글또후기
Carrying on the warmth we shared and built together—Reflections on Geul-tto Cohort 10
Reflections on Geul-tto Cohort 10: A Story That Can Never Be Shortened
Reflections on Geul-tto Cohort 10: A Story That Can Never Be Shortened
The 글또 10기 project, which I worked on with great enthusiasm for six months starting in late September 2024, has come to an end. Now that I’ve officially put a period at the end of it and look back, I’m struck anew by just how incredibly fast time flies. That’s how packed my days were during Q4 2024 and Q1 2025. And Geul-tto definitely played a big part in that.
In this post, I’d like to summarize the footprints I left during Geul-tto Cohort 10, what I gained from the experience, my reflections, and what I’d like to try in the future. (I also plan to tie this in with my activities from Cohort 9 to some extent!)
As always, the main activity in Geul-tto is 글쓰기. I worked hard to submit my posts. The only regret is... even though I declared "No Passes This Term!!" I ended up using both of them...? 😅 Still, I submitted two posts in one session, bringing my total to 11 posts.
I thought I’d write more technical posts than I did in Cohort 9, but I actually didn’t write that many more. (I wrote 6 in Cohort 9. Actually, I wrote fewer 🥲) Still, I wrote about my orchestra experience—something I’d always wanted to write about—and posted a lot of experience-based content like conference reviews and reflections, so overall, I think I covered a wide range of topics.
You can view my posts on the Gleotto search site like this.
I applied for curation consistently but never got selected. However, since there are so many talented writers on Geul-tto, I think that’s just 그럴만 했다!. It’s a bit disappointing, but reading other people’s posts helped me understand the shortcomings of my own writing ☺️
The positive experience I had during the 9th term led me to start working as a moderator. Since I always strive to be someone who can share with others, I wanted to contribute to the community in any way I could as a staff member. Of course, I could have done this even without being on staff, but I felt that having an official title would give me a greater sense of responsibility, so I decided I absolutely had to join.
Here’s a little anecdote. Around late July last year, Seong-yoon, the community administrator, posted a recruitment notice for the 10th cohort’s staff on the 9th cohort’s Slack channel. At the time, I was waiting for my violin practice room to open, so I thought, “I’ll apply after I get back from practice!” But… The recruitment was first-come, first-served, and the pace of applications was insane. I thought I might miss out, so I quickly jotted down my application
before my practice session started. (Sure enough, I got in right after the recruitment closed 😅)
"I’m the kind of person who enjoys creating value through the activities I can do, and I find great fulfillment in that. Especially in groups like this, my main goal is to ensure ‘people can participate smoothly’ or ‘leave them with good memories’ through my contributions."
— Reason for applying to the organizing team, as written at the time
I applied to the Group Crew and became part of the Ban Sang-hoe Preparation Team. The role-specific Ban Sang-hoe, classified as one of Geul-tto’s major events, was held a total of four times during the 10th term. I joined the Gathering Crew because I believed I could handle it better than other activities, having prepared for large-scale events many times before (both in clubs and for IT events). However, as experience tends to accumulate and expand, I actually learned even more and had a truly enjoyable time. I would like to express my gratitude to the Moim Crew leadership team (Jo Jae-woo, Kim Jun-sung, Kang Seung-hyun, Kim Hae-in, Kim Jeong-hee, and Choi Tae-young) and all the members of the preparation committee.
Since the Backend/Infrastructure meeting had a specific “concept,” I thought it would be nice to create stickers that fit that theme. The illustrations I drew ended up being used all over the Geul-tto Slack channel later on. I used those as a basis for the following projects.
Creating my own four-panel comic frames based on the concepts
Thanks to this, I was able to pick up drawing as a hobby again, and I was really happy to have contributed to bringing joy to people, even if they didn’t realize it.
"I’d like to contribute more to creating merchandise. Recently, while working on a task force for an internal department dinner, I drew characters, and I also helped design T-shirts for the climbing crew."
