Today is December 28, the last Sunday of the year. It's time to sit down and reflect on what I have accomplished in the year.

 I have to say, this has been one of the most peaceful and comfortable years I have had since I graduated. However, a comfortable life has two sides. On the positive side, I've been able to enjoy life more this year. On the negative side, I find myself worrying about my career.

This year, I've had more time for myself, which has improved my health significantly. I have more time to sleep, and play badminton - I have played better recently, and running, I can run 5km in 35 minutes without feeling exhausted.

I've had more time to travel. This year, I went to the beach three times. One time, in particular, I went to an island, it was very memorable. As I write this review, I am sitting in a hotel room with a stunning view of the beach.

I've spent more time exploring the city where I live, trying a variety of dishes at many restaurants. Enjoy drinking at many coffee shops, and watching numerous movies.

Additionally, I've also read several good books, including "Thinking, Fast and Slow" and "Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?". Recently I started to read "Why Nations Fail"

While I've been enjoying life, I can't help but worry about my career, which is one of the most important aspects of my life.

I have been working remotely for a year which gives me the flexibility to enjoy life. However, the job itself is not challenging enough to significantly improve my technical skills.

Despite this, I've been proactively learning and upgrading my skills. This year, I have focused on databases and distributed systems. I read the book "Database Internals", finished the course "operating system" on Udemy, practiced coding on Leetcode, wrote blogs, I am currently implementing a distributed database, 

2023 was a difficult year. the covid has gone but its effects are still present in every aspect of life. after 2022 was full of lockdown, our economy was hit hard in 2023. Especially in the tech industry, during the pandemic, investors put a huge amount of money into startup companies around the world, because they see that during the lockdown, the demand for software is pushed up, and they believe that this trend will last forever and completely change the way we live and work. governments around the world also spent a lot of money on the pandemic, and now we have to pay off in 2023. High interest rates, high inflation, high unemployment rates,... are the effects of that.

but people just generally don't change the way they live 😂 after the pandemic has gone, people tend to go outside and enjoy this fresh air. the demand for software has quickly dropped. and now the investors are in real trouble, the interest rates are so high, and this puts a huge pressure on them because they have to pay a lot of interest to the bank. So they have to put pressure on those start-up companies, they want them to generate benefits or at least cut down the loss. and the easiest way for a startup to make those investors satisfied is to cut down the workforce.

during the pandemic, the tech job market was so vibrant. Since graduating, I have never seen it so vibrant like this. I feel like every company is hiring, and it is very easy to get a job. The startup wants to expand fast to occupy a bigger market share. they don't think 2023 would be very difficult like that, and very least people can see that.

Anyway, I think 2024 will not be easy on us, but I hope it gonna treat us gently. even 2024 can be difficult, I still need to set goals that I have to achieve. I won't put too much expectation on the next year, it will be just some small goals.

• keep practicing Leetcode, English, and system design, and prepare for the interview.
• play sports frequently, maintain a healthy body and mind
• make more friends, talk to more people, go out more often, go travel
• read some new quality books

 2022

2023

The start of 2023 was touch. I suffer from serious health issues, and I haven't found a new job after getting laid off at the end of 2022.

I decided to spend a few months after the Lunar New Year to completely cure my health issue. At the same time, I was also actively looking for a new job.

After two months, in March. I got an offer and finished the treatment. I can return to work again, I was pretty excited about this. but it turns out the job is quite terrible, I regretted joining the company and began looking for a new job. but the market now is tough, I've been to several interviews but I got nothing. Finally, at the end of the year, I got referred by friend a to get a new job.

Except for the job, I think this year is quite fun. I recovered from the health issue, not completely, but I can join almost any activity in life, that makes me happy.

Thanks for the treatment, this year I can travel frequently. I traveled to some famous places this year, it was all beautiful, and such a great experience. remember when I was still affected by the health issue, I thought I would have to stay at home for the rest of my life. It is really amazing when I can enjoy this life again with no worries.

I also started to swim this year, I am really proud that can swim now 🏊‍♀️ I currently can swim basic style only, so it is quite slow even though I have tried to do it correctly. I am gonna learn other techniques, so I can race with other people 😄

Last year I thought, working from home was great, I had to spend two hours a day commuting between home and the office. I changed my mind this year, working in an office can also be great because you can meet and interact with so many people.

