It’s the end of the year. As I’ve done over the past years, I’m sharing a rather personal post about how my year went, whether I achieved my goals, and what I plan for the next year.
A year ago, I wrote that I found it a year tiring both mentally and physically. 2024 was nothing different. Nevertheless, we are all physically healthy which is probably the most important thing and I see the light at the end of the tunnel, I expect things to become more sustainable.
Let’s review what happened this past year, and as always, focus on the gain, not the gap.
Review 2024 goals
I’m going to review my goals and whether I met them in three different categories. In addition, I talk a little bit about the family.
Work
I say every year that family comes first, but I also leave them for the end of the reviews, simply because this blog is mostly about IT. Probably that’s what you are interested in the most as well.
Did I meet my goals this year?
- I want to continue what I started and be a valuable member of a high-performing team. I have to focus on not simply being an addition, but being a force multiplier.
I didn’t meet this goal. I’ve been to 4-5 different teams this year due to several reorganizations which also led to some other moves based on more or less personal choices. I think there were times of the year when I was a highly valuable member of a team and I was performing on the level I wanted to, but mostly I’m in constant ramp-up mode in different teams. I try to get to know people and projects. This is quite demanding and suboptimal both for me and my employer. But now, I expect things to settle down.
- I had a not well-phrased goal about being more active in meetings.
I think this is getting better especially when I take advantage of my new home office setup. I have an adjustable standing desk and even a treadmill. If I stand up during a meeting and start walking, there are very few distractions left. To be continued!
- I also want to follow through on some transversal activities I started recently or ideas we agreed on in the team recently.
Especially regarding the last part of the sentence, I only met this goal partially. The team I was part of, disappeared at the beginning of the year. I clearly failed at one of the transversal activities, I lost motivation to be part of a certain initiative. On the other hand, I pursued the one I genuinely like. I’m an instructor at an internal course where I give a lecture about ideas driving C++.
Now, I’m part of a team where I’ll be able to write as much code as I’d love. The complexities of the code make raming up slower than I would like it to be. For the moment, there is no pressure on me; I know this will be great. There are already some people with whom I have quite a good relationship, but it’s indeed difficult to build connections, with so many reorgs and team changes.
Work outside work
I was a bit afraid that our move to our new home would make it difficult to keep up with my writing. It didn’t happen given that I write mostly early morning and late night, and I still manage to get up in the morning.
Let’s what were my not overly ambitious goals for 2024.
- I would like to be there at least at one C++ conference this year and share what I learned about binary sizes.
I achieved this goal, I made a half-day workshop about binary sizes at C++ On Sea 2024 and I also published a book about it. I also got the opportunity to talk at Meeting C++ 2024 about the relationship between clean code and software performance. And even though some personal funding was required, considering my increased book sales during the surrounding months, it was more like some pre-funding.
- I’d also like to prepare a proposal already for 2025 and maybe share it at a meetup during the fall.
I’m unsure if I met this completely, but at least I can report a partial success. I submitted Clean code! Horrible performance? also for next year and I prepared some other proposals aiming for 2025, but I haven’t presented them yet.
- I also want to finish my book on binary sizes during the first half of the year and then get back to my novel.
Lifestyle
My lifestyle changed a lot which is not surprising at all considering that we moved from an apartment in a city of 80k people to a house in a small town with 8k inhabitants. I don’t think it’s visible, but I definitely become stronger with the never-ending work around the house. What is visible, sadly, is that I also gained a few kilograms due to the lack of my evening walks. That is not something I’m happy with.
Until recently, in the evening, when tired, I also spent a lot of time doomscrolling.
What I’m clearly happy with is this last quarter of the year, I realized some patterns and I’m doing against them. I built a schedule for the evenings as well planning for different kinds of activities including even completely free time, but also more regular reading, fun writing, playing the guitar, etc. These clearly help me to keep focus. They are not overwhelming and leave me in a better state of mind.
I must mention that after having spent some time learning about wine, I also started to write about this topic for some Hungarian online wine magazines. If you speak Hungarian and are interested, you can find them here and here.
