2019: Retro

Oh men! it’s the last day of 2019 and as a habit I’ve developed, I’d like to reminisce on how the year has been.

Learning

In the beginning of the year, there were lotta topics I had no idea how they truly work. Some examples are as follows:

• Javascript’s Event loop
• Data Encryption (Asymmetric/Symmetric)
• Data Integrity

I was opportune to work on projects that helped me cemented these ideas for which I’m grateful to friends, colleagues and the internet! (I’d probably write a post to explain some of them sometimes in the future).

I was able to also learn and demonstrate how to properly lead software engineering projects from idea to product which felt super good.

Ls

This year handed me a lot of Ls with numerous love letters from job applications which were painful but gave me the opportunity to reminisce and get better for the next one and I’m super grateful for the breakthrough eventually.

Family and Friends

I’m super grateful for my family and I couldn’t have wished for a better one, I’m thankful for the support and encouragement from my parents and siblings in decisions I’ve had to make in 2019 I can’t imagine having to make those decisions alone and I’m grateful they were there for me.

I’m also grateful for my friends at Everplans, Andela and Pillr for the responsibilities they trusted me with. Also, shout out to the woman I call mine ’cause I’m glad you were part of my year (Love you, Babe!). This wouldn’t be complete without shouting out my close friends who have always listened to my rants and dry jokes 😃Thanks y’all!

World Issues

Thanks to the internet! 2019 was the year we saw how sinister some parts of the world are and also the first hand results of spreading misinformation via various social medias. I believe we as a group of people have a responsibility to provide facts (not alternative facts!) to debunk misinformation ’cause as we’ve seen this year all around the world that misinformation can have serious implications in inflicting undue suffering on people.

To paraphrase Hassan Minhaj of Patriot Act (Netflix show) “In this age of high volume of information about all the things wrong in the world, it is okay to choose a couple of topics that you feel you can make the most impact.”. As such for me, there are two topics I’d like to focus on in 2020 which are Climate Change and Education.

I hope all the Ls we took in 2019 is setting us up for a great year in 2020. Thanks for reading my Retro and I wish you the best in the new year!