This year, feel more comfortable when I stand between many strange. before I thought too much about what other people thought about me, so I usually felt insecure when I was in the middle of a crowd. also, I feel comfortable talking with other people as well, I can talk to strangers with no issue. I even can talk to girls quite confidently now 😉

I am gonna switch to a new job on 25 Dec, because I wasn't satisfied with my current job as it lacks challenging and room to grow. I hope I will be fine in the next job.

I think that's all for the 2023.

Yep! I guess that is it. a year of full pandemics is just nearly passed. I have no idea what is waiting for me in 2022, but let spend a few minutes looking back and see what I have done this year.

I didn't expect too much this year, because it is a year of pandemic and I have just graduated on this day last year. I get lost, I wasn't sure what I wanna be. Yeh, that is a good decision.

Ok, so last year, I have spend all of my free time learning machine learning, deep learning, all of that stuffs. Because `AI engineer` sounds cool to me, and I want to become a real AI engineer in the future. But I was struggling to find that job, so I change my mind, I decided to temporary work as a back-end developer or a software engineer - so it still sounds cool. And I was supposed to back to work as a real AI engineer this year, but I totally change my mind.

Even now, finding a job that relevant to AI is hard. And I have discovered my career orientation now - that is the most valuable thing for me. I joined my current company as a backend engineer, but in reality, I have to work as a full-stack and a front-end developer. I don't blame my company, thanks to those experiences, I know what I want to be, and also what is good for me. I want to work as a backend engineer and in an English environment, yes, with English - I have a chance to go abroad in the next few years - and that is exciting for me.

One thing is funny, last year, I want to improve my communication skills, for some reasons that only I know. But I don't care about it now haha. I am just what am I. All other goals were also good.

Happy new year everyone! I hope everybody is happy the next year!

If anyone ever asks me what is my favorite novel I ever read in high school, my answer is The First Teacher of Aitmatov. Cause there are a couple of maples in that novel. I don't know why but the image of the two maples was imprinted in my memory. Where I live, there are multiple trees too, and I do really like them. Every time I think about it, I can feel peace inside. Maybe that is the reason why I like The First Teacher.

Back to the novel, I just read it yesterday. The teacher in the novel makes me remembering my two teachers at high school. You'll never imagine how much they mean to me. They give me the knowledge and courage to go on my way.

When I was a kid, I don't really like school lessons, cause I feel they boring and useless. I enjoy exploring my surroundings. I love to make some silly stuff.

In middle school, I first touch the computer and it was exciting. I still remember there was a Mario game to practice typing. I really love computers cause we can make a lot of fancy things with them.

In grade 8, I first meet Pascal, a programming language. I don't understand it but it's really attractive to me at this time. my score for that class was very low, I really want to learn it, but the teachers at high school can't help me.

But at high school, it was so different. That would be my great time ever. The teachers are very supportive, friends are really cute. That was the time I meet Pascal again. But at this time, I have my two best teachers ever. I wasn't an excellent student, I need more time to understand those concepts about programming but my teachers are very patient. In high school, I lived on great dates, I have a chance to live with my passion, no stress, no worry, I just learn because I wanna learn it.

I'm always feeling grateful to my two teachers, they were the couple who had made a huge influence on me. They teach me how it is to live with a passion. I can't imagine how am I doing now if I didn't meet them.

 I had been the kind of person who was always obsessing about what is my biggest strength.

I simplify my life, keep it very clean so I can spend most of my time learning. That's not so bad cause I have gained a lot of knowledge. I just work so hard so that I don't enjoy good things from life.

When I was a student at high school and the university, I didn't spend much time going out with friends. I was a bored person, every day I almost just go from home to school and vice versa.

Now, when I remember my past, it didn't come up with many beautiful memorize.

Why I don't just accept that I am a normal person and enjoy being a normal person. Play guitar, play soccer with friends, go around and take pictures, drawing something, poem, writing, sing,...

So many fun things that I didn't do.

There are so many children has programmed by their parents to become something. I feel sorry for them.

With the affection of the parents, the children can easily identify what they want to become. Teacher, doctor, billionaires,...

That might be a good thing because you know what you gonna become and what you should do to become what you want to become.

But for me, just a small thought on my head. Why we have to identify what we want to become so early? Why would just enjoy the journey of finding what we want to become? It is an uncertain journey, no one knows when it will be stopped. But it is exciting, cause uncertain things happen. You might meet some strange peoples, face some ideas that you've never heard before, do something that you've never done before. And most important, throughout the journey, you understand yourself more and maybe you understand the meaning of life.

