Adding Reflections

Reflections are short-form pieces that capture your thoughts on industry trends, personal growth, or technical philosophy. They are more personal than a case study and more philosophical than a blog post.

The Reflections Collection

Reflections are stored in content/reflections/. The UI for reflections is designed to be minimal and text-focused, emphasizing readability.

Create a new file: content/reflections/my-philosophy.mdx.

Frontmatter Configuration

Copy---
title: "The Importance of Slow Engineering"
description: "In an era of AI speed, the most valuable skill is the ability to slow down and think deeply about architecture."
date: 2026-03-15
category: "Philosophy"
readTime: "4 MIN READ"
---

⚠️ Special Logic for description:

In the reflections section, the description isn't just metadata for SEO. The UI often renders this description as a large, italicized quote or a lead-in paragraph.

• Tip: Make sure your description is "quotable" and captures the essence of the entire piece.

Step 1: Choosing a Category

Consistency is key for filtering. Try to stick to an established set of categories:

• Philosophy: High-level thoughts on engineering.
• Mentorship: Lessons learned from leading teams.
• Tutorial: Short "how-to" snippets that don't fit in a full guide.
• Growth: Personal career milestones and lessons.

Step 2: Writing the Content

Keep reflections concise. Use MDX to add emphasis without clutter.

Copy## The Core Idea
 
Why do we rush? 
 
> "Premature optimization is the root of all evil." — Donald Knuth
 
I've found that this applies to more than just code; it applies to career decisions and product roadmaps.
 
### The Takeaway
 
1. **Wait** until you have data.
2. **Review** with a peer.
3. **Execute** with confidence.

🔮 Future-Proofing your Reflections

1. "Read Time" Accuracy

While the readTime is a string you manually enter (e.g., "5 MIN READ"), try to be honest. A reflection that is 200 words shouldn't be marked as 10 minutes. A good rule of thumb is 200 words per minute.

2. Maintenance

As you write more, you might find that the /reflections page gets crowded. Since these are validated by date, they will always appear in chronological order. However, if you want a specific reflection to stay at the top, you might need to "pin" it by updating its date to a future time, or (the senior way) update the UI logic to support a featured: boolean flag in the schema.

3. SEO vs. Intimacy

Reflections are personal, but they still help with SEO. Use your H2 and H3 tags to include keywords relevant to the topic (e.g., "Software Engineering Philosophy") to help search engines index your thought leadership.

4. Image Warning

The reflections layout is intentionally text-only in its current iteration to minimize distractions. Avoid adding heavy images within the MDX. If you must use a visual, use a simple SVG or a small, centered image to maintain the "clean" aesthetic.