My Goals for 2024

This article was originally published on my blog

I have spent a significant amount of time over the last month considering what my goals for the year should be. One thing that continued to come to mind was to Learn in public (Thanks to Kent C. Dodds for introducing me to that).

For 2024 I am going dedicate myself to learning. I want to be better at my current job and prepared for anything that may come my way. Given the way that my brain works, I need to be very specific about where I apply my focus.

That combined with having 2 young kids and a full-time job, I do not have enough free time to waste it wherever. I have decided to focus on three main areas.

Write more articles

Writing is a skill that I have let go dormant and atrophy for too long. It was a primary focus of mine as I grew up but has fallen away since I began my professional software journey. I am looking to get back into that.

I already have curated a list of things I would like to write. But I would also take suggestions based on the interests of others. Would even be available for hire to write technical articles and how-to's.

Preliminary list includes:

• Architecting a Front-End Project Using Micro-Front-ends and Single-Spa
• Things I wish I knew starting as a software engineer
• How to update a header as you scroll through a list in react
• Building a Zip Code Outline Map from Scratch in React
• My Journey from College to Becoming a Technical Lead Engineer
• Many, many others

Publish an app to an App Store

I am a full-stack web developer specializing in React by trade. I have always wanted to learn native app development as something new. I've done a fair amount of preliminary research and I know that I am going to try both SwiftUI and Flutter. SwiftUI fascinates me in its construction. Also, I want to test Flutters 'One codebase, native apps on iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, and Web' assertions.

I do not have a plan for a specific app to make yet. But that is one of the constant background processes in my brain trying to come up with ideas.

Deep dive and learn about large-scale software architecture

Last year, I read The Pragmatic Programmer for the first time. This year, I have Clean Code and Clean Architecture near the top of my "to read" pile.

Others in that pile include:

• Head First Design Patterns
• High Performance JavaScript: Build Faster Web Application Interfaces
• JavaScript Patterns: Build Better Applications with Coding and Design Patterns
• Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age
• Football Analytics with Python & R: Learning Data Science Through the Lens of Sports

If you're interested in my non-tech related reading list, let me know

Conclusion

If you made it this far, cheers to you and I hope you have a wonderful 2024 ahead of you! Feel free to reach out with questions or comments!