post: chess and engineering 1

_posts/2023-05-15-Pinocchio.markdown → _posts/2023-05-15-pinocchio-and-christianity.markdown

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ date: 2023-05-15 01:03:40 +0530
 tags: films review Pinocchio Del Toro Chistianity Jesus
 ---
 
-*Spoiler Alert! This Post contains spoilers for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio*
+_Spoiler Alert! This Post contains spoilers for Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio_
 
 When I saw this film, I was expecting many things: a beautifully animated film, a twist on the Pinocchio formula, redemption at the end - all this was delivered, and yet I was unprepared for the sentimentality with which this film is woven and the Christian themes in it.
 
@@ -24,4 +24,3 @@ Throughout the film, everyone uses Pinocchio for their selfish ends, and he, a C
 ![A Christ-like figure](/assets/images/pinnochhio_on_cross.png){: width="800" }
 
 Pinocchio eventually makes the ultimate sacrifice and gives up his life for that of his father. What follows is a scene which is the pinnacle of this film - Gepetto holds Pinocchio's lifeless body and weeps. By making this sacrifice, Pinocchio has risen to divinity in the narrative. In the end, "they" (now meaning the viewers) grow to love Pinocchio unconditionally due to his Christ-like sacrifice. And this parallelism is only strengthened when he ressurects and reunites with Gepetto.
-

_posts/2023-07-07-chess-and programming-1.markdown

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "What Programmers can learn from Chess Players - Part I"
+date: 2023-07-07 17:25:40 +0530
+tags: chess programming software
+---
+
+I have been playing chess for more than 15 years - my school days were spent travelling through cities and playing in tournaments. I still play online and follow chess tournaments religiously. When I began my software engineering career I was struck by the many parallels between the life of a chess player and that of a software developer. It makes sense to incorporate training methods from these top-tier cognitive atheletes into our developer careers and that's what this post is about.
+
+**1. The Importance of Physical Conditioning**
+
+In recent times physical conditioning is recognised as integral to chess training. Although its importance was known previously, it was only after the rise of Norweigian Grandmaster Magnus Carlsen that it became a truism. Apart from chess, Magnus spends a lot of time running and playing soccer, basketball, and tennis. Magnus is known for his impressive mental endurance and often beats his opponents in long marathon games that can last for more than 7 hours.
+
+![Magnus Carlsen](/assets/images/magnus.jpg){: style="width: 800px" }
+
+Although the exact mechanism is not known, having good physical stamina is known to increase mental endurance. Software engineers who find themselves sitting for hours trying to solve a production bug or push a feature before a deadline can certainly benefit from this information. Good physical heath can help keep ones concentration up during intense coding sessions.
+
+**2. There is a Lot of Room at the Top.**
+
+In chess and in software engineering, there is a lot of room at the top. Although millions of people play chess, only about 2 thousand players have ever achieved the title of Grandmaster. And if you look at Super Grandmasters (defined as having an elo of over 2700) the difference is even bigger - only about 40 players are Super GMs today.
+
+I've found that this holds true in the software world as well. Exceptional developers are always in high demand. This is because they are able to architect large distributed systems and contribute at every level of the development lifecyle. Much like top chess players they can out perform large groups of people with average skill. Therefore if you're a developer keep learning - you are in a high skill-ceiling profession.

index.md

@@ -8,9 +8,9 @@
 layout: home
 ---
 
-Hey, Welcome to my porfolio website and personal blog!
+Welcome to my porfolio website and personal blog!
 
-I’m a Fullstack Software Engineer based out of India. I am currently working with **[Walmart Global Tech.](https://tech.walmart.com/content/walmart-global-tech/en_us.html)** My linkedin profile can be viewed **[here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanmakesart/)**, and some of my web projects can be viewed **[here.](/projects)**
+I’m a fullstack software engineer based out of India. I am currently working with **[Walmart Global Tech.](https://tech.walmart.com/content/walmart-global-tech/en_us.html)** My linkedin profile can be viewed **[here](https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanmakesart/)**, and some of my web projects can be viewed **[here.](/projects)**
 
 I wish to empower and inspire people through my work, be it code, artwork or writing.