Year of Diversification
Note: last year’s theme has now been updated with a retrospective.
Description
Last year, I thought I would have more time to myself after graduation since I no longer had any large responsibilities, but looking back it seems that the majority of my time and energy went into the job hunt. I neglected the personal side of last year’s theme in favor of the job hunt, so now that that’s over I’d like to try it again this year. The theme of diversification comes in two main parts.
Diversification of Interests - I finally have a source of income I can actually do things with, so I’d like to put more time (and money) into the things I want to pursue (other than coding).
Diversification of Responsibilities - I imagine that this upcoming year will be marked by my having to balance a lot of new responsibilities at the same time. I want to use this year to get my life and affairs in order to not be as unbalanced as I was last year.
Ultimately though, the year of diversification is aimed at becoming able to manage all the various aspects of my life in a reasonable and sustainable manner, to test my limits on how far I can (responsibly) stretch myself, and to work through some of the other tasks on my to-do list, not just the most important ones.
Ideal Outcomes
Define short- and long-term career goals.
Make an accomplishment or complete a project in at least 3 different non-coding areas.
Continue maintaining the blog, and incorporate more blog and notes posts.
Buy a car or look into alternative methods of transportation.
Deepen my “home economics”/“adulting” knowledge and have a better grasp on new responsibilities.
Develop my technical skills even further; get more comfortable using .NET.
Daily Themes
Have I made progress on a technical skill, course, book, or project?
Are there any areas of my life that I haven’t touched on in a while?
Did I do (or learn how to do) some chores/maintenance around the house?
Have I developed ideas for the blog, either through reading or writing?
Reflection
December 28, 2024
Truthfully, after a couple months, the idea of sticking with my yearly theme sort of moved somewhere toward the back of my mind and ended up staying there, resurfacing only when one of my recurring tasks showed up on my to-do list.
- This due date was moved back several times.
This isn’t to say that there wasn’t any progress in the meantime. In some sense, the year of diversification would’ve happened even without any conscious effort to keep it alive. Work events, family events, and my general life responsibilities this year provided me with more than enough opportunities to go out and try new things.
If this year was about finding more things to do, then I more than satisfied this theme. Some of my other ideal outcomes were forgotten along the way though.
Short- and long-term career goals - nothing concrete as of now. I’m fine with moving this goal over to 2025, or maybe postponing this for now. I’m quite happy with where I am now in my career, and can see myself in this job for the next couple years or longer.
Non-coding accomplishments/projects:
- Biked a little over 1100 miles this year.
- Tried out rock climbing. Managed to complete some V2’s and was very close to some V3’s.
- Went to the doctor for the first time in years.
Maintaining the blog - will be moved to 2025.
Car/transportation - I did buy a car, however my bike has been my main form of transportation.
Home economics & adulting - read a few books cooking, cleaning and investing. My first tax season will be coming up next year, so this might also end up moving to 2025, but at a lower priority.
Technical skills - while I do feel more comfortable doing the tasks assigned to me at work, I wouldn’t say my actual .NET-specific knowledge has improved all that much. Most of my improvement has been getting used to programming in a work environment rather than programming in general.