2022 is over. Welcome 2023. I thought this year was empty for me, but when writing down a list of what I’ve done this year, I realized I learned many things. I’m not going to talk about personal stuff, but I’ll write about what I learned on computers.
Now get ready to some good old bragging!
Became better at my job
May 2022 marked my first year at my job. After one year, I felt that I started to understand the complexity of working on AAA games. Today, I feel that I can be the owner of features, with my amazing lead always looking to help me if needed.
I also realized that people here seems to trust me. They come to me to ask for help, sometimes on a subject I’m not closely related to.
How? I don’t know. I think I’m just curious enough and loving my work enough so I naturally want to do my best and help people around me. I’m nothing of a genius and I’m far from being the best programmer in the company, very far. But still, just doing my best seems enough. No need to be a genius. What a relief.
Learned web development
Front-end
Front-end, I learned at work with a project I completed from A to Z with React. I’m very thankful for my lead, because he let me start this project and trusted me 100%. I had no prior experience with front-end dev, and still he trusted that I could achieve this project. It’s a dashboard app that is now useful to a dozen of people everyday at my job.
I realized I was coming to a place where I can learn a tech and deliver something with it, by myself. What a relief.
Back-end
This was a personal challenge. For no specific reasons, I wanted to be able to develop a simple back-end. I just want to be able to code a web app by myself, if one day I have an idea that needs it.
I have nothing to show yet, but I’m confident enough that I can build a simple full-stack app, and I’ll talk about my first project on this blog soon.
Disclaimer: of course, I have no idea how to make things scalable and stuff like that, I’m just saying I would be able to develop small personal projects, not professional web apps.
Figma and UI/UX Design
I always wanted to be able to do anything, at least just a bit. UI and UX Design are difficult subjects for me, mostly because I don’t think I’m an artist at all. So I learned the basics, just to make stuff that looks at least correct.
The book Refactoring UI helped me a lot. It’s specifically made for programmers that are not UI/UX designers. A book I recommend, because the greatest software is useless without proper UX.
Switched to Dvorak layout and bought a split keyboard.
First, let me tell you that a split keyboard is life-changing. It’s pricey, but I don’t regret this one.
It forced me to learn touch typing, all that while learning Dvorak layout. I’m not faster than before, but I feel way more comfortable typing now. I feel it’s easier on my hands and arms. My body is thankful.
Bought a vertical mouse.
Just do it. Do it for your wrists. Trust me on this one. And keep that expensive gaming mouse for when you want to play games.
Neovim and Linux workflow
Neovim also changed my developer experience. It took a couple of months to get used to but it was worth it. Combined with a split keyboard, my programming workflow is just so smooth.
Combine neovim with linux, i3wm, tmux… and you never want to go back again.
I’ll write a post with more details about my workflow.
Wrap-up
Overall, this year was all about having a better developer experience and learning about webdev.
I became a better programmer, and hope to become better this year too!