2022: Zubair, By The People

We Go Again 🚀

Hello there,

Welcome to another edition of my annual EOYR (End of the year review). This year was a long and crazy one, but Alhamdulillah, we’re still alive and can go again 🚀. This is kinda like my self evaluation/review. So here’s some of the things that happened to me in 2022.

Was Employed All Year Long

In January, I interviewed for a role as a Software Engineer at AYU Digital. Of course, I got the job — because I’m Zubair 😉. But honestly, I got the job mostly because I was referred by a respected member of the community, Kruse (the senior engineer). This was another job I had gotten through referral, and another job I had been referred to by Kruse. I was really excited cause you know how the tech job market is.

The job was my first as a full PHP role, even though I had written Laravel in previous engagements. I worked at AYU Digital for 5 months. These months were probably my best months of the year. These months were exciting and challenging. I learned a lot in these months, did a lot of stuff I had planned for later in the year or later in my life.

After 5 months of non-stop learning and plenty development, I moved up to Stax. I joined Stax as an Andela contractor. I joined Andela just about a month before matching with Stax. This was probably the best thing that happened to me this year. It was the perfect opportunity. It offered me growth in every way I wanted. Financially, it was about 5x what I was earning in Q1. In terms of learning opportunities, it made me appreciate my code and brought me to a new level as a software engineer; I was building software that many people depended on. The people there are really great and always seem to be rooting for me. I love working at Stax 💜.

Still Don’t Know Enough C++ Or DSA

In previous years, since I learned how powerful C++ is, I’ve been trying to learn and master it. Every year, I fail. This year, I decided to try out something different, a new language, Rust. In January, I joined the newly created Rust Nigeria community, and tried to learn Rust. I couldn't keep up for a couple of reasons: Rust wasn’t exactly beginner friendly (please don’t enter my DM to convince me), and work was really challenging for me. The Rust people are really friendly and supportive by the way.

I, however, didn’t stop learning. My job required me to keep learning a lot everyday to keep up, and I loved it. I got to learn a lot more PHP and backend technologies generally. I also took some time to learn DSA (Data Structures and Algorithms). I learned a lot of DSA, it’s not nearly enough yet, but enough to pass basic job interviews (I got into Andela and Turing) and do my day to day work without getting fired.

Didn’t Read Enough

In February, I was finally able to start on one of my long term plans, reading books. I completed my first book of the year, PHP Pandas: The PHP Programming Language For Everyone by Dayle Rees, that month too. It was a nice start, it gave me the opportunity to relearn most of the things I knew already. I also learned a couple of new and amazing things from it. I surely felt enlightened after reading it. I kept this up for a while, reading three books already by mid-May. Started some books too, but never finished them. I planned to do more than this, but didn’t. So, we go again next year.

Here’s the other two books I read:

• PHP Web Services by Lorna Jane Mitchell.
• Software Architecture Patterns by Mark Richards.

Was Too Scared To Fail

This year, more than ever, I was scared to do many things. I held back on a lot of things I’d have jumped into in previous years. Though, like other things in life, this had its’ own advantage. This fear saved me sometimes.

Now, I also didn’t do a lot of things I loved doing, cause I worried too much. I always found myself asking questions like “What if it doesn’t work? How can it be better? etc”. These thoughts only meant I never got to do anything.

I did very little open source work this year. The little I did was due to Hacktoberfest, which I always am excited to work on. I I also didn’t write enough honestly. I gave up on a lot of topics I came up with cause I felt I didn’t know enough to write. I also passed on a lot of jobs cause I felt I wasn’t good enough at that time. I’m grateful I didn’t do this for my current job.

I also almost didn't write this review. I don’t know why but I just didn't feel like it. But here we are.

I Went Out A Lot (More Than Last Year)

This year, I made memory with friends and family. Spent a lot of time outside. From tech conferences like OSCAFEST, DevFest and UnStack Conference, to random fun hangouts with the Andela team, or any team I was working with. I enjoyed all of those meet-ups and opportunity to meet new people, and also bond with old friends too.

I got to travel more than last year too, didn’t travel as much as I expected though.

