I can’t believe 2024 is coming to an end! 👀 I don’t understand how it went by so fast, yet managed to cram in so many unexpected events.
As I get older, I find myself enjoying reflection exercises more and more. Taking a moment to look back before moving forward has become a must for me.
Writing helps me make sense of the experiences around me—it’s something I can’t let go of anymore. So let’s dive right into what 2024 taught me!
Work
A big chunk of this year was dedicated to tweaking my resume, going to interviews, solving technical challenges, and everything else that comes with job hunting.
It was an uphill battle at times. I had moments of frustration and discouragement as months went by without the right opportunity coming along.
But out of nowhere, on an ordinary day in what felt like the five-month-long August, I got an invitation to interview with the CEO of a Health Tech startup called MiMIAT .
The result of that interview changed my career path—not just because I landed the job and am now thrilled to be part of the team, but also because the project itself has motivated me to learn so much about web and mobile development.
2024 was intense work-wise, but it brought me the best news ever… I landed a full-time dev job on a project I’m super passionate about! 🥳
I know the past few years haven’t been easy for many people still searching for an opportunity, but please, don’t give up. The right opportunity will come.
Job hunting is like a marathon—it rewards those who don’t quit.
I’m not saying it’s wrong to feel tired or overwhelmed by the process (that’s totally normal), but don’t stop trying. In the end, the win goes to those who keep going despite the challenges.
Learning
I kicked off the year by tying up loose ends—brushing up on React, Next.js, and web development in general to prepare for job interviews, while also building portfolio projects.
It’s wild to think that not so long ago, I was still working on my portfolio. It’s crazy how much can fit into 365 days (or 366 this year, haha).
Besides finishing my web development studies, in 2024 I decided to dive deeper into general systems engineering knowledge.
So since July, I’ve been following the Open Source Society University (OSSU) curriculum for Computer Science. I’ll definitely keep sharing my experiences with this in future posts .
Choosing this new learning path was one of the biggest decisions of the year, no doubt.
It hasn’t been as straightforward as I thought it’d be, but I’ve made it through OSSU’s first semester 💪. I completed CS50’s Python course and worked on math fundamentals, and I’m really happy with these achievements.
Personal
One of the biggest wins this year is that for the first time, I feel my daily routine strikes the right balance between work, family, study, and free time.
This is huge for me. I’ve spent years trying to improve this aspect of my life, as I tend to neglect personal time for other priorities.
Finally, I’ve figured out how to make space for everything without one aspect overshadowing the others. The past few years were so career-focused that I had to take several moments to pause and reorganize my routine before finding the right balance.
For the first time, I feel more at ease working remotely and asynchronously. It took me years to stop feeling guilty about not being glued to my computer from 9 to 5 and to learn how to work based on goals rather than hours.
Now that I’ve got the hang of it, I enjoy taking midday walks, relaxing in the green spaces near my home, or even working hard some days and taking it easier on others.
This has had an amazing impact on my personal life.
This year, I spent more quality time with my family, got back into a consistent fitness routine (which has always been hard for me), rediscovered my love for reading fantasy books during my downtime, and even signed up for a ceramics class to do something completely analog.
Side Projects
This year, I started streaming and creating content for YouTube.
Although I kicked things off with lots of energy, I couldn’t keep up the pace throughout the year—but I learned a ton along the way.
The same pattern showed up on other social platforms, and I even temporarily abandoned some of them (like Instagram and TikTok). I’ll share more about my reasons for stepping back from those spaces in future posts.
In 2025, I’ll probably focus on fewer platforms but stay more active on the ones I genuinely enjoy.
It was also a challenging year for community involvement. I wasn’t as active as in previous years, and some projects stalled due to lack of time.
On the bright side, we saw the arrival of Bluesky —a less chaotic, friendlier version of Twitter, haha. I’ve been using this new platform to experiment with posting in English, and I’ve got a few thoughts on that for future posts too.
Oh, and this year I launched a completely open-source VSCode theme called Unicornio Dark , available to anyone who wants to beautify their workspace. To date, over 120 people have downloaded it 🤯.
You can’t do it all—I’d have loved to be more consistent with side projects, but I understand why I had to prioritize other things this year.
Days only have 24 hours, and it’s okay NOT to accomplish everything. We’re human, not machines. Some days we can; other days, we can’t—and that’s totally fine.
Wrapping Up
That’s it, folks! Another year that flew by in the blink of an eye.
Wishing you all an amazing start to 2025. Let’s see what the next 365 days have in store for us. 🫶
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