2021: The Ups And Downs
Onto The Next
Hello.
Here’s just me trying to share some of my feats in the year 2021, and maybe some of my plans for the next year.
Tried Out OpenSource
I started the year very well. I was learning a lot of JavaScript. One day, a senior community member, Okafor Irene, published an article on how to build a CLI generator. I read the article, found it interesting and built something, then uploaded to npm. And that was my first ever shot at open-source. I’d say it went well, I got a few downloads.
I tried building something in PHP too, and I was able to. And as you’d guess, I made it public too. I’m the only one who’s used it till date though 🥲.
Tried creating a few PRs to other repos throughout the year. My proudest one was the one made to the official Laravel repo. It got rejected because the feature had been previously suggested and rejected. I felt nice because it wasn’t rejected due to bad code or anything. I realised I know this coding thing.
Got My First Foreign Job
In February, I worked as a Support Engineer for a product. Over the course of a month, I attended to customers and helped them with their technical issues that usually ranged from coding errors to server setup and deployment. This helped me improve in customer interaction and also boosted my debugging skills, as I got to see issues I’m not used to.
In March, through a friend, I got a job at Humongous.io. I worked there for 4 months. Over this period, I picked up TypeScript, and built with it. I learned how to write tests too.
Took Writing Serious
Part of my goals for last year was to “Take my article writing more seriously”. I did my best. I was off track of this goal for the early periods of the year. I joined a group to help with accountabily and motivation. I got kicked out. I wrote my first article of the year later in April.
I later went on to write for freeCodeCamp. Later in the year, I wrote my first ever paid article, an Edpresso shot on Laravel redirects. Later on, I went on to write for section.io. I wrote on “Getting started with Alpine.js”. Closer to the end of the year, I joined ContentLab and Draft.dev as a Technical Writer.
Had So Many Rejections
I think this has to be the most common thing that happened to me this year. I rolled out a lot of applications, got so many rejections too. Attended some interviews, some ghosted me afterwards.
I applied to speak at some events, I got rejected too.
I Went Out More And Met Many Amazing People
I attended a couple of meet-ups. Met people that I’ve been friends with, in person, for the first time. I attended the Q Devs meet-up in May and it was amazing. I finally met Lord Bee in person.
I also attended unStack conference, where I met friends too. I also met Prosper Otemuyiwa and I was super excited about this. Had a short talk with him and I still feel the joy till this day.
I got to Travel to Ilorin this year. The only time I left Lagos. Got to visit Unilorin too.
Learnt A Lot Of Things
Like last year, I explored a lot of interests, in Tech and otherwise. I read a few books, didn’t complete any (sadly). I relearned some of the things I knew. Got better. Got certificates from different platform, my proudest if which was the one freeCodeCamp.
Made Some Money
As expected, with all my effort in this. I got some nice rewards. I might have made 7 figures. Who knows. But I did make some money. Made some almost $1000 from writing too.
I spent all of the money made though. Got myself a MacBook Air with the M1 chip around September. Got a small iPhone later on. Went out a couple of times and had good moments with friends. Took a lot of time off coding to rest. I can say I’ve almost got a work-life balance now.
Github
My GitHub is also proof of my progress as some tremendous change can be seen in my activity from 2020 to 2021. As usual, we do more in 2022.
I went from 891 in 2020,
to 1031 in 2021.
I Tried To Build A Lot Of Things
Another goal I set last year was to build plenty projects. I tried to follow up but couldn’t. Sometimes because there was a huge gap between my imaginations and my current skillset. Other times, because I’m not a good frontend developer (looking for frontend dev friends). I learned a lot from those unfinished projects. The finished ones benefited from those failures. Here are some of the things I tried my hands on:
- GPCalc: I rebuilt this project from last year using Vuetify.
- Anonytexts: Worked with my boss, Efusanyo Ayomide, on the first version of this. Built a second version (not completed) with Maryam.
Summary
I built a lot of really cool projects this year, most of them pushing me to learn more, which I’m really grateful for now. I met really amazing people, some of which I got to work with, others were only able to impact their knowledge through chats and calls. I’m grateful for the people I have as friends. It was this year that I knew more about so many things.
To read more of my articles or follow my works, you may connect with me on LinkedIn and Twitter. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s free!
Happy New Year.
