As the end of 2017 is almost upon us, it comes with the standard New Years Resolutions and “new year, new me”. Although I do have things I would like to improve and achieve personally, maybe I’ll put in a separate post, there’s also some things I’d like to achieve in the coming year in terms of my development career.
Build
Since I started developing professionally I’ve generated a list of project ideas but never really had the -drive- time to pursue in my own time. From small utilities to larger scale products, the list is fairly long. A few of the smaller wins such as Vue plugins I’ve successfully built and released, but nothing big with future potential. So one of my main goals of 2018 is to build (and ship) something on my list. Something I can put my name to and be proud of what I’ve produced while not being owned by someone else.
Typed
I’ve had my eye on Typescript for a while, and was highly tempted to use it when rebuilding the Netsells website, but unfortunately time did not allow it. I’ll give it a go on a new project sometime soon.
Test
Working in an agency you work with many projects that are in and out in quick succession so you rarely get the time to invest in setting up any form of testing. Testing obviously has it’s benefits and I’d like to experience them first-hand and see how I can work them into my every day workflow.
Backend
My entrance into the development industry was as a backend developer working in raw PHP on an awful codebase. I ended up transitioning to more of a frontend role as I enjoyed it much more. However, I recently got the opportunity to be the sole developer on a full stack Laravel/Vue SPA project and it has resparked the enjoyment I once had for backend development.
I do basic backend work on a day-to-day basis using a Laravel-based CMS, but I’d like to do a lot more on both Laravel and node projects.
Teach
As head of frontend at the company I work for, I am frequently asked questions about how and why we do things. I’ve recently been providing a bit of teaching outside of work to a colleague in preparation of the upcoming Laravel Certification exam and I’ve learnt a lot there. I find the more I explain things, the more I understand and trust in myself also, so it kind of has an added benefit for me as well.
I’d like to try and do more of this in a more formal setting in the form of talks, blog posts and pair programming.
Conclusion
Almost all of the above can be checked off the list within the first item. “Build.” But that may be a tall order and prevent the shipping of an MVP before the year is out. I have a few smaller ideas on my list, more in terms of packages and snippets that I can implement some of the other items into, so that’s probably a more manageable approach.
Hopefully I’ll end the year with a more fleshed out Github profile and a few more skills to add to the CV. Never a bad thing.
