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31. |

31.

Good gravy. I usually say this at the beginning of all of these posts, but holy moly time flies!

So I blinked and suddenly I was no longer 30. While turning 30 was a momentous milestone, 31 felt like nothing more than a whimper in comparison. XD

It was an intense year. An extremely intense year. To the point where I let all of my side projects fall to the wayside, and this poor blog didn’t get updated in 9 months. It also ended up changing somewhat drastically in the last few months, which have given me a good chance to reflect on this year, and to think about what I want to do next year.

Like I always do, I like to make a little checklist of the things I’m most proud of doing as a 30 year old, and setting some goals for next year.

  • I lived in America for 8 months to work onsite at Realm. I had a fantastic time, learning new things and making new friends that I otherwise never would have had the chance in Australia.
  • Through the Realm World Tour, I got to present at places I otherwise never dreamed of seeing, including Disney in Seattle, and HBO in LA. It was so awe-inspiring to talk to people who work at companies like that and get an internal perspective of them
  • Thanks to the World Tour, I also got to visit the PokΓ©mon Company and Microsoft HQ in Bellevue and Washington, which let me geek out for a brief moment. πŸ˜€
  • I attended many conferences this year, and even presented at a few including /dev/world and iOS Conf SG. It’s always so much fun to meet everyone again.
  • I also managed to attend many conventions as well, including Anime Expo 2017 in LA, and PAX Australia in Melbourne!
  • I built a component in my free time called the Realm Browser for iOS, and used its design as a base to research and produce two other fantastic libraries (TORoundedTableView and TOSplitViewController) that have come in handy for several other projects in the meantime.
  • I built TOPasscodeViewController, a library that arguably let me learn the most about how iOS graphics
  • For the first time since 2014, I was finally able to get a WWDC ticket. I had an absolutely fantastic time in San Jose and learned so much during that week.
  • I finished up with Realm at the end of September and had a fantastic time getting back into contracting work in Perth.
  • I tried interviewing at a few major companies for the experience and was fascinated to catch a glimpse of what life is like on the inside of them.
  • I took all of November off to bum around in Japan to finally spend some quality time getting all of my personal projects back up again (Like my blog, and iComics). It was an insanely guilty pleasure engaging in full Hikikomori mode for a week. XD
  • At the last second, thanks to the Realm Browser for iOS, I became the top ranked Objective-C developer on GitHub from Australia. πŸ˜€

It was a fantastic, intense, amazing year, and I hope 31 will be as good as that.

Like always, there’s a few things I want to note down as goals for the upcoming year.

  • Most importantly, I need to focus on my health. I unfortunately completely ignored it while I was living in America and I’m paying a small price for it right now. Nothing too dangerous, but something I need to get on top of.
  • Play more video games. I spend waaaay too much time either at work, or working on my own projects and I completely cut games out for a huge part of this year. Games are a fantastic way to unwind, so I definitely want to get back in on that.
  • Stream more. Whether it be when playing with friends, or working on iComics, I think streaming is a great way to stay focused and to also engage with friends/users and it’s something I’ve really been meaning to get on.
  • Found a company. Given all of the contract work and third party apps I build, I’m wondering if I finally should put it behind an actual corporate entity.
  • Work in another country. Perth is fantastic and all, but in terms of tech, it’s still very small. I had a fantastic time developing my skills in America and I’d like to do that for a little longer before I settle down in Perth again.

As always, if you’re reading my blog, use any of my apps, or like any of the other stuff I do, thank you so much. πŸ™‚

30 was excellent. Here’s to an even more excellent 31. πŸ˜€

  • Published November 20, 2017
  • Categories Personal