Starting a Patreon

Short version: I’ve started a Patreon page for those who want to donate or help me sustain my writing in my post-doctoral life! :D

Long version: Hi all! Hope you can excuse the two non-technical and personal posts in a row :) To give some context on this announcement, here’s some news — I graduated*!

*Well, not exactly :) I haven’t finished my dissertation and defended my thesis yet (but expect to in the upcoming months); Chapman University was generous enough to allow me to walk in this past Spring’s ceremony.

I have a lot of excitement about my future after my defense and official commencement. However, with this excitement comes a lot of uncertainty.

As a student I have been able to devote time on-and-off again to this blog, which has become a passion of mine. I’ve even managed to find time to live-stream some coding projects occasionally! When I started this blog almost five years ago, I only wanted to write down what I was learning to help myself remember, and to help others going through the same thing as me. I never expected the warm reception from the Haskell and Programming community. Every once in a while I meet people who tell me personally that an article of mine had inspired them to get into functional programming, or had been the final straw to helping them get over a conceptual hurdle. It’s moments like these that really make everything worth it. And, as a researcher in a field dominated by imperative and dynamically typed programming, watching and encouraging the growth of functional programming has brought me a lot of joy.

In the upcoming months, however, I know that my circumstances will be changing. Without the cushion of research and grant funding, I know I will start having to make some more serious decisions balancing my time.

But in the face of all this uncertainty, one thing I do know for sure is that I want to start taking my writing and educational passion projects more seriously :)

In this light, I’m excited to announce that I am starting a Patreon page!

Patreon is a service that allows people to support their favorite content producers. Users can choose to “become patrons” of content creators by pledging to support them monetarily on a per-month or per-creation basis.

Through your support, you are telling me that:

• The content I have written has helped or impacted you in some way
• You appreciate that what I write adds value to the functional programming and Haskell community
• You want be a part of this journey of helping and educating the FP and Haskell community
• You want to provide support that allows me to take my writing, educational efforts, and live-coding more seriously in my post-doctoral life

In addition, different levels of support have some fun little rewards, like being featured on the homepage, footer, or entries on this blog as a supporter who makes all of this possible. There are also some rewards involving access to regular in-depth code reviews I can give you, and long-term community goals include the start of a live-coding series.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey — whether you support me monetarily, or just through kind words. I am grateful for your encouragement and support in all forms, and I am genuinely looking forward to this next chapter of my life!