The year that was

What a year 2020 second edition was. Covid still rages on, but we have working vaccines, and the Omicron seems to be milder (though could still overwhelm the NHS). I got all current three shots. As soon as I was able to, I went for each.

And sadly, the UK left the EU.

The pro

On a professional level, I changed jobs twice. I am not working as a consultant, though. I got an opportunity to work as an architect, on a greenfield project, building a team from scratch for Moblox. Not many times that I would do a jump like this one if I were not looking for it already. But I had worked before with the CTO, so went for it.

One of the disadvantages of being a consultant is that you don’t have the same responsibility on a project as permanent employee. So the personal stakes are not the same in my current job. Yet the thinking has not changed. So I’m doing exactly what I would have recommended.

It has been a year, in which I end even more convinced about remote work. But also that remote work needs special care. Switching from doing remote pair programming most of the day to barely any due to the current context leaves you in a quite lonely position. And as I realized during 2020 First Attempt, I was more social than I gave myself credit for (still on the silent side, though).

Also, this year I had a reinforcement on the importance of my morals. Though one has to recognise that is easier to apply them when you are sure that the consequences are not punishing (I was never in doubt that I would quickly find another job)

The writing

On the blog side I started strong, writing at steady, quick pace. But once I started my current job the output crawled to a nearly halt.

One of the reasons is that I have not had the same opportunities to discuss programming ideas as much with a bunch of knowledgeable people, which limits the amount of thinking done. Also, the mental drain of responsibility does affect you.

Still, it has been the year I have written the most. And I hope this year I continue with it.

I’m trying to get used to Zettelkasten, to make it easier to develop ideas, but is not an easy habit to pick up. Hopefully that will help with the writing.

The learning

Finally started to put some effort into Rust. Its borrow checker memory is unique and worthy of learning. I don’t think I will be using it soon on productions systems, but I am enjoying the ride so far.

Of course, a few books have been read, and quite a few blog posts. But because my list keeps growing, it feels like I haven’t done enough.

The end

I can’t say it has been a great year. But I can’t complain too much, as there have been a few bright spots. Hopefully in a year’s time I will be able to say it was great year.