I started using Emacs in 2001, and have been using it for two decades continuously, circumstances permitting (in 00s-early 10s Emacs support for Java and C++ was terrible). I have kept its configuration under source control since 2009.
All that time my Emacs knowledge was quite superficial, and the configuration was mostly copy-n-paste from various online bits. Two years ago I decided that I cannot afford not to know my main editor properly, and read its manual and Emacs Lisp reference cover to cover. I did not become an expert, but at least I got a map for the territory. This enabled me to make notes of and fix numerous long-standing annoyances instead of accepting them.
At the same time I started adding various work-related (MySQL back then, Aerospike now) utilities. Still later I started adding new system configuration notes for macOS and Linux, and untangled the whole mess with the help of GNU Stow.
Now I have added a README.md and so my dotfiles are in good enough shape to be public!
