After having sparktutorials.net up for several years, it's time to shut it down. I haven't written for the site in years at this point and it's not doing me any good now that I have The Definitive Guide published.

Interestingly, I (knowingly) haven't published on the site for nearly 3 years. Why did I keep it up? There isn't necessarily a straightforward answer. I likely kept it up because it represented something. It represented how I got to where I was by taking a chance and launching and iterating. That makes it hard to shut it down. It represents a part of me. that's going to be hard to let go.

This project was a great project because it helped me land the job at Databricks that I have greatly enjoyed and grown in. When I started the site, I didn't take anything for granted, I busted ass and did research on the posts that I published. It still generates thousands of page views but at this point with hosting, the domain, etc., it's just not worth hosting any longer.

This project did provide an amazing training experience for interviews. Moreover, it got me some exposure. People constantly reached out to me about consulting and training - something that was extremely rewarding.

But with that, it has served its purpose and while I'm still proud of the accomplishment, there's no point in living in the past. It's done and it's time to move onto new things.

On to the next project(s)

I've wanted to start a new project for the last 6 months. I've experimented with a number of projects but at this point, nothing has totally stuck. Therefore, it's time to simplify.

One thing that I used to do all of the time was write. The book sapped that from me a little bit or at least channeled it in a very focused manner. It's time for me to return to writing more often, writing up tutorials, doing my own research and returning to what got me here in the first place: hustle.

For 2019, my goal is to start small and just start publishing posts on a regular basis. From there, we'll get into meatier and meatier projects.

Start small and get regular. Then move onto bigger and better things.