Looking Back on 2023 and Resolutions for Next Year

Reflecting on the past year and setting goals for the next.

Personal Life

Reflecting on whether I accomplished what I couldn’t last year.

Kubernetes: I didn’t achieve the CKA certification, but I did spend some time studying.
Expanding AWS and GCP knowledge: I gained some practical experience with AWS at work and obtained the GCP Associate Cloud Engineer certification.
ISUCON: I was able to participate this year.
Speaking at external conferences: Although I was accepted to speak at an event, I had to decline due to personal reasons. However, I have been accepted for an event next year, so I should be able to present then.

Overall, I feel like I managed to accomplish many of the things I couldn’t last year.

Every year, I organize my goals into three categories: things I want to do (based on my interests), things I should do (for my career), and things I need to do (for work). Here’s how I did this year:

System Design: Achieved.
Implementing a Radix Tree and integrating it into goblin: Still too difficult for me.
Computer Science: Didn’t achieve.
GCP Associate Cloud Engineer certification: Achieved.
Improving Go knowledge: Made some progress.
Kubernetes: Made some progress.
Algorithms and Data Structures: Did fairly well.

Except for #3, I managed to dedicate time to most of my goals, so I feel like I accomplished a lot of what I wanted to do.

I also made it a habit to output what I learned (combining input and output as a routine) and incorporated coding quizzes into my daily routine. Although I tend to slack off on tasks that require consistent effort, I was able to sustain my motivation and manage my time effectively.

On the other hand, I didn’t spend much time creating a single piece of software I wanted to build. While I had opportunities to write code through coding quizzes, I didn’t write much outside of that.

Work

This year, I took six months of parental leave, so I only worked for half the year.

Although my time was limited, I was finally able to start a project I had wanted to tackle for a while, which was a positive outcome.

It had been a long time since I took such a long break from work, but I found it surprisingly easy to return. I even felt like I had grown during my time off, thanks to sharpening my skills in short bursts during my leave.

Parental leave also made me more conscious of working efficiently and adopting a healthier lifestyle, which I hope to continue.

Being able to take parental leave was a great experience for me. Watching my child grow up so quickly was a priceless opportunity, and I’m glad I could spend so much time with them.

Reflection on Resolutions

My resolution for 2023 was:

“I want to focus on ‘building my weapon.’ This is an extension of my 2021 resolution, but with a slightly different focus. Specifically, I want to develop a hard skill that I can excel in. While I don’t expect to become a pioneer or expert in a single year, I want to have at least one area where I can confidently say I’m skilled.”

Although I wrote this, I feel like I spent the year broadening my skills rather than deepening them. However, I think I managed to plant some seeds for developing expertise in the future.

Resolutions for Next Year

My resolution for next year is to “increase my arsenal.”

Whether it’s a soft skill or a hard skill, I want to strengthen my skillset as a form of risk management by increasing or improving the things I’m good at.

Final Thoughts

I’ve been dividing the next 10 years into short-term (~35 years old) and long-term (35–40 years old) goals, thinking about what kind of career I want, what positions I want to hold, and what results I want to achieve. My thoughts on this have remained stable this year, and I feel more confident about my career direction.

However, the rise of generative AI this year has introduced some uncertainty about what actions I should take to achieve my career goals. That said, I’ve organized my thoughts on how to approach generative AI and plan to move forward with that in mind.

Next year, due to changes in my life stage, I expect to face stricter challenges in managing my disposable time and using it efficiently. Beyond time management, I anticipate changes in my values, priorities, and life plans.

In this context, I wonder how my vision of being a software engineer might evolve.

I hope 2024 will be a great year both personally and professionally.

Note: To handle generative AI effectively, I believe humans need the ability to understand what AI generates and provide instructions that AI can comprehend. While AI can transform knowledge into deliverables, the source of knowledge remains human, so we must continue learning. If we ever reach a society where everything can be left to AI, that would be the singularity, and I’m not planning for that future.

Postscript

There are a few personal tasks I need to tackle:

Real Estate Studies: I want to shift from renting to owning a home due to changes in my life stage, so I need to study this.
Reviewing Insurance: With life stage changes and my age, it’s time to reassess my insurance.
Health Improvement: As I enter my early 30s, I want to prepare for my 40s and 50s by improving my diet, exercise, and overall health. I plan to invest more time and money into maintaining my health.

After turning 30, I spent some time feeling like I was still in my 20s, but this past year, I’ve started to feel older both physically and mentally. I feel a growing pressure to make my life more stable and secure, but I also want to stay fresh by seeking new experiences and challenges every day.