Good thing I use 1Password to save the passwords, otherwise I could not enter my own blog when writing an annual post and always the annual retrospective.
As always the first thing is to review the goals I set for 2019, then I will review this year and end up setting the goals for 2020.
Objectives for 2019
Learn to play the ukulele. I've totally failed. I did it the first two months of 2019 and that's it. The WeCode conference came and that was it. Every month in my Bullet Journal I had a column indicating the days I practiced and it's frustrating to see that I didn't make time for it, because when I could do it was at night and I preferred to dedicate it to reading.
Giving technology talks. The only one that I gave was in the WeCode, improvised about Apache Kafka, and it came out more like an Open Space session where I spoke and shared my opinion, it was not what I had thought, and I should not be very critical about it, it was an open and it came out what I had to come out, even if it was not what I wanted.
Continue to take care of my health. The summary of 2019 is that there have been ups and downs, in short, I could say that I have done it but I am aware that I could do better. Still pending is that post explaining a little bit about my day to day diabetes management and how technology is helping me.
Summary of 2019
Overall it's been a good year, very good. I have traveled with my family to London, Asturias, and Costa Brava, enjoying the holidays we have had. I watched Marcos grow and grow, and I am learning more and more from him every day. Sometimes I think he is the one who is teaching me to be better and he gives me more than I give him. We have our discussions, our differences, evident by the generational jump, hahaha.
It has been a year of job changes at home, Amalia in June changed of job and now works remotely by my side. I have had to get used to having someone at my side in the office (a room at home) again ;) She is much better with the change, she enjoys the family and that shows in every one.
I was dreaming happily in the company where I was but in summer there was a change that made the future of the company hanging by a thread and in view of the uncertainty, I decided to look for a way out. I had a couple of choices and in the end, I chose Jobandtalent, and I think it was a good choice in general.
Regarding the change of company, sometimes I have the impostor syndrome, it has been a change of technology in a company with projects and services developed for a long time and it is difficult to get into them from scratch. The team is quite professional and despite my experience, I feel very junior, I have returned to Ruby and Rails and sometimes my previous experience on it brings back memories of bad times and doubts that I have to face day by day.
The future at Jobandtalent is promising, I am looking forward to contributing, learning and evolving with the product. I only hope to be at the level that is expected of me.
The other highlight of 2019 is the organization of WeCode 2020. And that's where I've come in. In Cylicon Valley, the association, we are a very varied group and I think that in the last years we have accommodated to others pulling the car, and I am talking about Nacho and Javi. This year Amalia and I have taken a step forward and have taken the lead in coordinating, not only organizing, the two conferences, WeCode and LechazoConf. each in one of them. It's exhausting and has a lot of emotional and maybe physical wear (sponsors and speakers know that they receive emails from me in the early morning when I get into it). But it is enriching to see the messages of the attendees. The highlight, and forgive the point of modesty, was Nacho's performance of the Pantomima Full imitation of Agilisto, with over 50k views, I'm pretty overwhelmed because I didn't expect something like this.
Objectives for 2020
Working hard in Cylicon Valley, getting through WeCode and LechazoConf, we can spend more time at home this year than in previous years, so let's give it our all.
Continue to enjoy family and travel. I love going out with Marcos and seeing his face discovering other cultures and cities. We have the idea to go out of the country once a year...and this year the goal is the Netherlands (recommendations for families with a 6-7-year-old son are welcome).
Going to more technological environments. And if I can propose a talk and contribute to the community, so much the better. This also allows me to share in the halls with other professionals, which enriches me professionally and allows me to grow personally by opening up to new friends.
Write more posts in my blog. Yeah, I know, I used to say it and I never did it, but that doesn't stop me from continuing with that idea, some year it will be true.
And with the line of the previous paragraph, to write in English the posts. If at the end I have been more than 2 years working in an English company, in the current one we also use the English in a natural way (not always but frequently) it should not be a problem to write in the blog in English, as I am doing at this moment with all my mistakes, which will be and many... excuse me in advance.
Gym and sport. I almost forgot :( Last year in October I signed up for a gym that I have been going to regularly in 2019, although I have not been back since October because of work. I've met great people, I'm very motivated to train and in 2020 I'm going to come back with strength and above all to reduce the excesses of that Christmas that I'm letting myself go and we're going badly.
After running the Half-Marathon in Valladolid this year, in 2020 I have proposed to run the Half Marathon in Zamora too, sign up for more popular races, especially in the first part of the year and see if that allows me to lose weight, I am optimistic and ambitious, to see if I finish the year with 8 kilos less.
And that's all, I'm always going to say that I hope to write more than one post, maybe one a month but let's make an intention, and let's reflect every 3 months to see how this planning is going, that's why we are Agile :P
PD: sorry for this daring to write in english, it's probably the last post in this language...or not.
PD 2: I'm writing this post on New Year's Eve at 4 am and with several beers and almost a bottle of wine consumed by myself. If you've read this far I hope you didn't have anything better to do :P