2018 in Review

I’ve never done an end of year review before. This was inspired by Mitchelle’s 2018 in Retrospect. Putting this together made me realize how far I’ve come this year.

This was my mood all year. The “living my life like it’s golden” mood.

PERSONAL PROJECTS

This year, I had the opportunity to work on projects outside of my 9-5. They were exciting for me and I’d be listing some:

MyFortShop.com

I created an eCommerce website for Fort (my fashion business). I built this in Laravel and integrated Paystack. One of the reasons I find this project really amazing is because this was a project for my business and there was no team or exposure to a product designer. I put it together from start to finish and it makes me really proud because even though I knew how to get it to work and be fully functional, I wasn’t sure it would turn out as beautiful as it did!

https://myfortshop.com

Med Manager

I built this for my ALC project. It is an android app that helps patients measure their medication intake.

Some pages from Med Manager

BizApp Ad Injection

Implemented Ad Injection as an added feature to the already existing application. Business administrators can login to the admin panel and upload their ads. There is also reporting to enable users see how their ads perform (based on impressions and clicks). I added the feature to the admin dashboard using Slim PHP + Angular JS and I also built the mobile app.

AdoraNwodo.com

I felt it was time to build my portfolio and that’s exactly what I did! I built my website as a PWA using VueJS and I built the backend with Lumen (since Laravel is dear to my heart).

Laravel Cors Middleware

I wrote and published a middleware package to add CORS support to a Laravel/Lumen application.

Testing Example

Testing Example (couldn’t come up with a better name) is a project where I illustrated Unit testing in (Kotlin) Android applications.

JavaScript Fundamentals

I created this as a place where I share some javascript code snippets to help explain some JavaScript concepts.

EverythingShop

This is a web app for selling “every” makeup product. The front end was built with VueJS, while SailsJS was used at the backend.

Fantasy Village

I built this for someone who wanted to do more with the fantasy leagues created by him and his friends. It’s a web app to manage external conversations for fantasy football leagues.

WRITING

In October this year, I decided to launch my blog AdoraHack. I was scared when I started this, but somehow I’ve been consistent enough to post 1–3 articles every week no matter how busy I get.

In 2 months (October 27th — December 27th), I’ve posted 18 articles and I’ve had over 1,000 page views and 9 newsletter subscriptions. I also started a Kotlin series Zero to Kotlin Hero on my blog and I’ve been getting positive feedback.

These were my 10 articles with the most views:

1. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Classes in Kotlin
2. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Kotlin Android Extensions
3. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Variables and Data Types
4. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Visibility modifiers in Kotlin
5. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Introduction
6. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Say Goodbye to Nulls
7. Building Web Apps: Getting you started
8. Zero to Kotlin Hero: Kotlin Functions
9. Today in Mobile: You Should Build Android apps in Kotlin
10. Lumen and CORS

SPEAKING & OTHER

Before 2018, I wasn’t really a vocal person, to be honest. I was just really shy. And all that changed this year (even if it was late in the year).

This year, I had the opportunity to give talks at some meetups.

1. In November 2018, I gave a talk on Building with Kotlin & Flutter at GDG Ajah’s first #DevFestAjah ever. I was also part of the team that oversaw the Flutter hackathon for DevFestAjah as well.
2. Still in November 2018, I gave a talk to some students about Test-driven development in Android at Codify meetup 2.0.
3. In December 2018, I was at GDG Ikorodu’s first #DevFestIkorodu. I gave a talk on Modern Android Development with Kotlin. It was also a very good day because I got good reviews and I was able to gain a lot.

Left to Right: GDG Ajah, GDG Ikorodu, Codify Meetup 2.0

In June 2018, I also attended a Mobile Speed Hackathon by Google with Carlos Navarrete and Adam Read.

WORK

I worked as a Software Developer at Neukleos for the whole year while still maintaining my business, Fort NG.

ACADEMICS

1. I went to collect my First Class from Unilag. Apparently, I was told that I was the only one that had a bouquet of flowers in the whole school. What can I say? Bye bye Unilag.
2. I finished ALC 2.0.
3. I got my Google Associate Android Developer Certification.

LIFE

I turned 22 in October this year and it was an awesome day. Everyone knows how seriously I take birthdays. Let’s say this year was no exception. I celebrated my birthday with an awesome dinner at NOIR Lagos. As the dramatic lady that I am, I also dressed up to work as a birthday girl and had a breakfast tray delivered to me. Thanks to Lota for paying for it ❤️.

I finally grew the balls to get my teeth fixed. I’ve been smiling from ear to ear since then. Amo shine when amo shine ✌🏼.

Left: Before I fixed my teeth. Right: After I fixed my teeth.

I became VERY vocal this year. Like I can talk to ANYONE now.

I’m still not in a relationship. And I thought I’d have one by the end of the year. Oh well…

I drove on Lagos-Ibadan Express, I drove to Ikorodu, I drove to Lekki. This is a huge step. Anyone that knows me knows that I HATE driving. I was only enthusiastic at the beginning cos I wanted a drivers license so that I can control my movements. But blehh.

I wanted to visit The Gambia this year but something came up. I hope I can visit new countries next year.

I started NYSC this year and I “survived” camp.

I read a lot of books this year. Thanks to Neukleos tbh.

I made a lot of awesome friends this year!

2019: DO MORE

I’m really excited about the new year. First, It's going to be an awesome year with Fort & Jupiter. In the new year, I’d like to:

1. Write a lot more and introduce other things to my blog.
2. Do more with my business.
3. Work on some more projects and build stuff.
4. Speak more and I hope I can do international conferences as well.
5. Save and invest more.
6. Grow my network. Meet more people.
7. Live my best life.
8. Travel!!!

I honestly thank God for my family, friends and everyone around me. Adulting is hard, but they make it seem so easy. I couldn’t have had a wonderful 2018 without them. Here’s to 2019. We move!!!