2023 EOYR: Another Chapter
Hello there,
Welcome to another edition of my annual EOYR (End of the year review). This year was a long and crazy one. But, like always, Alhamdulillah. So, let’d dive in, here’s some of the things that happened to me or that I did this 2023.
Started On A High
Started the year so energetic, with so much desire to do great things, and excitement. First day of the year, did some giving back to the community, with some friends, on the Sololearn Nigeria WhatsApp Group. Gave some money and courses to people who needed them.
I also started off on some of my goals very early into the year. I began reading from the first day of the year, ended up reading more than I did last year, but not as much as I wanted to, so I’ll carry the goal into this year.
Didn’t Achieve Some Of My Goals For The Year
I planned to read a lot more than I did last year. I planned to read at least 12 books. I did read more than 2022, but wasn’t as much as I planned for 2023. Going into the new year, I will be a lot more consistent and read all of the books I have planned for the year.
I also planned to write a lot more articles this year. I wanted to write about 52 articles for the year. I ended the year with wayyyyyyyy less than that figure. I went on a long spell of not writing, I was completely off. But, I did write enough to be recognized by freeCodeCamp as one of their top contributors for 2023. So, that’s a win. I will write more this year. I will write not only technical articles, but also non-technical articles on random topics I find interesting.
Another goal I failed to achieve was my goal to build more projects. I spent quite a lot of time learning, and some writing, but I barely spent enough time building, or even writing any code. This can be seen in my GitHub activity chart showing lower numbers than the last two years. I want to get back to peak productivity next year, and build products, instead of just projects.
Though this wasn’t a goal or anything coming into the year, I continue to carry around this desire to learn and master C++ without actually getting it done. This year, I put very little effort into it, and I’ll make it a goal for 2024 to learn and master C++, and build stuff with it.
I created a focus group to keep myself motivated to learn DSA on the side, but we all got distracted and barely made any progress. I’ll keep the group and try to revitalize again this year.
Entering The New Year On A Clean Slate Financially
So I did make a lot of money this year, more than I did last year. Coming into the year, my plan was to get a new job, a higher paying job. I couldn’t get one, and ended up losing my current one close to the end of the year. That is now the longest ever I’ve been on the job and I enjoyed most of it. Looking forward to a new challenge in the new year.
Now, I’m broke again, please send funds 🙏 and refer me for backend roles 👨💻. I spent everything I made on food and data subscription.
Me And The Community
I continued to contribute to the community this year. Spoke at a couple of different events this year, mostly virtually. Directly or indirectly, I did my best to help plenty people and share knowledge too.
I got to speak at my first international DevFest, DevFest London. It was a nice experience, with a great audience and I was glad to have been given the opportunity.
Next Year
Here’s just a list of simple things I want to do next year:
- Read more 📚. Write more ✍️.
- Learn C++. Learn DSA 🏛️.
- Make more money 🤑: Get a new job.
- Build more projects 🏗. In 2024, I’ll build as much as I can. Try to solve as many problems as I can, and make as much money as I can while at it.
Summary
In summary, this year, I didn’t do so much. But it’s nice to be able to reflect and see where I need to improve on and develop from there. Thanks for reading. Next year, same day, same place, we go again 🚀.
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Happy New Year.
