A reflection on my journey | Dev - Retro 2022
A reflection on my journey in 2022 - #DevRetro2022
My goal is to grow consistently over time rather than being obsessed with getting all perfect at once. About last year I shared my review here and I’m glad that the lessons I looked forward to learning and applying are now in place.
The journey in 2022 is worth reflecting on as I've encountered and enjoyed God's Love and Mercy with an amazing breakthrough.
In the course of writing these, I’d to learn also as Jerry Cortsen will say:
"Never forget to remain a student while you teach others."
It’s possible to write and do wonderful stuff to the benefit of others and not be a partaker of it. To reflect is to have honest thoughts and evaluation of a subject matter which could be one's life, business, career, education etc. to get the best and stand out in times with similar or new challenges.
I do reflection most times at the close of every day because it matters to living and fulfilling my purpose in life.
“Reflection is one of the most underused yet powerful tools for success.” Richard Carlson
Going through my reflection is a way to ensure consistent growth in the "right direction" with excellent performance in my endeavors. No wonder Thomas Paine asserts that:
“The real man smiles in trouble, gathers strength from distress, and grows brave by reflection.”
I’m reflecting by documenting it not to intimidate anyone with my wins or skills in overcoming challenges but to first ensure I’m not running the race of others and trust it’ll be useful to someone else in smooth and tough times, this is because there’s so much pressure and competition from the media.
In a case where competition is unavoidable because we are not the same, it should either be a healthy one or between whom I was yesterday and who I want to become tomorrow.
The best of the times we’ll enjoy in the long run are times spent with ourselves to living a life relevant to the growth of others, such concrete words from Ella Maillart:
"It is always our self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better."
I kept records of wins, learning experiences etc. each month in 2022 but I'll summarize them to keep things simple.
Challenges in 2022
The perspective I’ve always held towards challenges | blockages | or hindrances is that: it's a sign that I am lacking information or about to step into greater heights. I don’t see challenges as a big deal. Facing challenges here and there is proof that I’m alive and making progress. Whatever comes out of the challenges we face is a result of how we handle them. Below is a summary of the challenges or issues in 2022.
Lost an offer for paid writing because of some sort of rules of engagement I didn’t adhere to. However, I learn to handle with care every opportunity I’m committed to either by interest or investment.
Interviews and offers that got canceled after negotiation most specifically in foreign currencies. one was even $/hr but we move!!! you know.
Exploring shorter routes to accomplishing a task without knowing the hacks for it. For example, an estimate of a goal could be in 2 days and I’ll begin taking cuts to make it happen in hours. Quality stuff takes quality time.
Learning without setting timelines and priorities on portfolio goals.
Distractions from unachieved goals and new technological tools to learn.
Not shortlisted for the PTDF overseas scholarship after the interview phase.
Screened out of a DevOps internship.
Participated in different Hashnode writing challenges and got none.
Missed out on cool investments.
Obstacles or Failures aren’t bad or signs of incompetence except we choose not to learn the lessons embedded in them.
Progress
Published my first book "Tech is Easy to Learn - Simplifying tech to help you get started in your area of interest" on Amazon, Gumroad, Selar
Published more articles on Hashnode, Medium and Tealfeed and learned a lot from technical writing.
Portfolio and resume update.
Explored more states and areas in the country.
Hangouts: _like I formerly I only go for events and stuff that have to do with learning but this year I could go out for some refreshment and fun you know
Gained more visibility with interesting connections within & beyond the space of Africa.
Well, went the way of investments 🤭.
Got better at doing the DevOps stuff.
Spending quality time to rest and kin attention to my well-being.
Got to be more involved directly in Football and personal morning exercise.
Started learning German and have got some good progress. Danke Duolingo!
Explored the Web3 space (participated in the Polygon Bootcamp and currently part of the ongoing NITDA Blockchain Bootcamp)
Got into the Distributed Team Academy.
Got a freelance technical writing role.
Hey, got better at debugging. _honestly, there are hacks to it looking forward to discovering more.
More grounded as a Fullstack Engineer.
Learned a lot of coding styles and code organization from studying codebases.
Got better at communication skills and finance management
Doing cool stuff @ Truelandlord _digital rental space solution for tenants, landlords and agents.
Started a Youtube channel TechWithAlemsbaja feel free to subscribe, contents are underway___
IT manager for a research startup growing with over 30 researchers within the space of 2022 handling projects across the globe.
Volunteering as a team member for Tech events.
Read more books.
Technologies/tools learned this year
While getting grounded on the previous tech stack I explored these new ones.
Go
Web3
DevOps
Codemagic
Key things to pay attention to moving forward
Avoid mixing up the quest for validations with seeking counsel.
The competitors in my race are my yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Pay for access to filtered and quality information.
Maximizing available resources and opportunities.
Explore real-time involvement with the existing tech stack especially the new ones this year.
Avoid the distractions with “what is trending” in the Tech industry. There’s a difference between wanting to find out what ChatGpt is all about and abandoning a Typescript learning progress of 3 months for something else entirely new.
Learn more and share more.
Manage reactions when tensed up or stressed by timelines.
Acquire certifications.
Record and evaluate financial activities monthly.
Deep dive into ChatGpt & Artificial Intelligence.
Earn bigger in multiple currencies in the coming year.
Invest in my relationship life
and many more.......
Worthy of Mention
Technical Writing Group
Encouraging Bloggers & friends
Cynthia Peter Olubisi Idris Ayinde Blessing Ene Anyebe Chris Bongers Maxi Contieri Ivan Arabome Neibo Augustine Daniel Enamudu Emmanuel Bassey Ndukwe Agu Victoria Lo Somnath Mishra Rounak Singh Rohan Mondal Light Segun Olumide Bidemi Muibudeen Dillion Megida Esther Olowoloba Velda Kiara Victor Ikechukwu
Conclusion
Feels good to reflect especially having an overview of challenging times, and failures in the year. However, It’s been an amazing year, had more wins than before, made more MONEY 🤭🤭🤭 $ and strived for excellence has been on the best run, all thanks to El-Gibor for the year 2022. Super grateful always__
#DevRetro2022 #DevRetro2022#hashnode