Continuing with my previous run of year in reviews (going back to 2007), here's my little entry to close out 2017 on my blog.
I use these posts as a place to allow myself to both look back at my year, but also in future years to time travel back to what I did. Having just read my 2016 entry a lot of crap went down. Somehow I actually thought all those bad things (in the world, Prince dying, etc) happened this year, so either 2017 was slightly less shitty in the world, or 2016 was really shitty!
Professional
Although this is my "professional" section, I'm also including personal and side projects I work on. Most of which don't make money, but occasionally they do, which helps with the self-employed situation.
- Brad Frost's untitled project: I got to work with Brad on a (currently unreleased) project using React and Next.js.
- AMA: A different kind of business, I've started offering a (type of) "Ask Me Anything" consultancy offering which I ran for two companies in 2017 and it went very well. The work ranged from reviewing specifications, proposals, reviewing code and offering advice on technical decisions. Get in touch if you'd like to enquire about this for your company
- ffconf 2018: twice, again - it was excellent!
- Speaking: I was able to reprise my debugging talk twice this year and it went down extremely well. I also created a new talk about a creative project I worked on: the ZX Spectrum loading process. The talk still needs a lot refinement but I hope to give an updated version later on in 2018.
- terminal.training: I released a video series to complement the Working the Command Line book I released in 2016. The launch went pretty well, and though it's a far cry from quitting the "day job", I've already got a few other series lined up including Universal React and Devtools.
When I look back over the professional services I offered last year, I do worry that it's rather lacking and that I focused a lot more on side projects and tinkering. The upshot I guess is that I'm sharpening my skills.
Side Projects
- JS Bin refactor: I've been working hard on a complete overhaul of JS Bin, "V5" by any other name. It's still in progress, and I intend to release it for public beta in early 2018.
- jsconsole refactor: Before I started the JS Bin refactor, I left jsconf.eu 2017 in dire need to code, so on the plane and train back from Berlin to Brighton, I wrote the majority of jsconsole anew using React and following closely in the footsteps of Chrome and Firefox's own developer console.
- ___.isthe.link: a growing collection of mini projects I've built, including bitcalc, jqterm and others.
- Unreleased ZX Spectrum project: I've also given two talks on… the final project allows me to take a photo with my phone, the play the audio binary over an audio jack into my laptop which renders the full 1986 loading effect of a ZX Spectrum!
- Nodemon finally got some love and long needed attention and has had a slew of updates in the last month - you too can support the project too now ❤️
Last year I also imposed a new rule for myself about domains. I said that if I hadn't deployed the intended project, I'd not renew the domain (latest count: 51 domains… 😱). So today I'm knowingly letting 7 of those domains lapse during 2018. But I will break my own rule for cron.jobs…but shame on me if I keep it for 2 years and get nowhere!
Personal
- 26 books (including 4 graphic novels and a few I didn't log). You can see my complete book journey on Goodreads. My favourite book of 2017 was A Boy Made of Blocks - I found as I was coming to the end of the book that I was wishing it would last longer so I could spend longer with the characters. I really bonded with the characters and the story of this book. I have a terrible history of reading, and this is kind of a huge deal to me (previously, over the last few decades I've read a total of handful of books!)
- Health: I've continued progress at the gym and learning and experimenting with different diet changes. Most recently I spent 3 months in a high fat-low carb diet (and added fasting 16:8 to the mix - but I wouldn't recommend changing two variables at once!) - the results were very positive for fat burning (for me). I also suffered a couple of semi-serious injuries…which weren't so fun! I managed to pull my score card from PureGym's web site, can you spot where I had my injury?! 😃
A personal low point: our cat Dizzy fell ill very quickly in October and we had to make the tough decision to let him go. He was very much loved by our family and is still dearly missed.
Onwards to 2018
I don't really do new years resolutions, but I do have a big deadline that I turn 40 years young and I have a personal aim that I'm shooting for. In fact, it's something I've wanted since I was 15…so there's a tonne of pressure on myself and a fairly high chance of failure.
Here's a short list of things I'd like to change/do in 2018:
- Less time on twitter, a heck of lot less time replying to twitter
- Continue to blog consistently
- Revisit my retro (ZX Spectrum) conference talk…somehow
- Continue to read. In fact, probably read more
- Get outside
- Get off the damn laptop
Happy new year ❤️🎉 — Remy (and family)
