2020 Year In Review
2020 was an odd year at best, and a catastrophic one at worst. As the countdown to 2021 draws ever closer, more and more folks will begin to post lists of individual accomplishments to social media platforms in an attempt to try and feel a little better and counter many of the world crises continually churning our newsfeeds day and night.
I don’t know how to feel about all of this. Despite having a relatively productive year myself, I’m still struggling all the time. I’ve lost a family member to COVID, had another contract long-term complications, and have seen still others willingly plunge headfirst into the icy cult-like conspiracy theories populating certain dark corners of the Internet, consequences and reality be damned. The fact of the matter is, simply making it to the end of this year mentally and physically intact is an achievement in and of itself. Hustle culture, especially in software engineering and gaming disciplines, tends to pollute social media, glorifying “the grind” at the expense of mental stability. I’ve seen the biggest stink in years thrown around the release of the “30/40 under 30/40” success lists, as people scrutinized their selections and debated their integrity. Note that people actually APPLY for inclusion on those lists every time; those selected aren’t merely chosen out of the aether for their “significant contributions”. Surprised? Admittedly I was too, at first. Not so much anymore.
To me, it also feels like despite continuing to push forward and making progress on a number of fronts, nothing ever gets done. Connecting with friends and loved ones during this pandemic has become superficial and transactional as social media transformed into the primary means of contact. Individual messages, group movie watch parties over Zoom, and gaming chat sessions have mitigated this effect somewhat, but it still can be felt, just the same. Everyone is tired and ready to move on.
Still, for the sake of cataloguing progress and with no intention of bragging, I did make some things happen this year, including some that were in the works long before the virus uprooted everything as we know it:
- Spoke at Regional Scrum Gathering Tokyo in-person.
- Spoke at Scrum Gathering Osaka and Scrum Gathering Mikawa in Japanese language talking about how American companies are adapting to COVID and how to improve remote working and training. This marks the first time I felt comfortable enough speaking Japanese to handle a 20+ minute presentation more than once. Despite a couple of minor hiccups, it seemed to have gone okay.
- Spoke at SpringOne remotely.
- Invited to remotely keynote an internal event at a Fortune 500 company for which I have a tremendous amount of respect (and got to network with several amazing individuals as a result).
- Spoke at a remote internal conference for my current employer and successfully increased interest in our educational offerings for software development teams.
- Built several new courses and educational initiatives around architecture and observability concepts that are rolled out to over 100 team members simultaneously, from beginning engineers up to the CIO of the enterprise.
- Got back into Dance Dance Revolution. Remote work ground my gym routine to a halt, so getting back into “dancing with arrows” has been an interesting, fun, and exciting way to keep moving. The metal stage seems like a vanity purchase, but with Minnesota covered in snow for much of the next several months, I’m extremely grateful to have a means to continue an exercise routine.
- Auditioned for a remote theatre production and remembered how much I miss the stage.
- Brought this blog to life. I spent a lot of time in the past writing for gaming publications like Red Bull and IGN, but as freelance opportunities (and free time) became a bit harder to come by, I was able to look into writing about professional concepts instead. I did this merely as a method of defragging my own brain and getting my thoughts “out there in the open”. A couple of my posts were highlighted in Medium publication The Startup, which is something I wasn’t expecting.
- Reworked my personal website. Admittedly, this one is Google’s fault. They e-mailed me to mention that appspot would soon require a credit card in order to host moving forward…or my piddly little from-scratch portfolio would be booted off the Internet. I ended up leaving appspot and rebuilding my site using a WYSIWYG template editor (Google Sites, in this case), technical “street cred” be damned. It was worth it.
- Interviewed on a couple of personal and professional development podcasts which will be going live over the next few months.
As for next year? I really don’t have a lot to say. One thing I’m definitely looking to do is start actively preparing for my next level of Japanese language certification. As I hope more than anything to be able to actively use the language in my day-to-day work in the future, this is something I’ll need to do. Given how difficult it is to take the exam here in the States (the nearest location is 6 hours away in the middle of Chicago, and it’s only given twice a year at that) I’m looking at planning a trip to Japan a little while after they open the borders up and time that trip with the test. A lot can go wrong before that can happen, though, so for now I plan to continue taking conversation classes and studying, and watch how things unfold over the next several months in regards to COVID and travel. Of course, I also hope to continue having difficult conversations and acting as a change agent for software development teams. Most software problems are people problems, after all.
Again, I can’t emphasize enough that accomplishments aren’t a zero-sum game. Despite all of these small victories, the pandemic continues to make day-to-day existence feel like an incredible grind. I know plenty of folks who have been much, much more productive, and I know many others who are barely keeping their heads above water. Both situations are completely understandable in the modern landscape, and being an isolated society isn’t doing our mental health any favors, either.
For now, it’s time to rest. Next year, try to focus on making 2021 even just a little better than this year has been. Slowly, steadily, and reasonably. One step at a time.
