Introduction
What do Google, YouTube, Spotify, Reddit, Apple, and Snapchat have in Common? Except for the fact that they are multi-billion dollar tech giants whose algorithms know us better than our own family. They all gave us personal "stat cards" about the year, from This Year in Search by Google to Wrapped by Spotify. Since this is my first year of blogging, I could only publish 13 articles. Next year, I hope to at least double that, if not triple the number, in the mid-30s! So here is my attempt at HashNode's Iconic New (soon-to-be) Ritual of Dev Retro 2022!
Learning Something New 💡
The year started unlike any year whatsoever. After almost a year of using protective gear and sanitizing my hands, COVID finally got to me, and I was stuck in COVID Isolation for the first couple of days of the New Year. That's when I learned the art of taking things slow; instead of rushing into it, I took it slow and processed every step of the journey, from medication to recovery to even post-COVID symptoms. Moving on to be more Technical, this year was the first year I started actual development, from tiny HTML Pages using the Basics of CSS to Dynamically Loaded Pages using the popular Framework Django for the backend, from creating a Discord bot for fun to creating a Discord Bot for a server with over 12,000 members. Starting with Data Science and understanding the math behind it, this year has allowed me to start growing and exploring. It allowed me to branch out and get a general lay of the land. Developing simple Dart apps using Flutter and understanding how DApps work in the Solidity Framework made me realize what the future of Web3 might look like. I completed my first year of college, which was a well-welcomed change. Meeting new people allowed me to broaden my horizons and ultimately learn even more than ever before. Maybe not the most significant flex, but I also got featured on Hashnode's Twitter account!
Improving on Something Old 💹
"What skills did I bring into 2022?" was the first real question I had while writing this part of the article. Thinking about it, I came into the year with no fundamental skills. Knew a bit of Python from the Good Ol' School days. But The first year of college helped broaden my horizons on what domains I've now been able to discover. From the first Hello World in C to now solving some (easy to medium difficulty) Data Structures and Algorithm problems. Although I haven't started doing Leetcode, understanding the steps necessary to solve a problem is always the first step. I understood the Dev cycle and ideated on projects that could solve the future's problems.
Ending it on a Good Note 🙌🏻
Of course, this wouldn't have been possible if I hadn't discovered the concept of Technical Writing initially to apply for Microsoft Student Ambassador Program. Still, I ultimately decided not to apply. Hopefully, another year filled with tech and, this time, improving my skills to make the best out of myself! 2022 was full of learning, while 2023 will be filled with understanding and deploying ;)