I’m pretty sad to say good bye to 2015, because it was such an amazing year for me. I learned a lot, traveled a lot, and had so much fun and exciting moments with people around me. But then I wondered, why 2015 was so special to me compared to previous years? What made it so different? Well, there were a lot of things that happened but I guess creating this document and checking it every day helped me make the most of my time. I’d like to run through a few of my 2015 New Year’s Resolutions from that document, and set new goals for 2016.
English
I was born and raised in Korea, and when I first came to the US in Fall 2013 at age 30, there were two big things that I had to overcome — Cultural differences and the language barrier. In American culture, I think people tend to discuss things very casually, directly, and openly, so having good communication skills is very important. However, because of my lack of proficiency in English, I had trouble communicating with other people, especially at work.
In that regard, in 2015 I committed to reading more books and articles. Not for a long time — just an hour each day in the morning, before leaving home for work. There were some days that I couldn’t wake up early because I had to work late into the night, and other days I was just lazy, but I was able to read a lot of news articles and also finish 4 books by end of this year. (Actually, 3 regular-length books and half of one really long book.) Wait, is that too few? I know, I could have read more, but if you consider that on average I normally would read only one book (or none) in a year, this was a huge accomplishment for me.
Although it was a big accomplishment, I agree that there is still a lot of room to grow. Reading books or articles is kinda easy and I feel comfortable now (I still need dictionary though!), but what more I can do?
In 2016, I’ll try to write a blog post every month and this is the first one of them. It’s kind of embarrassing to write a public blog post with broken English, and I’m not good at writing at all even in my native language, but please bare with me. If I keep practicing, it will eventually take me to the next level.
Code and Engineering
I studied computer science for my undergrad and grad school, and worked at a big tech company in Korea, but I was never this passionate about engineering until I come to Silicon Valley. My first company in San Francisco didn’t turn out that well, but I’m so happy with my current company. Everyone is so smart, humble, and always motivates me to become a better Android developer.
In 2015, I focused on writing a clean code and tried to design a better architecture while learning the new Java skills. Presumably people don’t care about how I write the code as long as I meet the deadline and keep adding the new features, but improving code quality was kind of fun and made me happy because I feel I become a better engineer. I really like the analogy between refactoring and exercising, that you have to refactor your code every day like you exercise your body so that you can build healthier and more flexible software.
The problem though, is that I can’t really tell how healthy my code is, because I’m the only Android developer at my current company, and I’m the only one who see my code on daily basis.
So, here’s a couple things that I’d like to do in 2016.
Read more Android code
Going deep down to read Android source code is very important skill. Sometimes I stuck on a problem that I couldn’t find an answer on StackOverflow, but I finally find the answer by reading the Android source code. Since Google is well known for excellent code quality, reading it makes me feel like I’m learning from the best example.
Learn new languages and platforms
Recently, I see there are a lot of new languages and libraries that are trying to solve the common problem, but by a different approach. Focusing on a single language or platform could lead me to be an expert, but I sometimes feel like my techniques or patterns are too limited on Java or Android. Learning a new language will help me to think outside the box and will allow me to adapt a new pattern, so that I can write better code.
Travel, and meet various people
In 2015, I was lucky to travel to multiple cities. I was able to see the beautiful trees, lakes, and cute animals at Rocky mountain in Colorado, watched a mesmerizing circus show — “O” — in Vegas. I was also inspired by modern arts and amazing architectures in Madrid, and stunned by the fantastic flavors of French cuisine in Paris.
In 2016, I’m going to Barcelona, because I got the free ticket by winning the first prize at Google+AppCircus app pitch event on last September. Also, I planned several trips to Rome, Phoenix and New York, because I wanted to see family and friends before I get pregnant. I know this sounds ridiculous but I have a (pseudoscientific?) belief that the baby could be affected by radiation exposure while flying on airplane, so I don’t wanna fly at all when I get pregnant. I can’t wait to see the different parts of the world, and meeting new and old friends.
2016
As 2015 was such a wonderful year, I hope 2016 also can bring a lot of fun, happiness, growth, excitement, joy, and accomplishments. My life is not as fancy as other people, but I know I’m always trying to improve.
“Life is about becoming more than we are.” — Oprah Winfrey
I wish you and everyone extremely Happy New Year!
