A look back at 2021
Here we go again. 2021 was another year of a world ruled by the global pandemic. At this point, I’m afraid that this situation is here to stay for a bit longer. I miss spontaneous travelling without expensive and time-consuming tests. I’m so tired of the amount of absurd, stress and fragmentation between people caused by this situation. So dear COVID, if you can kindly fuck off and let us live in peace, I’d appreciate it. Rant off my chest, let’s get into the summary.
Like I have done in the last few years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020), I am posting an annual summary of my personal and professional achievements and failures. I also have some plans for the upcoming year, and writing them down every year helps me keep the commitment.
Before I start, a few cool pictures from my life captured in 2021 📸
Professional
I think that Software Engineers don’t appreciate how privileged their situation is. This occupation is one of the very few professions that’s not affected by the shit surrounding us over the last few years. Our employers keep us busier than ever, and our financial situation is just getting better. Building software is my biggest passion, and I also manage to make a decent living out of it. I want to thank everyone who inspired me to do my things.
2021 has probably been the most hectic year since I started working in this field. At the beginning of the year I got a promotion to Lead Software Engineer. Then with many talented developers from Mindera, we worked on a re-platforming project for one of the leading fashion brands (sorry, NDA). It was my debut in a leadership position and despite the number of new skills that I had to embrace, I can say that I am very proud of myself.
The end of the year brought an even more significant change to my life. After almost four years at Mindera, I decided to leave, and I joined Heydoc as a Senior Software Engineer. A young and growing London based startup is a change that I needed for a while. I have been there for almost a month now, and so far, I am having a smashing time.
Personal
Not only professionally, but I am also personally a lucky dude. I share my life with the funniest, most inspiring and prettiest human being in the world. My girlfriend, Basia, is the brain of this relationship, and I have no clue what I did right in my life to deserve her. She is my shield against every stupid decision that I have (a pretty frequent situation) and the driving force of the ones that actually make sense. Thank you, B 😍
Northampton, I am back! So after three long years living in Leicester, I moved back to Northampton. For my partner, it is more convenient to live near the university and I like to be closer to my good friends. Also, cycling around Northamptonshire is a lot of fun and I’m glad to be back.
It’s been almost 7 years since I posted my first article on this website. Blogging helped me with my learning process and enabled many career opportunities. Year by year, consistently, I write more articles, and in 2021 I hit another record. Altogether, I published 50 posts (including this one and one to come at the end of the month). I do not have any analytics on this website, but by looking at the number of comments and engagement on social media, I am confident that it was the best blogging year of my life.
Geeky part of my life aside. Over the year, I kept myself entertained with some books, movies and TV shows. “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport, “Factfulness” by Hans Rosling, Ola Rosling and Anna Rosling Rönnlund and the biography of Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance were my favourite publications of this year. However, “Soul”, “Cruella” and “Finch” are the movies that I enjoyed the most. The soundtrack from “Cruella” is insanely good! I also binged “Money Heist” and “Ozark” — I will miss you and your laughter Denver. One more guilty pleasure — “People Just Do Nothing”, easily the stupidest thing that I have ever dedicated time to, and it was 100% worth it.
A big chunk of my free time in 2021 I dedicated to trading. As a result, I enjoy technical analysis a lot, and I managed to significantly boost my passive income assets.
Hi 2022
I am super excited for the new year. New job, new house, tons of new ideas for upcoming months.
Professionally I am ready to dedicate 100% of my energy and skills to Heydoc. After working mainly with JavaScript for the last few years, I am willing to embrace other technologies. I am super excited about Go and Rust, and I would like to start using one of these languages professionally.
I don’t have any expectations from my personal life in 2022. I would like to stay as healthy and happy as I am now. I would love to maintain the energy and motivation to keep going and try new things.
That’s it from me today. Stay healthy and happy in 2022 👋
I enjoyed reading this. Always interesting to get to know some more personal details of someone. Wonderful photos too!
Hi Bramus. Yeah, I do it every year. Thanks for reading and have a fab 2022!
Word up, nice round up and welcome back to NN dude!!
Thanks a ton dude. Good to be back in Shoe Town!