Building a Second Brain in Obsidian

Nada Shawer — Tue, 02 Jun 2026 17:45:04 +0000

I've spent so much time trying to memorize different things across different technologies. But the truth is? Tech evolves rapidly, and every single day new ways of doing things come up.

So..

The key is learning the why behind the how.

We can always learn the “how” by Googling it or checking the docs, but the “why” is what we, as developers, actually need to understand.

I hit a point where my notes were scattered across docs, screenshots, and random folders. That’s when I realized the problem wasn’t the content, it was the system!

The human brain isn’t built to store everything long-term. Because of that, I started building a “second brain.”

The idea is simple: it’s a folder on your computer that holds your most important architectural deep dives, solutions to recurring bugs, quick reference docs, system designs, and more.

NOT syntax, NOT full code examples, NOT things you can easily find through a quick Google search.

For example..

A diagram explaining how Redis handles persistence
A note on how you debugged a Docker networking issue last month

I personally use Obsidian to take notes, plan my learning, track progress, and organize everything in one place. It’s basically a local folder on your machine that you can customize, securely back up, and access anywhere.

Here’s how I’ve structured my engineering roadmap for the summer to handle the workload:

A dynamic Kanban board to pace weekly milestones
A highly visual, structured Markdown notes that keep core ideas easy to scan
A local knowledge graph that visually links related technical concepts over time

Stop trying to cache everything in your short-term memory. Build a system that helps you think instead.

What’s your system? Are you team Obsidian, Notion, or just raw markdown files? I’m curious how other engineers structure their knowledge!

DEV Community: Nada Shawer

Building a Second Brain in Obsidian