I’ve been thinking about streaming the majority of my non-meeting work hours. My brain processes information differently when I say it out loud vs. if I’m just reading silently. Twitch can act as a sort of over-engineered rubber duck.

I’m not trying to monetize my stream. I have no desire to get famous. I don’t think my work is particularly novel or groundbreaking. Most of the time I go on there and just fuck around.

But people have expressed interest in me streaming my work, particularly my ADHD coping mechanisms. And I think there’s something to be said about streaming as like, a normal person.

(Also I do think I enjoy the attention to an extent. I’m comfortable admitting that.)

Finally, I have a very nice webcam and mic set up. It honestly feels like a waste if I only use it for Zoom calls and the occasional podcast recording.

Part of what’s inspiring these thoughts right now is that I finally feel comfortable committing to work that would actually make for good streaming topics. Working with Parveen on the .NET stuff this past week has refreshed my engineer brain and I feel motivated to dive into more code.

So here’s a list of upcoming work I’d like to do anyway that I can do on my stream:

On top of that, I can use my meager platform and background as a teacher to do some learning in public:

Basically I would read and highlight and take notes and process out loud like I do by myself, and then make those notes available for people who are interested after the stream. It might also be a good opportunity for me to practice visual notetaking, which is a skill I decided I wanted to learn earlier this year.

Worst case scenario: I overheat my MacBook running Twitch Studio for zero viewers. There’s a chance streaming can help me focus and plan better, which is super important for me. And in the unlikely event that broadcasting my work can help even one person learn something? That would make the whole enterprise worth it.