2 Jan 2020

2019 Year in Review

2019 marked the end of a decade, and lots of changes for me personally. This is a reflection on the highlights of my year.

1. Started Auburn's Computer Science program

I'll start with definitely the biggest event and time occupier (outside work) of the year. At the beginning of 2019, I began my enrollment in Auburn's online Computer Science program. Rather than analyzing the program (I'll save that for the future), I'd like to touch briefly on what the experience has meant for me.

I already had a bachelor's. Furthermore, I was generally happy with life: At 28, while teaching English in Tokyo, I started teaching myself web development. 6 years and a couple of shitty jobs later and I'm an okay developer, at a job I actually enjoy, with a success I couldn't have imagined back in Japan.

So, why go back to school?

I thought long and hard about my motivations for pursuing a Computer Science degree. I could go on and on about the reasons that finally pushed me to enroll at Auburn, but let me just say this: getting the CS degree became an itch I needed to scratch.

So, here I am, a year in. Needless to say, there are good and bad things about the program. I don't think I've ever been busier or more sleep deprived in my life. Between work and school, a lot of the time I feel like I don't exist outside of this screen I'm typing on.

Yet I can definitely say it's been worth it. It's frustrating and awesome and eye-opening. It's made me care more about the code I write, and deepened my foundational programming knowledge. It's pushed me to my limits more than once, and has served as a catalyst to deepen my motivation/learning/ambition in other areas, both inside the field and out.

Was it necessary to join the program to gain these things? Probably not. Could someone learn this stuff on their own? I think so. But for me it was the right decision, and I can wholeheartedly say that I'm very satisfied with my choice.

Sometimes, in my late nights, struggling to rewrite a broken algorithm, or erupting with joy in that "Aha!" moment, I'm reminded of the 28 year old me hunkered down in front of his computer screen in a tiny studio apartment on the other side of the world.

One year down, one to go!

2. Confidence in my abilities as a software engineer

This kind of goes hand-in-hand with the above. But this year I've felt my overall skills as an engineer improve, and it's made me more confident in my decision making and code writing.

Professionally, I was promoted and made the frontend lead on several projects, mostly Angular/Typescript based. These were medium sized applications with a non-trivial degree of complexity. I became much more comfortable with RxJS and state management. When tasked with a technical requirement I'd never encountered before (which happened quite a few times πŸ˜…) I was able to brainstorm/architect a reasonable solution.

I was even taken out of my comfort zone and did some backend work with the data and business layers for a survey taking application used by large institutions all over the nation.

School forced me to learn some Java. And also do some hardcore programming with data structures and algorithms. I like Java, but I'm not good enough at it yet so I haven't done much with it otherwise (side projects, et. al) since it slows my development.

Personally, I really wanted to improve my Python skills. I don't use it at work (one day I hope!), but I've found I really enjoy programming with it. This year I continued exploring Flask and built a couple of applications as side projects, allowing me to delve further into API and database design.

I feel like this year was the most knowledge gained since I began this programming journey. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement. I've come a long way, and I've got a long way to go.

This year I hope to revisit some of the JavaScript that I've either forgotten or never learned properly in the first place, and continue improving my Python skills. Holding out hope that I'll be doing more backend stuff at work too.

3. Remote Working

In October I started working remotely full-time. My employer is understanding enough to give their employees the freedom to work where they want.

It's been a real game-changer for me. I feel respected and trusted, and it allows me flexibility in managing my time, especially in regards to my school work.

Not sure I will always want to work remote, but for now it's great.

4. Exercised A Lot

Depression, gloom, cynicism, bummer; whatever you want to call it, let's just say I'm occasionally inclined to those feelings. Since my early 20s I've realized that regular exercise is one of my best allies in sustaining a healthy, mindful outlook.

With partial remote work for most of the year, and full remote from October, I was able to get back into a steady physical routine. And because I work remote, I've made an extra point to get out of the house to avoid cabin fever and becoming a complete hermit.

Rough summary of my activity:

January - April

  • Ran 10 - 20 miles per week
  • Yoga 2-3x/week

May - October

  • Ran 20 - 30 miles per week
  • Yoga 2-3x/week

October - December

  • Gym 3-4x per week
  • Ran 3 - 6 miles per week

For 2020, I don't have any exercise goals other than to keep doing something. Maybe I'll try to check out rock climbing.

5. Cooked a lot

I cooked this year more than any other in my life. A large part of this was that working from home allowed me to cook dinner during the time in which I'd typically be commuting.

I've found I really enjoy cooking and look forward to the time I can take a break from the computer and spend some time in the kitchen. I'd like to further my skills this year, especially with Japanese food. γ„γŸγ γγΎγ™!

Other stuff for 2020: