2019 in Review

Another year comes to an end. It will finish the race in about 2 weeks, but I feel that I can wrap up the year today. 2019 isn’t really a step up for me but I can say that it is full of joys and I’ve learnt so much.

1. Coding

Java is the main theme of this year. I started the year with some Java basis in Data Engineer and now I’m confident with Java at work as a Java Backend Engineer.

I’ve learn so much things about how to structure a Spring Boot project, how to do JWT authentication, wire beans, how to write unit tests and integration tests using Mockito, H2 and Flyway, how to optimize query using JPQL in combination with SPEL, write Gitlab CI config to deploy Spring boot app to K8s cluster, oh and foremost, write a formal Software Architecture Design document and request its approval,…

All of it happens too fast that I have to try hard to ingest all Java things and still have time to learn some Rust, Angular and React Hooks on the side.

Now I can say that I’m fluent in Java, Python and Javascript, and that should keep me quite competitive in the IT market for a while.

Next year maybe, I will learn some Kotlin and do some native works on Android. I’ve done some React Native before but it’s just a hybrid stuff, so I think I can get the real deal this time.

ML and AI will be on my top choices for things to start again in 2020 and we will see.

2. Running

Not so much this year, because of extremely bad air quality in Hanoi. I’m disappointed about the authorities but I can’t do anything about it. (We will talk about this later.)

3. Reading

Mostly technical books, as I can’t learn new things in tech without tech books. I’ve read some non-fictions of course. The most interesting books I find so far is two books of Mark Manson about not giving a fuck and happiness. They inspire me so much about life and love. That you should only care about what you love, and happy is just a state of mind. You want to find the gold buried, keep up the dig.

Another book about life meaning is Man’s Search for Meaning, which is good and teach you to have at least one big goal in your life all the time, so you don’t die (i.e. give up) till you achieve it.

I read some business books, too. Shoe Dog, McDonald’s: Behind The Arches, they tell us the way Americans build their dreams.

It is the 5th year in coding career for me, now the limit is only what I can dream of.

Hope for a meaningful 2020 to come!