http://www.example.com/posts/Recent content in Posts on Sean MataHugo -- gohugo.ioenSun, 10 Aug 2025 22:08:48 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/low-hanging-fruit/Sun, 10 Aug 2025 22:08:48 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/low-hanging-fruit/As a recent engineering graduate, it’s easy to think the “low-hanging fruit” of technology has already been picked. The scientific revolutions of the past—mastering physics, chemistry, and biology—gave us nuclear power, plastics, and antibiotics. Back then, inventing calculus could change the course of history; today, mastering it is merely a graduation requirement.1 Yet the opportunities for innovation are far from over, although we may need to look for them in other areas.http://www.example.com/posts/how-to-be-happy/Mon, 04 Aug 2025 12:17:50 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/how-to-be-happy/Exercise1 and have good friends. Being lonely is as bad for health as smoking half a pack of cigarettes a day, or being obese.2 Exercise has the opposite effect: every minute of exercise increases your life expectancy by about seven minutes.3 That’s pretty much it. I can’t really imagine a life where you have both and you’re not doing at least okay. You want more?4 Okay find a good spouse, sleep and eat well.http://www.example.com/posts/how-to-be-rich/Mon, 28 Jul 2025 23:32:37 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/how-to-be-rich/If you want to be rich you have to own something. That’s it. Why? Okay well two reasons: In any salaried job you work you will produce more value than you are paid (otherwise why would they hire you?). Who gets to keep all this extra value you created? Owners. (This is called the exploitation of surplus value).1 If you don’t own something, your monetary value will be strictly tied to the amount of hours you work each week.http://www.example.com/posts/solving-hard-complex-problems/Tue, 15 Jul 2025 22:06:05 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/solving-hard-complex-problems/When I started as a student, I wanted to solve “hard technical problems”. After all, it’s what I was good at in school and what interested me. The process of learning new maths or physics models and playing with them in my head to understand their consequences excited me - often a 3blue1brown video and a concept I didn’t understand were all I needed. However, once I started working I realised that most problems that warrant a solution are not technical.http://www.example.com/posts/days-of-life-visualisation/Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:18:02 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/days-of-life-visualisation/Life in Days (Block View) :root { --day-size: 4px; } body { margin: 0; background: #f5f5f5; font-family: sans-serif; } h1 { text-align: center; padding: 1rem; } .container1 { margin: 0 auto; padding: 1rem; display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: 1rem; } .container { max-width: 100% !important; width: 100%; } .container2 { max-width: none; margin: 0 auto; padding: 1rem 0; display: flex; flex-direction: column; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; } .legend-container { display: flex; align-items: flex-start; gap: 1rem; flex-wrap: wrap; } .http://www.example.com/posts/days-of-life-visualisation-simple/Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:18:02 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/days-of-life-visualisation-simple/Every day of a 90-year life Each box is a day. Days of a Life body { margin: 0; background: #f5f5f5; font-family: sans-serif; } h1 { text-align: center; padding: 1rem; } .grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, minmax(5px, 1fr)); gap: 1px; padding: 10px; max-width: 100vw; box-sizing: border-box; } .container { max-width: 100% !important; width: 100%; } .day { width: 5px; height: 5px; background-color: #ccc; } const days = 90 * 365; const grid = document.http://www.example.com/posts/time-with-loved-ones/Tue, 08 Jul 2025 09:32:21 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/time-with-loved-ones/body { font-family: sans-serif; padding: 20px; max-width: 800px; margin: auto; } label { display: block; margin-top: 10px; } input { width: 100%; padding: 8px; margin-top: 4px; } button { margin-top: 20px; padding: 10px; font-size: 16px; } #results { margin-top: 30px; } .grid { display: grid; grid-template-columns: repeat(auto-fill, 5px); gap: 1px; max-height: 1000px; overflow-y: auto; } .cell { width: 5px; height: 5px; border: 1px solid #ccc; } .filled { background-color: #3498db; border: none; } .http://www.example.com/posts/compound-interest/Mon, 07 Jul 2025 13:00:53 +0800http://www.example.com/posts/compound-interest/Initial Amount (£) Annual Return (%) Years Wealth at specific years: body { font-family: sans-serif; padding: 20px; max-width: 800px; margin: auto; } input { width: 100%; padding: 0.5rem; margin-top: 0.25rem; margin-bottom: 1rem; font-size: 1rem; } label { font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.6rem; } #year-labels-list { font-size: 1.25rem; } const ctx = document.getElementById('chart').getContext('2d'); let chart; function calculateData(initial, rate, years) { const data = []; for (let year = 0; year i.http://www.example.com/posts/reflecting-on-2nd-year-career/Thu, 26 Jun 2025 18:15:53 +0100http://www.example.com/posts/reflecting-on-2nd-year-career/Looking back to 2023, I was a lot more uncertain about my career This post came from rereading an old entry where I wrote about why I started this website. One point stood out: “To have a testament to my skills and beliefs”. I explained it by saying: “Whenever i get the feeling of imposter syndrome, this is a nice place to check back on that has some detail on who I am.http://www.example.com/posts/cost-of-living/Tue, 24 Jun 2025 17:12:43 +0100http://www.example.com/posts/cost-of-living/Over the last few years, many in the UK have felt the pressure of rising costs—from groceries to gas bills, rent to rail fares. But this isn’t just inflation. The UK is facing a cost of living crisis, where essential costs have risen disproportionately faster than incomes, deepening economic hardship for millions. The Big Issue newspaper defines the cost of living crisis as “a scenario in