2022 - Thousand failures & few wins.

2022 has been one of the finest years of my life both personally and professionally. I would like to sincerely thank god for blessing better health to everyone around me and also me.

Thank You God. You have been kind as always

The Good Parts

Here are some of the best moments of 2022 chronologically.

1. SuperGrads: Founded a free upskilling program where I've taught Javascript & React to students on weekends for free.

   1. Some stats from my program:

      1. 180 hours of teaching (Not counting assignment reviews).

      2. 100+ students attended the sessions across 2022 & got better with Javascript & React.

      3. Reached students from 16 different countries.

      4. Shout out to my friends Shruthi & Badari for being a part of this journey. Without their support, this was not possible. More to come in 2023.

2. 13 Reasons Why

   1. Interacted with 1st Sem MCA students from Dayananda Sagar College and spoke about how to use the time in college to build a great career.

   2. heretohelp.social - Kept myself busy reviewing their resume/code of friends from Twitter under the heretohelp initiative ( by my friend Shawn Axsom).

3. Coffee Chats

   1. It's a 15-minute online call where you get to connect with folks across the globe, talk about interesting stuff and share valuable lessons.

   2. It was a great way to network with like-minded folks. Many of them are still in touch.

   3. If you have not tried it, I strongly recommend it.

4. Helping students find mentorship opportunities

   1. Many attempts, most of them failed.

   2. Few companies promised but it was not entirely in their hands. Understandable.

5. Daughter's Birthday

   1. Thanks to god again, I was fortunate to celebrate my daughter's birthday after two years of Covid.

   2. I still remember that day, It rained so badly (was a record rainfall for May 2022) and I was wondering how people will turn up. The event went well and I am fortunate to be surrounded by friends & family who braved the rain and made it.

6. A Viral Blog

   1. Wrote a blog about 10 beginner mistakes React Developers do.

   2. The blog went viral & to date, it's my blog with the most views.

7. Samarpane

   1. My NGO where my friends & myself help underprivileged children get access to better education. Some stats from 2022:

      1. Books donated worth more than Rs. 1,00,000 to multiple schools across Karnataka.

      2. Distributed 3 Laptops for worthy students.

      3. Donations to orphanages, School Fee support.

      4. Raised 100+ used books to donate to government school libraries across India.

      5. I would like to take a moment here and thank all our donors who support our work. You are all the unsung heroes.

8. August: Special month.

   1. I quit my job (the best place I had worked) to chase my dream.

   2. God granted me an opportunity to fulfill one of my life's dreams. This probably needs an entire blog on its own. Some other time.

   3. I would like to take a moment to thank the people who believed in me, backed me, encouraged me and supported me. You are my heroes.

   4. The Super Special Ganesha Chaturthi.

9. Learning & Unlearning new things

   1. Never in my life, I thought I needed to learn Java & Springboot. It happened. Thanks to all my Java friends who helped me the most while I was taking my baby steps with Java.

   2. Never in the last 5 years, I did not write React for days. It happened.

   3. Working with my new team, the viral energy, new dreams, ambitions & challenges.

   4. Supporting, Helping and Encouraging friends to realize their potential.

10. October: Always a special month for multiple personal reasons.

    1. This year was even more special again for personal reasons.

    2. So many get-togethers, family functions, Deepawali and more.

    3. Career counseling session for Dayananda Sagar college students.

11. The struggle continues.

    1. Started learning AWS, Terraform, Packer, Ansible, Linux, Github Actions. Cannot forget those days & nights of struggle (which is bound to happen when you start to learn many things in one go). I would like to take a minute to thank Sid Palas who guided me.

    2. Met Kartik, CEO of SpringRole. Amazing Human Being.

12. Last month of the year:

    1. Getting closer & closer to becoming a DevOps Engineer.

    2. The unforgettable Mysore Trip.

    3. The Mumbai Trip.

    4. Little one's first-ever stage performance.

This is not an exhaustive list. Just those things which came to mind over the last hour or so :)

The "Not so good" parts

While the above captures the best parts of the year, it was not always this nice. There were so many failures, missed opportunities, consistent follow-ups without response, one-way help seekers ( where people need you for something & disappear later) and whatnot. I do not regret anything. I sincerely Thank God for the experience.

Some lessons

1. Believe in God. God has better plans when things do not work out as expected.

2. Health is Wealth.

3. Never expect everything to go your way. Life happens.

4. No one cares unless you provide value/benefit.

5. Celebrate Failure & Success equally.

6. Never stop learning new skills.

7. Don't stress over it If it does not matter 5 years from now.

8. Quitting is good.

9. Share what you learn without expectations.

10. If you want something, go & seek.

Future

Whatever 2023 brings, it will be another exciting year surely. Let's trust in God. Wishing you all a very happy 2023.