A Year as a Front-end Developer: Self-Redemption at 23.

Origin

Q: Why is it called this name in review?

A: In April, I saw someone on Twitter post a tweet sharing ten questions about the last decade. I found it quite interesting at that time.

Questionnaire

Q1: Describe the recent situation in three sentences?

Life has not been smooth, but everything is still alright.
I’m starting to feel tired of work and dislike the feeling of being restricted.
I‘m practicing spoken English and writing, hoping to find remote jobs.

Q2: Share the most memorable event/moment in the last decade?

On October 18, 2020, I was woken up by a phone call and immediately booked a flight from Fuzhou to Chengdu in 7:00 AM around. I remember feeling very anxious at that time, but everything calmed down by the evening.

Q3: Do you feel that you have changed a lot compared to yourself in the last decade?

The period from 2013 to 2023 has been a significant span for me. Junior high school, high school, university, and work all happened in the last decade. Not only has my appearance changed, but my inner self and personality have also undergone significant changes. I have also had less contact with those friends.

Q4: Do you still regularly keep in touch with the people around last decade? Can you still have deep conversations with friends? (Do you feel that your perspectives and focus have changed?)

I still have contact information for a few people. We occasionally reach out to each other when there is something going on and have in-depth conversations during occasional gatherings once or twice a year. However, we are usually busy with our own lives. My focus on things has definitely changed. In the past, I was only interested in games, but now I pay more attention to life. It’s been a long time since I last played games.

Q5: Has your career path changed from the beginning? What made you choose your current profession and major? What is the significance of hobbies to you?

As someone who has just entered the work, my career path has not changed yet. My interest in computers since childhood led me to study computer science and work in related fields. Hobbies such as traveling, photography, and UI design mainly serve the purpose of recording life.

Q6: How has your relationship with your parents changed compared to last decade?

In the current stage, I’m more eager to do something for my parents, such as cooking a meal together, shopping, or walking. In the past, our relationship was based on money and rebellion, causing them to worry. I was unwilling to face reality and sought their help when encountering difficulties.

Q7: Do you plan to have children? (What is your view on family?)

I am only 23 years old, so I don’t plan to have children at the moment. Regarding family, I don’t aspire to great wealth or luxury. I just hope that my family members are healthy and everything smooth. Stability and harmony are the essence of a family. I don’t want conflicts and arguments to fill our daily lives.

Q8: Do you want to go back to ten years ago?

No, with my personality at that time, going back to ten years ago would mean walking the same path again without any changes. It might even make life more difficult than it is now. At most, it would make my family pay more attention to their health and have regular check-ups. I often see tweets saying that going back in time allows you to buy lottery, stock, property, or BTC and transcend social classes through various means. When you buy that lottery, the numbers might have changed.

Q9: Are you afraid of getting old?

Human aging is a natural law, so there’s nothing to be afraid of. Maybe because I’m only 23 years old now, I think this way. Maybe when I’m 33, I will be afraid of aging and won’t talk about natural laws anymore.

Q10: What do you think is the most core (important) thing to solve or achieve in life?

Health is the foundation of a fulfilling life. Maintaining good health is essential for achieving other goals and enjoying life.

Recap in 2023

Decadence

At the beginning of the year, the three-year-long COVID-19 pandemic lockdown came to an end. I had hoped that the first half of the year would bring about positive changes, but unfortunately, the second half presented even more challenges and constraints, further constraining our freedom. Amidst the hustle and bustle of life, I found myself grappling with a sense of aimlessness. In an attempt to navigate through this turbulent period, I penned a mid-year summary when I was still thriving. However, as September rolled in, the rhythms of my life turned monotonous and repetitive, triggered by the painful aftermath of a heartrending breakup. Slowly but steadily, my spirits plummeted, and existential doubts crept into my mind, prompting me to question the very essence and purpose of my existence.

This state made me even more reluctant to stay at home on weekends. I would go out with friends, eat and drink during the day, and indulge in Livehouse at night, spending a lot of money, increasing the Engel coefficient. Staying up, night snacks, and drinking had no benefits. My personality started to become indecisive, my physical functions began to decline, and I started to gain weight around my stomach. When I went running with friends for about a kilometer, it felt like a struggle, and I had a suffocating feeling.