What could happens if one day those kids who have become doctors or teachers feel that what they had become is not what they want to become? So, parents, let giving those children the freedom to discover themself, to understand themself.

I believe life is long enough for anybody who wants to join the journey of finding themselves.

When I was a kid, I used to look up at the sky at night to watch twindle stars and I wish one day I will become an astronaut. Since then, 23 years have passed, I still keep a little dreamy of a kid to continue on my journey. The journey will be stopped some time, but who cares about the destination? I only remember the journey itself.

For me, this year is not favorable. Four months have passed, and I still struggle with my personal problem. At least, now I find a small hope to overcome my own problems. If I can solve all my own personal problems, then I think I will spend most of the rest of the time this year improving my communication skills.

I know, so far, my weakest skill was communication. I am aware of that, but I don't spend time learning more about that because I want to learn more about academic things than people. I used to does not appreciate communication skills as a reason not to improve my communication skills. Sometimes I feel angry at myself because I will always be underrated than people who know how to communicate but have less ability. I am cannot using words to show my skills and qualifications.

But after this year, this is not going to be true anymore. In the next year, I am gonna be different. I am working very hard to be good at communication.

Last few weeks, I started to talk to more people. I started to get familiar with more coworkers at the company. I have joined many more social activities. Step by step, I think I'm on my way to get out of my comfort zone.

Bellow are five academic goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year. And I think I am doing it well.

1. Learning English, focus on speaking skills with Elsa speak. 15 minutes per day.
2. Practice data and algorithms on Leet code. Two problems per week.
3. Practice mock interview on Pramp. One mock interview per two weeks.
4. Learning NLP, computer vision.
5. Read one book per month.

Oops, one unexpected thing has happened. I want to be an AI engineer, so after finished almost every university course, I decided to suspend one semester to learn machine learning and deep learning. It has not stopped here, one more unexpected thing has happened, my friend at university invite to join a team to do the capstone project - the last and big project to be graduated from the university. And I agree to join the team.

I have unable to fulfilled many goals in 2020. The biggest goal is to learn data science, but after consideration of the current situation, I think that switching to AI is a better way. That is the reason why I suspense a semester to learn AI. But the decision to join the capstone team takes a lot of time from me, so I don't have enough time to dive deeper into AI. But the result of the learning process is not so bad. I have learned many basic machine learning algorithms, I have finished a deep learning specialization on Coursera. I have applied some knowledge to small projects too, the project itself is not so complicated but I have learned many things relate to organizing a project.

Now I realized that I have failed every goal of 2020 😖.

But I have joyful this year, I have finished the capstone project, so I am now eligible to be graduated.

At the time of writing this post, I am looking for a job. But right now I am very confusing, I am not good enough to apply to an AI position. I can easy to find a back-end position, but I am not satisfied with the salary. I think that I may lose now. I have to rethink my career path.

Some peoples tell me that I am a boring guy and my life is tedious. I just make a faintly smile 😅 when I hear people say that.

I usually woke up at 6 or 7 AM, then I brush my teeth , wash my face, find some food to make breakfast, then I go to school. If this is an off day, I spend about thirty minutes to one hour to read the news. Then I open my laptop and start learning.

At noon, I go out and get lunch. Then I take a nap. After one hour, I get back to learn.

At afternoon, I temporarily stop studying, go to the park, walk around to relax my mind and take fresh air.

Then I get back home, have dinner and spend about two more hours to learn. Finally, I go to bed 😴.

I even not go out in Saturday and Sunday.

I have to admit that my routine is boring. But I like it, I deliberately made my routine tedious like that, this was my intent

I know that our energy is limit, so just want to spend my energy on valuable things. Learning is the most valuable thing to me, I spends most of time to learn, beside professional knowledge, I also learn about economy, politics, philosophy, ... I want to get a wide knowledge to have a overview of this world.

I keep my life simple, I never watch useless and toxic shows on TV, I only watch some TV programs that provide knowledge for me. I rarely watch movie, every time I watch movie, I feels guilty because I waste my time. I often read books on my free time because it is the best way to gain the knowledge.

Some people do a lot of thing, they play, they sing, they joint parties, ... It's not wrong, but you can't focus on anything.

I have overcome a difficult week. Unfortunate things happen to me, I felt tired, stressful, and wanna quit. But I don't fall down, I thought that difficult things are risk but also chance, so I stand up and try harder.