Hello, I’m Alexander Obregon, a 29-year-old who’s passionate about code and software development. I’m living in the U.S. now, but a lot of what shaped me happened far from here.
When I was 13, I moved with my parents to the jungles of Papua New Guinea. They were doing medical outreach work, traveling to villages that often had no connection to the outside world. For about four years, we lived in remote areas and spent our days reaching nearby communities, sometimes taking small fishing boats to get there and staying in thatched huts alongside the people we met. We even spent time in parts of the Solomon Islands that were in conflict zones controlled by guerrilla forces.
After that, I spent time in Australia and traveled through parts of Asia. Each place added something to how I see things. When I eventually came back to the States, I started working as an installer, doing networking and home theater jobs. That hands-on work got me curious about what was happening behind the equipment I was setting up, and that interest kept building until I enrolled in Flatiron School to study software engineering.
While I was learning to code, I got into the habit of writing short posts to keep track of what I was picking up. It started out as both a requirement and a way to organize my thoughts, but over time I started to enjoy it. Writing helped me fill in the gaps in what I didn’t fully understand, so I kept it up even after graduating from Flatiron.
I’ve always remembered what it was like living in places where the internet was spotty at best. A few people around me had a real interest in learning about programming, but streaming videos just wasn’t realistic. YouTube tutorials would buffer endlessly or never load at all, which left them with only articles, documentation, or the occasional RSS feed. Most of those were written in English, which was a second language for the people in my area. That stuck with me. It’s one of the reasons I try to keep my writing clear, easy to follow, and as translatable as possible. I also keep the vast majority of my articles free and outside of paywalls, no matter where someone’s reading them from.
These days, I spend a lot of time writing about programming concepts that should be easier to find answers for. A lot of topics either get skipped over or buried in complicated language, and even when you go searching, most of what turns up is either outdated, vague, or hard to follow. I’ll often look up whatever I’m currently learning, just to see what’s out there. Most of the time, the top result is a forum post from years ago that only kind of answers the question. Experienced developers might be able to read between the lines and figure it out, but if you’re still learning, it can be more confusing than helpful. That’s part of why I focus on writing things down clearly and in plain language. Not everyone can rely on video content or fast internet to get the help they need, so I try to make sure what I write actually explains the concept and can stand on its own.
Most of what I write is about tech and programming, but I branch out into other topics when something grabs my interest. I usually write as I’m learning, focusing on specific or niche topics that don’t have much written about them. My usual process is to dig through the raw documentation, piece together the parts that matter, and shape it into something that’s easier to read and understand.
This Substack is where I post weekly recaps of what I’ve published, plus occasional extras, notes, and posts that don’t quite fit anywhere else. Some of that is open to everyone, and some of it’s just for paid subscribers.
If you’ve found my writing helpful and want to support it, this is the best place to do that. For the past few years, I’ve written over a thousand free articles on Medium, and they’ve reached millions of readers, most of them outside the U.S. I’d really like to keep that going. Monetizing my content on Medium doesn’t really line up with what I’m trying to do. Most of the people reading my work aren’t in places where a paywall makes sense, and locking things up would only cut them off. That’s part of why I think accessible programming content is still an overlooked gap. There isn’t much out there written for that audience, mostly because it’s not profitable. But that doesn’t mean there’s no need for it. If anything, I think they might need it the most. Subscribing here is what makes that possible. It helps me keep writing, keep things free where they need to be, and keep the work going long term. You’ll get access to subscriber-only content, but just as importantly, you’re helping support the rest of the writing that stays open for everyone.
You can also follow me on Medium to see the kind of work you're supporting.
