Retrospective of this year
Background
I decided to write a year-end retrospective which I used to do every year. At first, I wondered how it would be helpful but looking back at past retrospectives it brings back memories and allows me to reflect on what I was thinking at the time. It’s a good way to introspect and learn myself. Below is the list of retrospectives I’ve written so far. Now I’m not that young and having worked at the company for over 5 years and having a new family, this year feels like a special significance to me. There’s a lot to do and I’m busy so let’s keep it short and concise this time.
Did I achieve goals?
I just wondered I achieved goals in this year that I set last year. So I brought back the goals I wrote last year.
Focus more on code
I tried to focus more but it seems that I fell short of expectations. I’m still lacking at work, but I tried Spring properly for the first time, paying more attention to the code. I wrote code following the MVC pattern and now I feel confident in creating and deploying simple Spring servers.
I made efforts to separate functions and create code that suits the purpose. Write code in a way that its meaning can be understood by looking at it. However, the code still seems lengthy, and I feel a bit disappointed that I couldn’t fully incorporate aspects like design patterns or object oriented programming.
I think I can summarize it as follows.
Achieved
- Tried to write code following the MVC pattern
- Use a bit of object oriented programming
- Made an effort to separate long functions and write them in a way that their meaning can be understood.
Regret
- I lacked in writing object oriented code with inheritance or interfaces.
- There was a deficiency in applying aspects like design patterns.
- I had to explain the meaning of the code to my colleagues because it was not easy to know the meaning.
- There are times when the code is too long so making it difficult to read.
I made efforts but there are still regrets. Therefore I’d like to set goals and continue studying above things next year as well.
Concentrate more
When studying or working, I used to struggle with concentration and it seems like I still do. There are many distractions. When I’m on the computer, there are news, YouTubes, games, and other things. Ironically, it feels like my concentration has decreased compared to last year. Clearly, I need my time and focus entirely. Tasks go well when I concentrate!
Concentrate more when doing self-development
Its same thing in above. I need to more concentrate whatever I do.
It is good to have my product
This year I studied Spring and Unity. I released very simple game made with unity. I haven’t officially launched a service, but I’ve created and released a simple game that I wanted to make. I’ve also integrated AdMob so I feel like I’ve achieved a bit of my goal.
I would like to provide people with a touching narrative through game and give meaningful content.
I have currently released a simple game and I plan to consistently update and improve it. Additionally, I have about two more games in mind that I want to create. I hope to find the time and opportunity to develop them. One will be primarily focused on narrative and the other will aim to encapsulate a message I want to convey as much as possible.
Separately, I have a mind to study about design. I need to draw game resource myself.
In summary, I have released a very simple product and I plan to continue developing it further into the next year.
And still I consistently write on my blog whenever I have the time.
How was this year?
Honestly this year was so busy. With the addition of a new family member and busy work at the company there has been almost no personal time. When I look back, I’m not even sure how this year has passed. Will it get even busier in future?!
I should take some time to reflect on what I’ve accomplished and experienced this year.
Work relates to the entire organization
I am in Big Data Center just like last year. Last year, the primary goal was to solve the company’s data silos. This year, there was a strong emphasis on understanding how personal information is present in services across the entire organization. The main object is to strengthen personal information protection.
In relation to this, last year, we established a data collection platform called BDP. This year, in conjunction with the existing BDP, we additionally built a platform to enhance personal information protection. We also connected various services to our system.
Since I joined the company, I have always thought that it is one of the most important parts in the company. There is still a sense of anticipation and pride in being involved in such work. In this era where AI is becoming increasingly important, big data is an indispensable element and it seems like our center is entrusted with significant responsibilities. There’s a feeling of contributing more to the company compared to my time in the research lab. However, there is a significant concern about whether the company will continue to support us in the future.
From a broad perspective, the significant advantage is that we are creating and improving a system that other companies don’t have.
Work that sometimes felt skeptical
I felt a sense of skepticism while integrating various services into our system. The platform development ended relatively early and we automated and improved many parts in system compared to last year. However human intervention was still needed. I felt a sense of skepticism while verifying each and every one of them. Sometimes there were mistakes or incorrect information from the service side which engineer had to deal with them. So that problem makes a lack of development time. To put it in an analogy, it felt like I was doing a job that even a machine or a ChatGPT could do.
Changes in company and uncertain future
Since I joined the company, an executive who had been with me left company as the vice president. I don’t think there has ever been a time when I was as anxious about company changes as like this year. It seems desperately necessary to recruit more members and clarify the roles and responsibilities with other parts. And it seems certain that the Big Data Center will exist for at least a year but I’m not sure what will happen after that.
Not as much as last year, but some growth
Last year, I was able to learn a lot about the public cloud. I only had experience about private cloud so public cloud was new to me. I feel like I learned quite a bit last year about databases(RDS, DynamoDB, etc.), security, authentication(IAM, Federation, etc.) and how to use AWS and GCP.
I’m not sure I studied the cloud as much this year as I did last year. However, I think I managed to study a bit about Spring. As mentioned above I’ve learned about Spring and servers. Although I’m still lacking a lot, I believe I can now develop server related things by searching on internet.
Besides that, I think I’ve been more trying to focus on code than before. I did some refactoring such as removing duplicates or wrapping functions and tried to use inheritance.
