# Blog — Words, ideas & field notes > Long-form essays, field notes and tutorials by Ismail Ghallou (Smakosh). 28 essays on design, development, travel, remote work and the craft of shipping software. ## Essays - **[Attending Next Conf 2023](https://smakosh.com/blog/next-conf-2023)** — 2023-10-31 · 1 min read · _web-development_ - **[2021 year in review](https://smakosh.com/blog/2021-in-year-review)** — 2022-07-17 · 6 min read · _career, web-development_ - **[How to make an NFT](https://smakosh.com/blog/how-to-make-an-nft)** — 2021-11-23 · 3 min read · _web-development, web3, javascript_ - **[2020 year in review](https://smakosh.com/blog/2020-in-year-review)** — 2020-12-30 · 5 min read · _career, web-development_ - **[2019 year in review](https://smakosh.com/blog/2019-in-year-review)** — 2020-01-03 · 2 min read · _career, web-development_ - **[Get paid while you're learning, working at a startup](https://smakosh.com/blog/get-paid-while-you-are-learning-working-at-a-startup)** — 2019-12-23 · 4 min read · _javascript, web-development, career_ - **[Webview native authentication in React Native](https://smakosh.com/blog/webview-native-authentication)** — 2019-12-01 · 5 min read · _mobile-development, javascript_ - **[Getting my third visa rejection](https://smakosh.com/blog/visa-rejections-stories)** — 2019-10-22 · 7 min read · _travel, career_ - **[15 Days working from Bali](https://smakosh.com/blog/15-days-working-from-bali)** — 2019-07-16 · 3 min read · _travel, freelancing, web-development_ - **[Handling SEO in React apps](https://smakosh.com/blog/seo-in-react-apps)** — 2019-06-13 · 2 min read · _javascript, web-development_ - **[Penang was way better](https://smakosh.com/blog/penang-was-way-better)** — 2019-06-06 · 5 min read · _freelancing, travel_ - **[One month in Kuala Lumpur as a remote developer](https://smakosh.com/blog/one-month-in-kuala-lumpur-as-a-remote-developer)** — 2019-04-23 · 5 min read · _freelancing, travel_ - **[Solving hashtags problems](https://smakosh.com/blog/solving-hashtags-problems)** — 2019-04-14 · 3 min read · _javascript, mobile-development_ - **[How To add dark mode easily with a custom React hook](https://smakosh.com/blog/how-to-add-dark-mode-easily-with-a-custom-react-hook)** — 2019-03-22 · 1 min read · _javascript, css, web-development_ - **[2018 year review](https://smakosh.com/blog/2018-year-review)** — 2019-01-13 · 2 min read · _career, web-development_ - **[One year working remotely](https://smakosh.com/blog/one-year-working-remotely)** — 2018-09-18 · 3 min read · _web-development, career_ - **[From failure to launch - Hajj Hackathon](https://smakosh.com/blog/from-failure-to-launch-hajj-hackathon)** — 2018-08-06 · 4 min read · _web-development, travel_ - **[We are truly living in a simulation](https://smakosh.com/blog/we-are-truly-living-in-a-simulation)** — 2018-06-29 · 1 min read · _career_ - **[The tech tools I use](https://smakosh.com/blog/the-tech-tools-I-use)** — 2018-02-27 · 2 min read · _web-development_ - **[My trip to Istanbul and why I hate traveling](https://smakosh.com/blog/istanbul-trip)** — 2017-12-25 · 3 min read · _travel_ - **[Why I created Unnamed](https://smakosh.com/blog/unnamed)** — 2017-09-20 · 1 min read · _css, web-development_ - **[Build your perceptron neural net from scratch](https://smakosh.com/blog/build-your-perceptron)** — 2017-08-12 · 3 min read · _ai_ - **[First time getting first prize at a hackathon](https://smakosh.com/blog/first-time-first-prize)** — 2017-07-08 · 2 min read · _web-development_ - **[Getting my first job offer without a degree at a startup](https://smakosh.com/blog/getting-my-first-job-offer)** — 2017-06-07 · 3 min read · _web-development, career_ - **[HPS Hackathon](https://smakosh.com/blog/hps-hackathon)** — 2017-04-10 · 2 min read · _web-development_ - **[How I learned Design and Dev in a year and half](https://smakosh.com/blog/how-I-learned-design-and-dev)** — 2017-03-10 · 3 min read · _css, web-development, career, freelancing_ - **[Never work for free](https://smakosh.com/blog/never-work-for-free)** — 2017-03-02 · 2 min read · _freelancing, career_ - **[About me so far...](https://smakosh.com/blog/about-me-so-far)** — 2016-12-02 · 3 min read · _career, web-development_ --- Canonical URL: https://smakosh.com/blog