It's been over a month since I graduated from college, and now I've made one of the biggest changes in my life by moving to New York City after living in Florida for so long.
I have grown so much after living in Orlando for nearly four years. Half of that came from my first two years of intense involvement with various organizations and UCF. The other half came from reaching out into the Orlando community and the connecting with the people & businesses there. It was that most recent bit of growth that really inspired me to reach out further and join one of the largest tech communities in the country. It was people like Dan Denney, Robb Schiller, Roman Rusinov, Mark Bunker, and really everyone at Envy Labs who motivated me to keep exploring and connecting to the community at large. Events like Design Orlando, Orlando Tech Meetup, Front-End Orlando, Node Orlando, Startup Weekends, and the Front-End Design Conference showed me how great it was to see people coming together to discuss things they care about and push the web forward. I will miss those people and events, but I will not forget them or where I started in the City Beautiful. All I can really say is thank you, I will return one day.
I moved to New York purely for an adventure; I already have a remote job, so I could have moved nearly anywhere without worry of income. But I chose New York because of the ability to explore the rich community and culture inside the city and the surrounding areas, especially through the ease of public transportation. I chose New York because I have lived in Florida my entire life and wanted a change of scenery while I am still free from physical ties to one location. I chose New York because of its history of residence who innovated and persevered through whatever hard times came their way. Living so far away from Florida reduces my safety net of staying home until I find something more secure; it forces me to take on the world right away. It will come with new challenges, but it will also come with new meetups, conferences, opportunities, and lessons I can learn from. Frankly, I'm still a little shocked that I've made it, even after 6 months of planning.
New York is just one stop on the road ahead, however. As I've said before, I'm at that time in my life where I can explore so freely. I believe the best way to do that is to live in an area for a few years, rather than just visit for a few days. After two or three years, I may want to live somewhere in Europe like England, Germany, or Switzerland. My love for the web and tech grows as I discover there are so many places I can go and keep working to make awesome stuff for it. I will not plan too far ahead because I have no clue what may come but I am ready to adapt and keep on creating.
Keep an eye here as I'll be writing a lot more ( that's the plan at least) and posting links on Twitter. Thanks for following.
Stay Hip.