Other than coding, it seems like there’s been a change in attitude. I’ve developed a habit of thinking about how to improve duplicated or modifiable parts when I come across them in work. I’ve seen many areas to improve but due to time constraints I could not import it. A positive part is that I developed a habit of fixing inconvenient parts when finding repeated codes or APIs I’ve created. For example, when receiving feedback like wanting to see logs for a specific process execution or wishing to consolidate multiple manual API executions into one API, I think about it and apply it. From a management perspective, it seems essential for notifications to be sent when there are issues with tools like Slack. Additionally I’ve come to understand importance of audit logging.
While there has been some growth in terms of development and knowledge, I feel that aspects related to attitude, mindset, and the desire to identify and solve problems have changed a bit.
Consistent blogging and small release
Throughout my life I have very few works I can confidently show but I take pride in consistently maintaining and operating my blog. Due to the emergence of ChatGPT, a decrease in Google search traffic to my blog and other good blogs, the number of visitors to my blog has been decreasing. However I find a sense of satisfaction and pride in the steady operation and writing efforts to it. Of course I continue to write my blog about anything I learn, feel, reflect, or experience.
This year I wanted to earn money from my blog and create my own service or game as mentioned above. I developed a very simple game and released it.
Even though it’s uncertain whether one person will visit per day, there is a meaning in releasing it. I plan to consistently update it as well. Next year I hope to release around two more games, as mentioned above. It would be great if they could also be financially successful.
I plan to continue trying side projects while steadily creating something.
Responsibility
I have a new family and I have a responsibility to care them. It doesn’t feel burdensome rather it seems like a happy sense of responsibility. I’ve become more cautious and deliberate in my actions. Now I can’t live just for myself and I find myself working harder for the sake of my family. Despite the added responsibility, it feels more like a driving force than a burden. It’s like having a new reason to live.
Sometimes there’s a slight sense of regret that the money and time earned cannot be solely spent on myself. However considering the other things I’ve gained, I still feel the need to live diligently.
Future Goals and Thoughts
I remember when I had psychological counseling in the past, I was more prone to excessive worry and concern than others. I live my life with a lot of thought and worry.
I have various concerns that I often have. My future, our family, the family I will meet in the future, money, country, environment and etc. I worry about everything big and small.
Looking back at the post I wrote last year, I think I wrote well about how I am. It seems that my goals remain unchanged. I will write down at below parts.
Regret, improvement, and goals
Design and Implementation of Good Code in Development
As mentioned above, I would like to apply theories like UML to make my designs more robust during development and it would be good to write better code when writing code. Better code may seem ambiguous but let’s focus on resolving the “Regret” mentioned above.
Choice and Concentrate
Let’s make priority on what I have to do and focus on what’s been decided to do.
Additional works and releases
I’ve been consistently writing on my blog and I made a simple game in 2023 but in the new year I’d like to create more fun and meaningful works.
Keep growing and studying
As I interested in this field, I need to continue studying, organizing, creating, and thinking. In the new year, I hope to study a lot about server development and code. Also I have plan to learn more while working on my company projects and creating my own works.
About Life
Though I consistently set ambitious goals and write about them, achieving everything seems challenging. I thought that by my current age, I would have accomplished a lot. However it seems I haven’t quite reached that point yet. As I live, I realize that luck plays a significant role. In the past, I believed that with effort, one could achieve anything. However now that I’m out in the real world, I feel the importance of luck. There truly is nothing easy in this world.
Looking at the posts from last year, it’s amusing to find that my mindset and thoughts are still the same. Because of that I’ll try pasting the content just as it is.
When I was young, I thought 31 years of me would achieve many things but I cannot sure how many things I achieved. I think I had many goals when I was young and growing up. Maybe because I read a lot of great personal biography I’d like to protect and develop our country which has been struggling and developed in difficult circumstances, I’d like to help good people who suffered from bad people and I’d like to help and contribute to the world. Of course! It’s the same now. I sometimes dream of achieving any of my previous goals and thinking that my life was “OK” before I died so many times later. I’d like to help animals that receive relatively little human touch as well.
The previous goals are important but the most important thing in my life is my happiness. Most of my happiness is from my family and my people. My family is more important than any previous goal. I regret that I could not care for my brother(dog) and family because I just cared for myself and focused on my success. After that, I’m trying to spend even one more minute with my family. I’d like to take care of my family and spend more time with them. Nothing is more important than my family.
Those two paragraphs above still reflect my current thoughts. The last paragraph below, however, seems to have changed a bit. This year I made a new family and we’re living together. My goal was to take good care of my family and loved ones, but I’m not sure if I’m doing that well… It feels truly hectic. Future will be difficult more but I still have many concerns. I still have many things I want to do, including previous studies and goals, as well as interests such as stocks, travel, exercise, video production, writing, reading, hobbies, game, volunteering, and meeting people, and more.
Even though I believe that I can do it. Everyone else is living so well! In the new year, I’d like to take better care of my family, myself, and everything I want to take care of.
And no matter how difficult and worrisome it may be, I now believe that it’s time to do it. Looking at what I have accomplished so far, I am confident that I can do it sufficiently.
Conclusion
It’s interesting to read the posts I’ve written each year. Somehow watching the process of wrapping up the year feels strangely satisfying and truly signifies the end of a year. I’m curious about the mindset and feelings with which I’ll be writing next year. Let’s continue to live diligently with consistency, just as I have done so far! Gratefully and humbly, let’s work hard!
