2021 In Review

I started last year's review blog post by mentioning that 2020 was very unusual to all of us. It turned out that in 2021 this "unusual" sort of became my new normal.

And after another full year of working from home, these were my top milestones in 2021.

Vaccinated

I’ve got my COVID vaccine in ~~two~~ three shots. Two in mid 2021 and the booster shot in December. Needless to say I believe in this and I hope we can all put an end to this pandemic for good really soon.

Fatherhood

The amazing experience of being a father continues. And same as last year I keep learning day by day, sleep routine is key (but hard to manage) and I still think that fixing a bug in production is easier than putting a 21 months old baby to sleep.

What has changed from then and now? Words everywhere! I can’t describe how awesome it is to see the first words coming out. Especially when they are followed by "daddy" or "mommy" 🥰.

Met with my family for the first time in 2 years

...and also went back to Brazil for the first time in 3 years!

Some of the choices we make in life can directly affect others. And by choosing to live in Ireland has distantiated me from my parents.

What’s worse than that? Pandemic! It was not only impossible to meet with my parents but it also prevented them from meeting their first grandchild.

In 2021, my son met his grandparents, the family is happy, everyone is super spoiled and social distance is still a thing.

New team, new mission

I’m the Technical Lead of a new team in 2021. Challenges and responsibility have grown exponentially and the impact of our work is big too. I’m fortunate enough to be working with a good and smart bunch which helps me move things quickly.

If you're currently working with me and is reading this blog post, I'm super thankful to be working with you! 🙌🏼

On a personal note, I’m still a shy person. The difference is that I really don’t mind talking to people I’ve never met before anymore.

Audiobooks

Books (or audiobooks) are an important part of who I am. I’ve read less books in 2021 when compared to 2020 (18 last year, 14 this year) but I can highlight and recommend a few good ones:

• Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion
• The Culture Map
• The Honest Truth About Dishonesty
• Creativity, Inc.
• An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management
• Black Buck

Working from Home

This is certainly one of my "new normal" and I don’t see myself going to the office on a daily basis anymore.

Working from home has made me very productive and it also gives me the opportunity to see my son growing.

Having a dedicated space for work and work only is important and that makes it easier for me to avoid distractions around me. I’d probably have a different opinion if working from the living room or from the kitchen every day with lots of distractions, especially when there’s a toddler at home.

Smart Home

After setting up a Raspberry Pi for the first time, I’m deep into smart home automation. I’m learning my way through Home Assistant and I was able to build some cool automations already. It’s nice to see that I can bring my Software Engineer mindset when building these automations and my next step now is to convince the rest of the family that this could be the future.

Honorable mentions

Three quick mentions from last year I’m still keeping for 2022 and beyond:

• Choosing Ireland as our home and where we would like to raise our son: super true!
• My personal note about Learning, growing, failing and trying again: I wouldn’t change a word of that. It is really important to me and it is part of my life.
• Atomic Money is running by itself and I haven't changed it much in 2021. Its mission however keeps untouched: making it easy for you to monitor your income and expenses.

Looking ahead for 2022

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 2022 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.

2021 could not be our best, but 2022 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.