— Excerpt from my application to the management team, listing activities I’d like to pursue
The culture of coffee chats is well-established at Geul-to. Even so, an overwhelming number of coffee chat reviews were posted this term. Having been part of Geul-tto since the 9th cohort, I think the 10th cohort’s coffee chats were truly exceptional. To borrow the words of those who’ve been doing this since before, I heard that coffee chats had become quite active even during the 9th cohort… but this cohort was really… really different.
Riding that wave, I also hosted many coffee chats. I’ve verified 50 of them. (And there are even several I didn’t verify...) But if you look deeper, while they were technically “coffee chats,” there were actually many times when we shared experiences that went far beyond that. There were also coffee chats I organized myself, like the ski camp and healthcare chat. (This is another difference from the 9th cohort—back then, there were far more one-on-one coffee chats.)
I worked hard to generate the charts, but since the images didn’t display well on Belog, I organized them on Notion. If you’re curious about the content, click here!!!
(I feel like I could have just used Worlden...?)
Since Geul-tto is a “developer writing group,” I thought I should write a lot of development-related articles. However, I didn’t end up writing many technical posts. I have this idea that technical posts need to be written meticulously, but when I actually sat down to write, I often felt I wasn’t being thorough enough or couldn’t dive deep enough, so I gave up on writing them.
Above
all, this stems from the desire to write “well.”** While that mindset is fine, it can also become a mental block that makes me overthink things. **So, to ease the pressure of writing technical posts going forward, I decided I need to practice writing short, well-structured pieces that are helpful to others.
An internal company blog has been launched, and I think I’ll be able to comfortably write work-related posts there. (Of course, the same goes for this blog.) I should start by making a list of what I might write about in the future.
I think I’ve managed to resolve the issue I mentioned in my 9th-term review of “Gul-tto”—not promoting enough—which I had noted as a personal regret. After all, I’ve been sharing posts on Instagram Stories and reposting them on my Naver Blog as well.
From now on, I need to promote my work more actively across a wider range of channels. The first thing that comes to mind is LinkedIn—which I ended up starting while participating in the 10th session...!
I didn’t really know exactly how many people were reading my posts or who was reading them. Belog’s analytics make it hard to track that kind of thing. So during the 9th session, it was difficult to tell if my writing was effective or helpful.
But the 10th session was different. Several people told me they were deeply moved by my writing. Some shared their thoughts in the Core Channel threads, and others even told me in person, “I really enjoyed reading that.” It was almost the first time I felt a sense of pride simply from the act of writing itself while participating in the writing program.
When I heard that a post I wrote on my blog, filled with my thoughts in the Bamboo Forest section, had comforted someone; when people told me it was helpful even though I hadn’t intended it to be; when they said my writing was interesting, and so on… Realizing that my writing is helping someone turns into motivation that makes me want to keep writing. Isn’t that a virtuous cycle between myself and others, mediated by writing? My confidence in writing has grown even more.
I wrote this in my 9th Cohort Review. And I had the same thought during the 10th Cohort.
Among the people I met at the coffee chats, those who had a particular affection for Geul-tto commonly said things like, “Geul-tto is a safe zone,” or “I feel like they’ll accept whatever I do.” I actually agreed with that
, and that became the driving force behind my more active participation from Season 9 through Season 10.
“Everything is allowed except what isn’t.” That’s what Seong-yoon said. It might seem like a very obvious point, but it’s incredibly clear. It feels like it implies that Geul-tto guarantees the safety of my actions. I suspect that “what isn’t allowed” refers to ethical or legal behaviors that are generally prohibited in society, and that the statement is meant to be understood as meaning that anything that happens within those boundaries is permitted.
Generally, people feel a sense of loss when they’re prevented from doing what they want. But Geul-tto aims to prevent that sense of loss. It was a place that minimized restrictions (limited to a code of conduct) and maximized encouragement. That’s why people could freely suggest fun activities and conspire together (?). Perhaps that’s how it maintained a sense of security and warmth.
(Even though it’s a writing community, didn’t we go sledding, skiing, make kimchi, play Secret Santa, visit art exhibitions, and gather to walk together because of Pikmin... and so on 😁 The 10th cohort’s activities were just insane—in a good way...)
