1 Jan
2009

Quick 2008 Recap and a few New Years Resolutions

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Whew, I cannot believe that 2008 is over already, it seems like it just started. 2008 was a great year for me as a developer for several reasons.

Met new People

I was able to meet a ton of new people in 2008, both online through blogs and other communities, and at KaizenConf in Austin. This is probably the single most important thing that happened to me in 2008 because it helped put me into circle of people that share the same thoughts and values about software development that I do.

Alt.Net Introduction

I was also introduced to the Alt.Net movement during 2008. I have been developing software for several years and some of the things I had been doing just didn’t seem quite right, they worked, but they had a smell to them. Enter Alt.Net, this stuff just makes sense. It is smart software development, that revolves around creating highly testable, highly maintainable code that follows the SOLID design principles. I have come to realize that if you just ask yourself “How does this proposed solution adhere to the SOLID principles” you will write much more elegant code.

KaizenConf Open Spaces Conference

This was my first open spaces conference and I didn’t know what to expect but I came away with the feeling that this was the best conference I had ever been to. KaizenConf helped fuel my fire for continuing with more Alt.Net stuff, working on Lean Software Development and KanBan methods, and staying involved with the community. It even spurred me to start blogging more frequently about these topics.

Some 2009 Resolutions

I have a few resolutions I am going to make for the new year, some are computer related, some are not.

  • Blog More – I am targeting 52 blog posts in 2009, that is a little more than double from 2008 and is only 1 per week.
  • Fish more, I love fly fishing, just need to make more time
    • Fly Fish for Bass – talk about fun!
  • Write Elegant Code – I am staying committed to SOLID principles, testability and maintainable code.
  • Learn more about Asp.Net – Especially MVC stuff, I have been doing WinForms development for the past 4 years, so I am looking forward to this one.
  • Learn a new Programming Language – Everybody should do this every year.

I am going to stop there, I don’t want to set any unrealistic expectations for myself during the year. I think all of these are very attainable and I hope that my list has spurred some inner resolution making within you to go out and commit to something new in 2009.

2 thoughts on “Quick 2008 Recap and a few New Years Resolutions

  1. Great Post Ryan. I have been in software development for a long time and I myself have just stumbled across the ALT.NET community myself over the last couple of months … I thought I was waaay behind the curve but I was encourage to hear that you only found ALT.NET this past year, and I’ve always been very impressed with your posts and assumed that you have been part of the ALT.NET for years … it gives me hope 🙂

    Looking forward to reading your posts in 2009!

    …Ed

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