This year, my focus on learning technology was indeed concentrated in the first half of the year. GPT emerged during that time and helped improve development efficiency, yielding twice the results with half the effort. In the second half of the year, I didn’t control my emotions well and became too lax. If I were to quantify the content I acquired throughout the year, the second half would probably account for less than 25%. Last year, I planned to learn NodeJS, but this year, I only managed to read some basic books.

Breakthrough

In mid-October, I came across a post that encouraged everyone to pursue a sense of achievement from endorphins rather than chasing dopamine’s pleasure. In order to achieve this, I made a firm decision to make some changes and exercise for about an hour every day after work. After the first day of training, the lactic acid produced by my muscles made me feel extremely powerful, but of course, the next day I couldn’t get up. This continued until now, and my body fat percentage has also decreased. Now, I don’t feel tired on the second day of training.

It seemed like a wasteful year last year, but the goals set for 2022 were also achieved bit by bit. With the arrival of the end of the year, major social platforms have released users’ annual reports. After looking through them one by one, I found that I had been studying English continuously last year. Although I may not be as proficient in algorithmic problems as before, I still maintain the mindset of practicing problems. Even though my GitHub contributions may not look like many green squares, compared to the past four years, this should be the most productive year. This year, I started to love open-source projects in the community, where I can truly learn a lot. Through open-source projects, I also reconstructed my blog using Astro and embraced the React community. I tried functional programming and collaborated with different friends on various projects.

Changes

This year, I have made many attempts at snowboarding, dyeing my hair, outfits, perfume, listening to podcasts, and even raising a cat named ‘Router’. I named it ‘Router’ because whenever I come home, he sticks to me like connecting to Wi-Fi automatically. I no longer enjoy playing games or mahjong, instead like riding, billiards. Although the number of times I went cycling this year is few, it was still a memorable attempt. I started playing billiards because my dad recently started enjoying it, and I gradually fell in love with this form of entertainment as well. Now, I pay more attention to my dad’s physical health and regularly remind him to get medical examinations. For an ordinary family, the health of its members is directly related to the family’s happiness index, followed by material satisfaction.

I used RSS for the first time to subscribe to articles, which helps me conveniently obtain information. It can be used across platforms, saving time and providing personalized subscription services.

I have developed my own note-management system and specifically learned how to organize my notes. There is a large amount of content that needs to be digested every day, from browsing content to taking notes and then outputting them to platforms like Craft or Notion. At first, it was many times, in some inexplicable situations, ideas would flash in my mind. Often, because I didn’t record them in time, I gradually ignored these ideas. Every day, I read a large number of blogs and information flows from various social media platforms, all of which have valuable content that needs to be recorded. I will make a simple record using the Notes app on my iPhone/Mac. If it’s a webpage, I’ll use a Chrome extension to record and categorize it, extracting important information for later quick browsing.

This year, I have also started to seriously think about the issue of ‘money and assets’. Although it is impossible to achieve financial freedom by working alone, coupled with my high Engel’s coefficient, financial planning is still very important. The income generated from my main job and avocation needs to be recorded for in detail. It is necessary to manage finances reasonably, even if initially only a few tens of yuan can be earned. These are considered ‘passive income,’ which means I don’t need to trade my time for income. Through continuous learning and experimentation, I will find a way that suits me and slowly build my own asset portfolio.

What to Expect in 2024

Although I am reluctant to write this particular section, as “Plans” and “Changes” are perpetually contradictory words, allow me to present a refined outline of the things I anticipate undertaking next year:

Have a trip with my family, even if it encompasses a mere one or two days.
Attend a rock music festival (or Livehouse).
Climb a mountain (Mount Siguniang).
Continue fitness and maintain a low body fat percentage.
Keep learning English.
Read at least three English books (It could be technology-related books).
Hope to join an open-source community.
Need to learn new content: Web3, NextJS, etc.
Write ten blog posts.
Avoid ineffective social interactions.
Work-Life balance.
Continue fianacial planning.

I am hoping for a better outcome on December 31, 2024.