2020 In Review

This is not a technical blog post.

Instead, this is just how 2020 went on in my personal and professional life. Feel free to check out other blog posts on my blog or read along my personal experiences in 2020.

This year was very unusual to all of us. I’d never believe if someone told my young self that COVID-19 would happen and that I was going to write this blog post during a lockdown in Ireland.

Nevertheless, these were my top milestones in 2020.

Fatherhood

In 2020 I became a father. And if you think you know how to handle any sort of situation in your life regardless of the impact, think again!

Being a father shows you the world in a very distinct way: you are constantly relearning things, you find out that any 1 or 2 hours of sleep are enough (good bye 8 hour night sleep), changing nappy is not the end of the world and their smile whenever they look at you is priceless!

Fixing a bug in production never felt easier than putting a 9 months old baby to sleep.

Audiobooks

After becoming a father I decided to introduce a new habit to my life. Nothing crazy impossible, but something doable that I could measure throughout the year.

Due to the lack of free time, it had to be something to be done at home while my wife is taking care of the baby and I am doing housekeeping stuff or ~~while commuting to work~~ for example.

As I’m already a very proficient podcast listener for years and this is one thing I really enjoy, I’d thought about bringing audiobooks to the list and listen to a few books whenever possible.

It turns out that while writing this blog post, it’s been 276 days I read at least 10 minutes every day which led me to read 18 books in 2020.

New job

2020 was also the year I chose HubSpot as my new home.. and boy, what a ride!

It’s incredible how much the company had to change & adapt in order to bring us all an inclusive work environment.

Remote or not, we’re all in this together.

Promotion

What’s better than changing jobs and working for a company you adore? Promotion!

Spoiler alert: I knew deep down the promotion was coming anytime soon even before I move jobs. I simply asked them to get me ready for the challenge and I feel very prepared for it now.

Irish Life ☘️

Being an adult is not easy. And taking up some decisions require a lot of thought, energy and time. Some of which dictate the balance for things you’ll certainly can provide for your family vs things you can’t.

Ireland is the country I have chosen to grow older with my wife.

Ireland is the country we both chose to raise our son.

Learning, growing, failing and trying again

I wish I could describe more but that was my main recipe throughout the year:

• Don’t be afraid to ask
• Don’t be afraid of what others may or might think about you
• Be humble
• Learn with your mistakes and improve upon
• Stay out of your comfort zone and try to see things with a different angle

And if you think you failed somehow while in the middle of any of the five items above, adapt, identify what has gone wrong, improve what you think you should improve, keep what works well and start over.

Looking ahead for 2021

I don't usually plan things in December for the following year.

In fact, I don't agree with life plans once a year. I think it should be a recurrent iteration every now and then.

There's not a well defined recipe that works for everyone but I find it easy to plan ahead sooner and often than later.

For 2021 I want to keep being a leader/mentor, sharing knowledge with my peers (and in this blog) and keep providing for my family. I still think that being a dad is a huge challenge and nobody can teach us how to be a dad, except yourself.

2020 could not be our best (it certainly was my personal best by far), but 2021 is about to begin and we might have another chance to make things great.

Wish you all a happy new year! I see you on the other side.