There were so many other fun elements too. Especially the point system introduced in the 10th cohort, the paper airplanes, the automatic feedback on posts, the random "Post Spinner" draws, the Genie Bot lucky bag messages...
These things allowed us to continuously experience fun and inspiration together, which really helped energize the community! I have nothing but respect for the admins who worked with us, including Seong-yoon. Seriously 😎
The image of a developer is often perceived as somewhat stiff or cold, with people who seem robotic. Geul-to is the perfect place to break that stereotype.
Geul-tto is fundamentally imbued with warmth. There are so many people here who genuinely care about others. It’s about acceptance rather than criticism. In a world like today’s, where everyone thinks only of themselves, seeing someone who embraces others feels truly special—but here, that’s just the default.
I suspect that because they’re writers, their warmth is particularly pronounced. To write well, they’ve already gone through the process of delving deep into their own thoughts and refining them by reading others’ writing. Since this is a place filled with people who’ve been polished in this way, it’s bound to be warm. Thanks to that, my own warmth has risen significantly too.
This is just about my temperament
, but I’ve definitely realized that I’m a divergent thinker. Simply saying that I like doing various activities didn’t quite explain it, but I figured it out this time.
In the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment, my top theme was Action. Since my greatest strength is my drive to take action, it makes perfect sense that I tend to radiate energy whenever I feel like doing something—I just go for it. (I bet I handled all 50 of those Coffee Chats the same way...)
Seungye and Yuyoung gave me feedback on my resume and said I just needed to polish my self-introduction a bit more. They recommended the Gallup StrengthsFinder assessment, so I went home and immediately swiped my card for 80,000 won to take the test! When I saw that my Top 1 theme was Action, I completely understood why I’d swiped my card right away.
— Review post from the trending Balsan Chat
At the end of my 2024 retrospective, I wrote at length about why I want to be a good person. It was about how, based on the saying that “the average of the five people around you defines who you are,” I want to be the kind of person who, in turn, raises the average of those around me.
When I was surrounded by people who weren’t on the same wavelength as me, I was often deeply hurt. And ironically, it was also painful to feel myself becoming more like them. I tried to intentionally distance myself from others and constantly worried about maintaining that distance.
But on Geul-tto, so many people reached out to me first. They actively expressed exactly what it was about me that made them feel positively toward me. Things I would have missed and overlooked had they not been expressed. (They even wrote me handwritten letters 📮)
I couldn’t help but grow closer to those people, and I definitely felt like my own standards were rising. So, I started to love “people” again, and as my standards improved, I wanted to give back to others in return.
Hoping it might be helpful, I also freely shared my honest stories (through Bamboo Forest, blog posts, Life’s Jitto, and one-on-one coffee chats). I did a ton of coffee chats myself, aiming to open up and lower the barrier so people would feel comfortable asking me for help. In fact, whenever I received a request for a coffee chat, I would jump right in, doing my best to offer even the smallest hint of guidance—even if it was just my own story.
I am someone who advocates for a better today than yesterday, and a better tomorrow than today. My activities on Geul-tto were a great way to fulfill that philosophy. I experienced meaningful growth, which made my time there even more enjoyable.
I came here simply to write... but over the course of about a year and a half on Geul-tto, I’ve changed a great deal. I’ve become more resilient and started taking care of myself. And I’ve started looking out for those around me. I’ve started writing again with renewed dedication, and I’m reading to improve my writing. By continuing to connect with others, I’m reflecting on how to live a better life.
I want to continue contributing to society, one step at a time. And I believe that my time at Geul-tto was spent laying the groundwork for that future.
"Gleotto Cohort 10 may have ended, but Gleotto isn’t over. The bonds I’ve formed with these people will continue in one way or another."
I was happy to be with such wonderful people. I’d like to express my gratitude to all the Gleotto members who joined me on this journey.
++ To those reading this: even if we never actually had a chance to talk during the 9th or 10th cohorts, please reach out if you’d like to grab a coffee with me! Anyone who’s been part of Geul-tto is always welcome 🙌