Family
I didn’t have goals family-wise. But here is what happened.
As I mentioned, after 11 years we left behind Antibes and moved to a small town. That required a lot of work from my wife and me and adaptation from all of us. Luckily, we had the luxury of renovating the house before we moved in. Even like that, it was a real challenge to deal with all the craftsmen, delays and communication problems between them. I could fill pages with horror stories and the lessons I learned, but I don’t want to bore you with that. At least, not now.
We moved during the summer so the kids didn’t have to change schools during the academic year. They handled it quite well, though I know they miss their old friends, especially my daughter. I know it’s hard, but I also know that I have zero friends from primary school who I’m in touch with. It’s true for most people I know. Exceptions are usually when they still live on the same street. That doesn’t make it easier for them though, but I know it doesn’t matter that much in the long run.
What I’m really happy about the kids is that they read a lot. They like to get new (also second-hand) books, they are happy to read but they also like it if we read them and they like to go to the library. It’s worth mentioning though that in the local library you can also play video games for 30 minutes and there are a big bunch of board games as well. But they enjoy the books as well. Exactly like Ryan Holiday recommends, we grow readers.
With the lots of changes, work and adaptation there are also some dramas and difficulties. At least in my immediate family, we managed to overcome those.
This year, we didn’t venture into travelling to distant places, but we spent some time in different parts of France, and I must say that we loved Dordogne. The nature is wonderful just like the towns, and culturally it offers a lot due to the lots of prehistoric relics and medieval castles.
What’s next in 2025?
Enough about the past! Let’s see what I expect from myself in the future!
Work
I just want to settle down, become familiar with my team’s codebase and be a useful member of the team. That’s the most important goal for the year.
I have to double down on what I started around the end of the year. I attend meetings standing and often from a treadmill. This improves my focus a lot.
I also want to keep being active beyond the team and continue being an instructor.
Work outside work
I want to get into 2 on-site conferences. Preferably with one technical (obviously C++) talk and with one that is more about a soft topic such as my recent one about clean code and performance at Meeting C++ was. I already have some ideas.
If you’re reading my blog, you probably know that I’ve published some e-books on LeanPub. I’ve been quite shy about advertising them. I think this timidity is due to two reasons. I do have impostor syndrome and feel anxious even when I just get a notification that I got a comment anywhere. I think that’s also why I stopped posting my articles on Facebook and Linkedin. Here I said it. At the same time, several people asked me at conferences to publish my books on Amazon as well and have them in a printed format too, because they would love to buy it. That’s so heartwarming.
So I’m going to try to be more consistent with these offerings and put them more in the front. Obviously, I I don’t make tons of money with them. Yet money is money, you have to appreciate the smallest amounts as well. Besides, they are the first steps to achieving my long-term goal of being able to support my family and myself without having a full-time job but rather as an independent.
My third goal for 2025 is also related to books. By the end of the year, I want to publish my first book, partially fiction. What do I mean by “partially fiction”? It was inspired by The Phoenix Project and The Unicorn Project. I’ll show bad and good patterns in software development through the struggles of a fresh grad developer in a corporation. I’ve had this idea for years, and from time to time I have been working on the draft, but now I feel an urge and motivation to finish the book this year. That will also help me to focus on my next writing projects from 2026.
Lifestyle
Regarding my body, I’ve undoubtedly been on the wrong path this last year, and I have to turn around. That’s my goal. I have to move more, whatever that means. It must involve either walking in nature or on the treadmill, depending on the circumstances, and lifting weights three times a week.
Another important goal is to take good care of the garden. If I can spend a little bit outside every day and do something useful, it will have its results. The slow and steady wins the race. The care already started to show some results.
I also want to be more consistent in learning to play the guitar. I want to learn a song every month on my guitar.
Conclusion
2024 was definitely a milestone in my life. After 11 years, I left behind Antibes and moved to a smaller town. Giving talks at conferences including a half-day workshop was a blast. Yet, I had some difficulties and I wish I performed better. I’m on it! I have some big plans and expectations for 2025.
I just realised that I’m publishing this article on 25th December. The last Wednesday of the year. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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