You Are Never An Expert

I’ve just started an exciting new role focusing on Web Performance at Squarespace. After eight years of working with React and Next.js, I’m still amazed by how much there is to learn in frontend development. For a while, I’ve held back from starting my own blog or simply sharing my thoughts publicly, worried I didn’t “know enough.” But a friend’s words —“You’re never an expert. Ever.”— finally convinced me to share my thoughts, especially during this pivotal career change.

Curiosity Fuels Growth

Today, technology—from both consumer and engineering perspectives—evolves nonstop. It seems that every week there’s a new A.I. product to solve some “challenge” in your life (e.g., a robot that can do your dishes and fold laundry), or yet another JavaScript framework emerges. How could anyone possibly be an expert in a world where things change so frequently? That’s why I’ve adopted the viewpoint that your curiosity, not your expertise, is what ultimately fuels your success. When it comes down to it, curiosity and learning are the real drivers, not some elusive ideal of “being an expert.” A curious mind will go further than one that believes it already has all the answers.

Small Wins & Big Revelations

In my past work on client-facing applications, performance often just needed to pass a quick “eye test”—if it felt fast enough, we shipped it and moved on. Now, stepping into a dedicated web performance role, I’m excited about the refreshing challenge of solving large-scale problems with custom solutions, rather than relying solely on a framework like React to magically handle many things. It’s a whole new perspective, and I’m excited for it.

Why Start Writing Now?

  1. Fight Impostor Syndrome: Sharing my journey—even if it’s messy—helps remind me that uncertainty is part of the process. It’s okay not to know everything right away.
  2. Build Community: Talking about my experiments, failures, and breakthroughs opens the door to collaboration.
  3. Clarify My Thoughts: Writing forces me to articulate ideas more clearly—an invaluable exercise for continuous learning.
  4. Spark Curiosity in Others: If these posts inspire someone else to explore a new technique or test something out, then it’s all worthwhile.

What to Expect

I’ll continue to post about personal findings in tech and things I’m working on at Squarespace. I also plan to share personal experiments, like how I built a golf simulator at home - I can’t resist a good side project! This blog is my way of staying curious and documenting the twists and turns of learning in public.

If there’s one message I hope to convey, it’s this: curiosity is what truly pushes us forward. The moment we think we’ve “arrived” is the moment we stop growing. If you’ve been hesitating to share your thoughts because you don’t feel like an expert, remember that no one really is.

Thanks for reading my first post! Here’s to embracing the unknown and celebrating each small win along the way.