2024: A Year of Growth, Milestones, and New Horizons

As the year draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on how eventful and transformative 2024 has been for me. It has been a year of immense growth, both personally and professionally. Here’s a recap of the journey:

Academic Milestones

The year began with me diving into the second semester of the AltSchool Africa Backend Program, having successfully completed the first semester. Looking back, it’s incredible to see how far I’ve come—from struggling to build a basic landing page with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to creating usable services like Frontpages and Scissor Additionally, I reached a significant milestone by completing my undergraduate studies in Mechanical Engineering at the prestigious University of Ibadan. It was a bittersweet moment, marking the end of an era while opening the doors to exciting possibilities ahead.

Personal Highlights

On a personal note, I stepped into a new role this year, I became an uncle! This has been a heartwarming experience and a constant reminder of the importance of family. The elders in my family have helped in making navigating life in general relatively easy. I hope to do the same for the younglings after me. Another noteworthy chapter was completing the rigorous training at the NYSC orientation camp in Ede, Osun State, where I embraced new challenges and met amazing individuals from different walks of life.

Tech Growth and Contributions

Tech-wise, I made deliberate efforts to sharpen my skills and contribute to the open-source community. Some of my little contributions this year include:

• Enhancements to Garuda Linux, my Linux distribution of choice.
• Improvements to Hermit, the Hugo theme I use for my blog.
• Contributions to an unofficial KDE Connect browser extension, further bridging the gap between my devices.
• Improvements to Omakub, a script to quickly set up a usable development environment on a clean ubuntu installation.

These projects have not only deepened my technical expertise but also strengthened my belief in the power of collaboration and community. I also hope to make more noteworthy contributions in the next year as i grow richer in knowledge and experience as a software developer.

Challenges and Lessons Learned

Despite these achievements, 2024 has not been entirely rosy. After completing the AltSchool program, I have spent a significant part of each day searching for an internship role as a backend engineer. So far, that effort has been futile, and it has been a humbling experience.

However, this journey has taught me resilience and persistence. I’ve learned to focus on continuous improvement, and I remain hopeful that the right opportunity will come in time.

Looking Ahead

As I step into 2025, I carry the lessons and memories of this year with me. I remain optimistic and committed to continuous growth, both personally and professionally. I’m eager to embrace the opportunities the new year will bring and to continue striving toward my goals.