About Nick's Notes

Hello, stranger. Or friend. Welcome to the place where I am most myself.

Who is Nick?

That would be me. Name's Nick Ang. I was born and raised in Singapore, but currently live in a city called Düsseldorf in west Germany. I was 29 when I left Singapore. As of 2024, I'm 34. I'm married and have a young daughter, who was born in Berlin.

Work wise, I'm a software engineer with about 10 years of experience. I work full-time remotely for a Berlin-based technology startup called topi. I lean in on my ability to communicate well to do my job as a software engineer – a skill that I think puts me in the top 10% automatically, despite being only average in technical knowledge and skills.

What is Nick's Notes?

This is first and foremost a blog and newsletter, rolled into one. So, like, a bletter? That's not going to stick.

What's going to stick is publishing schedule. I have been blogging since my final year at university, which is about a decade ago now. So this thing has been going on for a while (note: I axed a lot of posts recently in a blog migration, which I'll be restoring slowly).

Here, in this corner of the internet, you'll find me sharing my notes as bletter posts that get delivered straight into your inbox if subscribe.

The free subscription gets you access to ~50% of posts, which are about:

• Living
• Communicating well
• Books I've read + summarised notes
• Productivity
• Career

The paid subscription gets you 100% of posts, which adds on to the above:

• Fitness
• Money
• Daily struggles

My goal is to publish things that either entertain, educate, or provoke thought in readers. I'm not here to waste anyone's time; not mine, and certainly not yours.

I believe that you're only going to be as good as the ideas you surround yourself with. That's a line from Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. You can steal it as I have and do something with that idea.

Why should I consider becoming a paying subscriber?

I don't intend to make much money from this bletter as this is my emotional, intellectual, and spiritual sustenance – not my livelihood.

So you can safely think of a paid subscription as a way to support my endeavour to continue publishing thoughtful, sponsor-free posts.

Hosting this newsletter costs me $10 per month on Ghost, and is set to increase when the number of subscribers increase over time (we are at 280 total subscribers as of mid-2024).

Replying to emails

As a subscriber, you'll be receiving posts via email. The neat thing about email bletters is that you can reply to them and I'll receive your reply directly. From my mind to yours, and yours to mind, back and forth like ping pong balls ricocheting all over the internet.

I'll likely be reading your email in the evenings. If you write thoughtfully, I promise you'll always get a reply.

And now, finally, let's drop the word bletter. It ain't gonna stick. But hopefully you and I will.