2018 in review (Image from google)

2018 is finally over (well just a few more hours) and I cannot but marvel at the level of growth which I personally underwent. Its that time of the year where we look back on how far we have come

Personally, I set a lot of goals for myself, and I failed woefully in some of them, but I can look back on the year and be happy with the great progress I made

2018 Fails

Contribute to Open Source: I only contributed during Hactoberfest

Technical Writing: I wanted to write 12 articles but I ended up writing only 4

Pick up a new skill outside tech: Well, its safe to say I spent most of the year in front of my pc

Deploy my personal website: I guess my quest for perfection got the better of me as I have 3 different versions of my website on my laptop but I just can’t get myself to deploy any, for reasons I am not sure of.

Gym: I wanted to gym, but the rest is history.

I didn't read any non-technical book. Even worse, the only technical book I completed was Refactoring UI.

I began a tech community in my church but I didn't continue the work which I started

2018 Wins

Participated in my second hackathon (forLoopUnilag Hackathon), didn't win but got to meet loads of awesome folks and picked up loads of experience

Hackathon things

Got my first internship/job with a full-fledged company after a series of rejection from top tech companies. I got to spend 24 weeks working with Delivery Science. This was in addition to my work at 390 labs. By the end of the year, I also worked as a Consultant Developer for Plato Hub.

Worked with my first major client. After spending time building dummy websites, I built my first pro website for a company. Special thanks to the entire Waxtall team for believing in me

I overcame my phobia for JS frameworks and I currently build awesome products with React, Vue, and Angular

Worked a couple of projects, a Hobby App (This was my entry test for work at Delivery Science), A FitBit Heart Rate Monitor Web App, A Student Election System, A Car Tracking System and Hospital Management System. Some of these were built with help from my awesome friends Hope, Daniel, Mayowa, Joshua, Valentine, Deji, Amaka, Nifise, Christian, Basira and more. I look forward to optimizing some of these projects in the coming year.

I made a lot of great friends Kelvin, Anjola, Timi, Ekene, Kofo, Bakare, Geek, John, Nicholas and many more

I got to work with some really great folks. The likes of Demilade, Sola (Logan), Lanre, Kayode, Wale, Chinedu, David, Micheal, Adephil among others

I wrote 4 articles this year (even though I wanted to write 12)

I began an ALC Tanzania Mentor, an Andela TeenCode Facilitator, a DSC Unilag Facilitator/Mentor. I was also a Techquest Facilitator (unfortunately, I couldn't partake because of my day job)

I got to attend great Tech Conferences such as Concatenate, Dev Fest amongst others.

GDG Dev Fest Lagos with my fans

Concatenate

I got to connect to great devs such as Burke Holland and Sarah Drasner online

I was also selected to give my first tech talk at forLoopIlorin but I couldn't attend due to some issues and the plan for me to speak remotely was scuppered by the Nigerian internet.

I participated in Hacktoberfest after 2 years of wondering what it was about.

I also participated in the Google HashCode event of 2018. I hope to do better this year.

I got cheated by a client. I count this as gain because we learn from our mistakes and I am better off from the experience

I began a tech community in my church.

2019 goals

Speak at a minimum of 4 events

Help 12 people begin a career in tech

Contribute to Open Source

Build a minimum of 4 awesome projects

Write 12 technical articles

Read More books (Both technical and non-technical)

Learn German to a certain level (Who knows when this would be needed)

Pick up ML

Engage in #365 days of Code

Help the tech ecosystem in every way I can.

I want to save more, Piggy Bank and Cowrywise to the rescue.

Family

My family was good this year.

Yes, I know I am the finest

My Dad was in good health, while my mum was very sick for a while but she is back on her feet hale and hearty.

My bro perfected the act of 3-D animation and also became a top seller on Fiverr

Photos by Sholzgbade Photography

We also moved to our own house this year

Conclusion Comparing my CV/resume at the beginning of the year to what it now tells me only one thing, 2018 was filled with many ups and many downs, but this was definitely my best year yet. To all those who played a part, I say Thank You. 2018 was great, Let's do more and make 2019 greater.