For software engineers, the ethereal nature of our work often means we’re left without many physical reminders that it ever happened. That can make it surprisingly hard to look back and celebrate what we’ve actually done, especially after constantly moving from one project to the next. I’ve certainly felt that myself, so I’ve made a point of holding on to a few keepsakes over the years. After finding several of them during a recent spring clean, I decided to turn them into a display for my office shelf.

The piece features:

• A commemorative DSEI UK coin I received while representing MindLink at the convention in 2025.
• A first place medal from the first ever MindLink Hackathon.
• A MindLink business card featuring the company’s recently redesigned branding.
• A commemorative challenge coin from one of our customers, censored here because of the confidential nature of our work.

The finished display gives those memories a physical form and reminds me how much my team and I achieved during that time. It also reflects the parts of software engineering that are easy to overlook: the people, shared milestones, and experiences behind the systems we build.