which the cost of everyday essentials like energy and food is rising much faster than average incomes.http://www.example.com/posts/setting-goals-feedback/Mon, 06 Jan 2025 17:25:17 +0000http://www.example.com/posts/setting-goals-feedback/If you are like most people you’ve tried to set goals before and roughly followed the method above. Instead let me explain how the feedback loop below can speed up your personal growth! In the real world, your growth is not linear A->B->C so structuring your development like this does not make sense. Instead of aiming for results the real aim is to be able to plan and carry out a specific process to achieve your goals, and the best way to do that is by considering feedback (or reflection or mindfulness).http://www.example.com/posts/els-scholarship/Thu, 02 Jan 2025 23:12:52 +0000http://www.example.com/posts/els-scholarship/Me alongside the cohort of 2023 Engineering Leadership Scholars Future leaders in engineering are not simply born—they are shaped by opportunities like the Engineering Leadership Scholarship (ELS) scholarship offered by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng). This scheme takes ambitious students like you and me and provides resources to accelerate your personal development. While you need to demonstrate passion for engineering (and to be studying towards it or a related discipline), they simply want you to make the biggest impact you can and pivoting is ok in the end.http://www.example.com/posts/why-apply-scholarships-7/Thu, 02 Jan 2025 21:21:09 +0000http://www.example.com/posts/why-apply-scholarships-7/Scholarships can be the catalyst that propel you toward a thriving career and a prosperous future. They come in all sorts of flavours (including academic, music, financial need, sporting achievement, industry). Besides the money, they are one of the highest returns on investment on yourself you can make. You owe it to yourself to find and apply for them (and grants and bursaries). If you aren’t convinced yet, here are some reasons you should be applying for them now.http://www.example.com/posts/internet-resources/Tue, 31 Dec 2024 16:37:06 +0000http://www.example.com/posts/internet-resources/The internet is an amazing tool. Never before in history has human knowledge been so accessible. The great part, most of it is out there free. However, you usually need to spend a lot of time cutting through the noise. I want to save you some of that time, so here are the best resources I’ve used to learn from 48 different areas. I’ve spent 3 hours+ with most of these books/youtube creators/podcasters, so they come with well-informed recommendations.http://www.example.com/posts/fear-of-publishing/Mon, 30 Dec 2024 20:25:14 +0000http://www.example.com/posts/fear-of-publishing/Getting over the fear of publishing I think there are potentially two ways of going about this. First, you could dive into the deep end. This strategy will likely be terrifying at first, but especially if you are in an environment that supports you, you will realise that the thing is probably not as bad as you feared. The second strategy is to break down and face your fears ahead of time.http://www.example.com/posts/interesting-quotes-thoughts/Sun, 31 Dec 2023 16:40:18 +0000http://www.example.com/posts/interesting-quotes-thoughts/Your personality lags behind your actions by two years (Colin and Samir). Showing up is more important than being perfect. (Arnold Shwarzenaegger) Perfect practise makes perfect Make a lot of pots Opportunities hide at unlikely intersections (Nicholas Cole) Hang around the hoop (Ali Abdaal) Be so specific you’re universal (Nicholas Cole) The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. (old Chinese proverb) No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training.http://www.example.com/posts/questions/Tue, 17 Oct 2023 20:53:15 +0100http://www.example.com/posts/questions/Some questions and thoughts I’ve had/heard Why do investment banks have employees all work insane hours (e.g. 80 hour weeks) instead of employing twice the amount of people who work normal (40 hour) weeks? -suggested by Luke. Thoughts: There must be some mechanism that means that this state is more efficient. This could be because the field shifts so quickly that it is difficult to stay up to date on information, so long hours are necessary instead of spreading work/information over multiple people.http://www.example.com/posts/travel/Mon, 25 Sep 2023 23:29:51 +0100http://www.example.com/posts/travel/Countries visited (in approximate order): Ireland (10 years) Russia (month) United Kingdom (10 years) France (weeks) Germany (week) Greece (weeks) Spain (months) Portugal (weeks) Italy (week) - Pescara and Sicily Morocco (week) Korea (month) The Netherlands (week) The United States of America (four months so far) I can talk about any of these. Let me know if you want some stories :)http://www.example.com/posts/archive/Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:06:02 +0100http://www.example.com/posts/archive/This is an Archive of some random parts of the website which I liked a bit but don’t really have a place to put right now. Section of old “About” page: Goals: Creating a sustainable, happier and more equal society Creating a strong, stable community around me that lifts each other up Finding a career where I can work on projects I find interesting intellectually Use and develop my leadership skills to help reach my goals Live each day mindfully The idea of this website: To “show my work” or sell myself Inspire a culture of “showing your work” in Oxford Act as a point of outreach and inspiration to show how people like me can be successful Read more about the reason why I made this website here.http://www.example.com/posts/why/Mon, 25 Sep 2023 21:06:02 +0100http://www.example.com/posts/why/In short: To act as a serendipity vehicle. To find people interested in the same things I am, find good suggestions for reading and research, and hopefully meet some interesting people. To act as a catalogue of my interests and achievements. For people interested in me, and to act as inspiration or provide direction for others. To have a testament to my skills and beliefs. It’s quite easy to try and fit in the boxes job applications or other people expect you to be in.