there. Finally, they'd need to value my opinion; otherwise, the only benefit I can give to them is accountability. ## Why not try it yourself? Do you have any a side project you're struggling to launch? Or perhaps one rattling around your head you can't quite bring yourself to start? Why not see if you can pool together your own Accountability Group from people you know or your own followers? If you do, please share your results with me. :) --- # After a Decade of Staying Silent, I've Started to Blog. But Why? *Published: 30 Jul 2018* > I'll share a wee bit about myself and why I've decided to start writing (finally!) URL: https://shylands.com/writing/after-a-decade-of-staying-silent-ive-started-to-blog-but-why/ Back in the early 2000s, when the web was still in its infancy, I used to share a lot on its ever-emerging platforms, connecting with strangers without a second thought. MySpace became my go-to sounding board and place for online socialising. I found myself letting it all out there, without any hesitation. The carefree young web was a great place to be. Much like a child, it was discovering its potential, with every baby step it took. And with it, I was discovering a brave new world, where people could connect instantly and exchange ideas, with no prejudice. But upon entering my early 20s, something changed, and I stopped sharing. I'm not entirely sure what happened. Perhaps with the webs growth I had become more aware of how visible and permanent the content I shared was. Or it could be that the abundance of new voices popping up each second, made mine feel a bit ordinary, like it was of no real value. I'd spend hours reading forum posts but never reply. I'd write tweets and hit cancel before sending. But as someone who works on the internet, I felt the need to put myself more out there. Yet, when I came to doing it, I'd feel anything I could say had already been said. *So I stayed silent. A mere observer.* And here I am, 10 years later, a lifetime apart. Since then, I've [founded startups](https://twitter.com/rumblelabs/status/1223606191) and [liquidated them](http://oldrumblesite.com/blog/rumble-labs-is-going-bye-bye/). [Launched projects](https://www.producthunt.com/posts/nuu) that were [shut down shortly after](http://oldrumblesite.com/blog/were-selling-onotate/). Learnt new skills and forgot old trades. [Visited new places](https://nomadlist.com/@shylands) and experienced foreign cultures, that made me crave for more. Despite all that I haven't said much. When I did it was usually work related and out of necessity. ## Finding my voice In the past year, something has changed. I've arrived at a point where I'm compelled to start sharing again. I finally feel like I have something to say. My desire to speak up began with a change to my usual reading material. For years I've been topping up my existing design and tech knowledge, never straying far from what I already understood. But this information was no longer satisfying me. I felt it was time to break out of my close-minded interest sphere and seek new knowledge. *This quest has become one of the most valuable experiences of my life.* ![Quest for Knowledge](/assets/images/posts/001/learning.jpg "Quest for Knowledge") With every piece of [breakthrough knowledge](https://medium.com/the-mission/while-everyone-is-distracted-by-social-media-successful-people-double-down-on-a-totally-underrated-5a86701e9a27) uncovered, I became energised with fresh ideas for my life and work. I found each new concept compounded upon the last. I started to open up to other possibilities and things to learn I'd never have considered before. I had developed an addiction to learning about the things I don't yet understand. I discovered [functional medicine](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhkLcpJTV9M), [meditation](https://www.oakmeditation.com/), [stoicism](https://dailystoic.com/what-is-stoicism-a-definition-3-stoic-exercises-to-get-you-started/) and the history of [Homosapiens](https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00K7ED54M/). I started to appreciate the importance of [organic produce](https://www.prevention.com/food-nutrition/healthy-eating/a20453119/top-reasons-to-choose-organic-foods/) and [products](https://simplynaturale.co.uk/why-is-important-to-use-natural-organic-products-49-w.asp). I considered life changes to optimise my health, performance and productivity. I experimented with new habits, keeping the ones that assisted with my goals and discarding those that didn't. I started to contemplate the future of humanity and to iterate on a viewpoint of how it should be. In short, I woke up and became prepared to question my own beliefs, realities and systems, and those of the world around me too. However, despite finding fulfilment in the expansion of my horizons *I felt frustrated.* Frustrated at myself for not prioritising learning sooner. Frustrated that in classrooms and conversations of my past I hadn't been learning the right things. In fact, often I was learning the opposite of what I now consider fundamental human knowledge, with many of the teachings of my past having no basis in reality—and not knowing any better I went along with them. I was rarely questioning why. Why are these things I believe now to be such essential knowledge so unknown to the majority of people? Perhaps they are known, and I'm the oblivious guy being left behind. But if that's the case, why did I have to look so hard to find the truths I was seeking? Is it because not enough people are questioning their own reality? ## Question everything Question why are our supermarkets filled with processed crap. Question [why we spend most of our lives sitting rather than moving](/writing/adaptations-to-the-modern-world-sitting/). Question why some people just accept 'news' articles as real when there are clear facts to disprove them. Question why there is so much poverty when 1% of humans on earth own 50% of the wealth. Question why are we knowingly destroying the only planet we have to live on. ![Pollution](/assets/images/posts/001/pollution.jpg "Pollution") In the year 2018, we shouldn't still be teaching and spreading the incorrect, factless information that leads to these kinds of questions being asked. We need to take a hard look at why they need to be asked, and think about the consequences to world if we move past them sooner rather than later. We should be asking ourselves — why does it have to be this way? *Accepting the status quo of the modern world is madness. I believe we can change it.* ![The world is Connected](/assets/images/posts/001/connected-world.jpg "The World is Connected") With the web, we have been granted a gift that can facilitate change. Its open platforms enable us to make quick, impactful progress. Together we need to move the knowledge-needle and start course correcting. This can be achieved by helping humanity become prepared to question why things are the way they are. Ready to identify the differences between facts and fictions. Ready to make logical conclusions. Ready to solve problems. Prepared to take actions that lead to positive improvements for everyone. I've had enough of outdated systems, [bullshit rules](https://steemit.com/teamphilippines/@mrjmbetes/brules-the-bullshit-rules-that-limits-and-traps-us-in-a-standardized-and-safe-life) and [made up beliefs](https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1773296/beliefs-why-do-we-have-them-and-how-did-we-get-them). Haven't you? This is why I've decided to start a [blog](/). I yearn to help others become comfortable [questioning their beliefs](https://medium.com/@ryanengelstad/how-to-question-your-beliefs-and-why-you-should-1de405c25d4b) and those of the world around them. To assist people in getting to a point where they question something new, before they accept it. So they can *achieve a state of genuine self-awareness.* From now on I won't be silent any longer, I'll write [articles](/) and share [tweets](https://twitter.com/shylands/) I think will help. Eventually I plan to build software that helps too. If my efforts *make a difference to even one person*, I'll consider it to have been a *worthwhile* endeavour.