Me at Google office on my birthday

Me And The Community

This year, even though less than last year, I was able to reach plenty people. Directly or indirectly, I did my best to help plenty people and share knowledge too. I was able to make it to the list of freeCodeCamp’s 2022 Top Contributors.

I got to speak at my first DevFest, DevFest Ogbomosho. It was a nice experience and I was glad to have been given the opportunity. I was also really excited by the fact that people came to listen to me 😊.

I Didn’t End The Year In Debt

So I did make a lot of money this year, more than I expected honestly. Coming into the year, my plan was basically to get a job and stop being broke. I got the job and adjusted the goal to try and do 4x of what I made last year. I pulled off a Zubair, and did more than it 👑.

Though, I’m broke again, please send funds 🙏. I spent everything I made on food and data subscription.

GitHub

As usual, my GitHub also showed progress. I plan to do more in 2023 again. But I was able to go from 1010 contributions in 2021 to 1678 in 2022.

Appreciations

This year, more than ever, I’ve had plenty of help from people. I depended a lot on people when I feel down. For, that I’m devoting a section to appreciate not only the people who’ve helped me this year, but also the ones who’ve been there for me since the beginning of my tech journey.

Here’s a bunch of people I’m very grateful to (in no particular order):

• My family: This goes without saying but I’d not be anywhere without these amazing people. From my parents, to my brothers. They put me on the tech path, and have supported me immensely since then. They’re always going out of their way to make sure I get the best things.
• Kruse: I met Kruse in 2019 as a new member of the GDSC. I had volunteered to help build a website that time. I had very little knowledge of web development and stuff but still volunteered anyways. Since then, he’s been my mentor, and we’ve become friends too. I really appreciate how he’s always ready to help me get out of any mess I find myself in (I get in trouble a lot). Other than basically teaching me like I’m a 5 year old everytime, he also refers me for opportunities a lot. One time, I joined an interview call, only to meet Kruse. He just asked “how far?” and if I was familiar with some technologies needed for the job 😆. We ended the interview very shortly.
• Abdullahi Cap: Cap takes me like a younger one and this shows in how he’s always trying to guide me into making very good decisions, both professionally and as a muslim too. To get into Andela, I remember having reluctance to apply, but he didn't let me rest till I applied, he sent me materials to practice and checked on me everyday to make sure I did. He basically made sure I got in. And now I’m very glad he made me.
• LordGhostX: Before Kruse became my mentor. I wrote Python mostly and Ghost was the most senior Python developer I knew. He answered lots of my questions. Even after I stopped Python, I always went to him for financial or career advice and his advices are always golden and I really appreciate them. He also introduced me to GDSC Unilag, where I basically restarted my tech journey and accelerated it.
• AYU Digital: Joining AYU early in the year was the perfect way for me to start the year. I was learning a lot but it couldn't have been easy or possible at all without the people pushing me to keep growing. I really appreciate how I was taken as family by my muslim brothers. I love all of you.
• GDSC Unilag (fka DSC Unilag): While it’s been a long while ago since I joined GDSC, I’m always grateful when I see how far my tech journey has come. I got to meet plenty amazing people, many of which have grown a lot, and have helped me grow too. Some of these people I’ll always be grateful to have met. Thank you Google.
• My best friends: Lasisi Salmah and Oluwaseun Fadairo. These women really stood by me in my best and worst times this year. I’m forever grateful. They motivated me, and advised me, and prayed for me as I took my decisons. Thank you very much.

These are the people I can remember right now as I write this at this late period (deadline merchant-ing this stuff). I appreciate everyone I met this year and got to interact with and learn from.

Next Year

Here’s just a list of simple things I want to do next year:

• Read more books 📚.
• Make more money 🤑: Maybe get a new job or take freelancing or technical writing more seriously.
• Write more articles ✍️. Whether paid or not, I would try to put out a lot more content next year.
• Build more projects 🏗. Whether anyone uses it or not, whether it’s my best work or not, I’ll build as much as I can next year.

Summary

In summary, this year, a lot of my achievements and progress have been directly or indirectly contributed to by the people around me. I really appreciate these people and also like how I’ve grown to be able to ask for help when I need it. Next year, same day, same place, we go again 🚀.

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Happy New Year.