2022 Year in review
(My Man Tito added pressure on my neck by asking for a song he doesn’t already know, so here we go, This read and honestly any other one would be nicer if you had wild dream by Burna boy or hide & seek by Stormzy playing in the background)
I was reading my previous year in review and I felt like it doesn’t sound like a review but like a kind of a highlights collection of my year, I had only written things that had gone well. So for this new one, I’m gonna try to write about everything that happen to me this year the good and the bad.
Programming
At the beginning of the year, one of my mentors asked about my technical goals for 2022 basically, It was a list in which I had put a bunch of frameworks, but then he made me realize that they weren’t measurable. I asked myself a question, if you want to learn a new framework after you have created your first todo app, could you consider that you have finished? I don’t think. It made me understand that learning a new technology is more than building a todo or watching a youtube video and then I realized that I will never have the time to learn all those frameworks that I had on my list. Instead, I choose a few frameworks and concepts I wanted to improve nodesjs (Express, Nestjs), React, Testing, Data structure, and algorithms.
Nodejs
When I look back, I had written many languages and frameworks for the backend but I didn’t have technology in which I was ready to jump on and work without any doubt, so I decided to stick with one until I will be comfortable and confident to learn something else. This one was the nodejs ecosystem.
I had not any knowledge about nodejs, but now I’m able to write an entire app with express or nestjs, I’m still learning about it but I’m feeling comfortable with the language, the environment, and everything that goes around. There is still more to learn but I’m particularly proud of the way I have come from.
I gave a talk on best practices and architecture with nodejs, I’m currently building my side project with Nestjs.
Testing
At my work, we don’t write tests yet, but when I checked the job offers out there, it sounds like a mandatory skill, and of course, if you want to follow best practices and be confident in the code you ship you definitely need tests. I didn’t know too much about testing, it was an unexplored area, but now I know the different types of tests, and in which context every type is useful, and I try to write tests for every code that I write.
Data structure and algorithms
It’s something that I wanted to learn for interviews at big tech companies. I have learned a few algorithms, and data structures and have tried to solve interview questions on leetcode but I have not been as consistent as I would have liked. I lost motivation somewhere during the year, but I will try my best next year.
React
I didn’t learn Reactjs too much in my spare time because I already write React every day at my job and it gets a bit boring but I think with the new documentation coming this year, I will spend time refreshing my fundamentals.
Python (Flask)
I didn’t plan to learn python this year, but I had to work on a client project and flask was the framework that they wanted me to work with. You already know that money pays bills so I learned flask for this project. I enjoy writing python even if isn’t a language I will choose if I have the choice.
Work
At work I work mostly on the same app which I started building with one dev from scratch at the end of 2021, the app is now in production, fully available and feedback is good. We have built something that resolves the issue that was faced by our internal users, it’s something that I’m proud of.
Writing
I decided to write everything in English because one of my goals was to be fluent. I don’t know if I’m fluent now but it has helped me to improve. I’ve written 12 articles which is three times the number of articles that I wrote in 2021, I feel like my writing skills are improving.
I didn't choose random topics just for the pleasure to write, I write only if I learn something new that I want to master or I feel worth writing.
I drastically changed the way I approach technical writing, now if I’m learning something new, I take notes, and I also try to draw illustrations then I write the article based on those notes which helps me to have clearer guidelines, and illustrations add an interactive side to the article.
Stats
This year I created more than I consumed, here are some stats about the content I shared on multiple platforms.
My posts on LinkedIn have generated 16096 impressions and 353 engagements.
My articles on medium have been viewed 1128 times and read 576 times.
On dev.to my articles have been viewed 930 times and generated 28 interactions.
I can’t tell you what those numbers mean, and I can’t tell you with certitude that people are really reading the shit I write but I take it as it is.
Training
They say health is wealth, so my goal was to build a training habit, but I failed. I’ve run only 15 times and made a home training only 7 times in an entire year even if I had downloaded the Adidas training and running apps on my phone I thought it will motivate me. Shame on me
Speaking
Speaking was another thing that I wanted to improve, so I gave my first talk in person at the devFest2022 organized by the Dakar Google Developer Group. My topic was nodejs and the talk goes well. I received positive feedback. I will try to speak more next year, it’s something that I enjoyed to do even if it’s stressful.
Purchases
I bought some gadgets this year. An External gaming monitor, a google nest mini and a new headphone. I also started a manga collection. I want to buy more gagdet next year and grow my collection.
Failing
I failed to
- being consistent with data structure and algorithms
- build a training habit and stick to it
- read more books
- save more money
- improve my speaking in English
- solve 100 interview questions
- learn system design
Lack of discipline and consistency is the main reason why I failed every point above.
Personal note
I had also personal goals, one of them was to buy a gift for every person that I care and I did that, it’s something that makes me proud of myself.
I’m still dealing with anxiety, more this year than at any point in my life, I don’t know if I can call it a good side but I know what gives me anxiety, sometimes is because I overthink about my future, sometimes about responsibilities I have more mostly in my personal life and sometimes is about university. I understood that pressure will always be there, so I need a kind of balance, a way to deal with it.
I lost people this year, and people close to me have also lost people, some days I slept with the fear of not waking up others I was sad without any reason.
I grew this year in all areas of my life. It was the first time that I really thought about myself as a person, what I want to achieve, what I want to leave behind, and which kind of relationship I want to build maybe it’s because I’m 21 and I’m entering adulthood I don’t know but it was quite stressful.
I had great moments this year, I meet my mom again after 2 years, and I shared fantastic moments with my girlfriend, friends, and teammates.
Overall I’m pretty satisfied with what I have accomplished this year even if I’m convinced that I could have accomplished more if I was more disciplined and consistent, life has been easy with me, I have my two parents, a good relationship, friendships, and a job.
Shoutout to Watashi no ai, Tito, Bachir, Bertrand, Soumeya Droite and Soumeya Gauche you have made my year.
What’s next?
I think the next year will be a tough one, more than 2022 but I'm ready, I want to continue to grow, as a person and as an engineer. I want to refresh my fundamentals, deep dive into the technologies I learned this year, complete a side project, write more, and expand my horizons with distributed systems (Microservices), infrastructure (Kubernetes, CI/CD, Docker), system design, and cloud technologies, and speak fluently English.
I know that to accomplish all these things I need to be more disciplined and consistent, I have already written a detailed plan, and I wish I will stick to it.
2023 will also be the final year of my master's degree in software engineering, the end of an area. I’m feeling excited about this one.
Cheers to 2023 🥂