From a Dreadful 2022 to a Promising 2023

Photo by Kiera Burton

2023??? I’ve been wanting to write my first article for ages, but let’s be real, putting words together is harder than it looks. But hey, at least it’ll give me some sense of direction for the year, right?

2022 was definitely one of my worst years — I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It was the first time I experienced burnout as a software engineer after a long sprint of jobs. I remember writing my resignation letter as early as mid-January and scheduling it to be delivered in early February. I had already made up my mind to quit. As a student who also has a career as a software engineer, juggling both isn’t as easy as it seems. Quitting my job at first seemed like a relief, but did I end up regretting it? Maybe. Although it was great to have time for myself and do the things I love.

I remember working on a side project called DogeDiscuss. It had been a long time since I wrote a full-stack application, and it was a nice project to take on. I worked with real-time data and had so much time on my hands that the thought of building a startup came to mind. This is my third try at building a startup, and it was great to work on such an interesting project. I really learned a lot building Biocatlog.

Let me be honest, I know a lot of people weren’t thrilled when I took a social media break for six months or so, but let me tell you, it was worth it. If you’re thinking about doing a social media detox, go for it! Trust me, you’ll find the peace you’re looking for.

I remember thinking about how complicated building Biocatlog would be. I ended up doing a lot of iterations with friends and my co-founder. That guy really worked his butt off, I’m not going to lie. You might be wondering what aspect I took on. I designed the user interface as well as the API services. For those who don’t know what those terms mean, just read these Wikipedia pages (API & User Interface)

The most difficult part to work on was the theme variants on user profiles. It was hell. I created up to 75+ different themes, although only 55 made the cut. I enjoyed building those interfaces. On the backend side, the headless commerce integration was a pain in the ass. I had to integrate a Telegram Bot, WhatsApp Catalog, and a Twitter Autopilot (basically an auto-publishing tool for products).

I finished Biocatlog around October and launched it to the public beta around that time. The strike (ASUU Strike) was suspended at the start of Q4, but due to how long I took building this project, it took a toll on me. I was so lazy that I didn’t do much and found it difficult to even pick up my laptop and build something. It felt like the motivation in me was dead. What better time to replenish that energy? I’m definitely going harder this year.

I tend to think that not working for a long time really had a bad impact on me. The depression caused by 100s of rejection letters took a toll on me. For this year, I hope to learn some new technology to keep the motivation going. Enough about how dreadful last year was, let’s talk about the things I’m looking forward to this year.

As an introvert, it’s just hell trying to network with people, both in school and in tech in general. I plan on making new friends this year. I feel like one of the issues that demoralized me last year was the lack of friendship to keep me motivated. I know there are some of my friends reading this article thinking they didn’t motivate me, but I know some of you did and I do thank you for that. 😂😂

I also plan on learning new technologies this year. I know you’re probably thinking of some languages that I might choose. One thing about me is that I hate following the crowd. I would rather pick languages whose structure and patterns seem familiar to me. The technologies and languages I plan on learning this year are;

• Django: Although I learned Flask, I’m not really feeling it anymore. As a Laravel fanboy (pause, I know what you’re thinking — “PHP hate”), I have to say that Laravel is actually great. In my opinion, it’s one of the top three best web frameworks. Like I said earlier, I feel that picking up a language with similar patterns and a “batteries included” approach will be better for me.
• Typescript: I did a little bit of Typescript last year building a few cloud functions in Express Js. I feel like I still need to learn Typescript again, especially the more complicated aspects. I really did enjoy Typescript and now I rarely write code that isn’t strictly typed. It just makes your code cleaner and debugging easier.
• Swift/Flutter: If it were up to me, I would choose to learn Swift. I would enjoy building applications on the Apple ecosystem (which includes MacOS, iPadOS, and iOS). I wouldn’t say I am an Apple fanboy, although they have been disappointing a lot lately, I think highly of their products from hardware to software. Flutter seems like a better option when you consider building cross-platform apps. That’s a decision I will have to make when the time comes. I can’t wait to see which language I will end up learning.
• SQL: I bet you’re wondering how this ended up on my list. To be honest, Laravel has really made me a spoiled brat. I remember doing an interview in late November and I couldn’t write a raw SQL query to save my life. It’s quite disappointing that, as a Data Science student, I don’t write raw SQL that much. I plan on learning SQL more in-depth, especially transactional and concurrent queries.
• Docker: I did use Docker a few times last year, but I want to learn and understand it better. For those who don’t know, Docker is mostly used to run, test, and build applications in a virtual container.
• OpenAI: I wonder how powerful AI will be in the next decade. As a Data Science student, I will definitely build models as time goes on, but I don’t think I will go in-depth at the moment. I just want to enjoy what ChatGPT has to offer and, if possible, build some interesting software on OpenAI. At least I won’t look clueless when my peers start talking about AI, I’ll definitely have something to contribute.
• Cloud Services: I did use cloud services a lot last year, but I don’t feel like I used them to the best of their ability. Although I wasn’t happy with AWS & DigitalOcean last year, I plan on using Linode this year as well as AWS. Let’s see if it will be any different from the others.

We all know how boring theory can be, but I am really looking forward to the theoretical aspect of Statistics and Data Science. I know next semester is going to be tough, but yay! Another thing to keep me motivated.

Okay, so here we are at the end of this article and I’m just gonna say it — the past year has been rough. But hey, I am grateful for the lessons I have learned and the growth I have experienced Here’s to a bright and successful year ahead for all of us!