Huh! So that was 2025. I have some reflections to share.
Work
I started the year deep in the weeds at work. I was already settled in my role and growing in a thight-knit organization that does too much for its size.
I learned a massive amount in short time and was able to contribute meaningfully to the technical direction of the organization. Most importantly, I learned to own and ship at a high-stakes environment. Late-night pages and complex distributed systems—that taught me how to find calm in the chaos. I learned to own the reliability of things, not just the code. I worked in a lot of areas I was interested in — high performance computing, real-time data processing, and large-scale distributed systems. I did a lot of developer experience and infrastructure work as well.
Work came with a lot of collaboration and communication. I learned to work with a team of engineers, researchers, and central staff in a really fast-paced environment. I learned to prioritize, negotiate, and advocate for my team and myself.
The work was sure intense, but it went very well and I didn’t burn out.
I left the job on good terms in August for personal reasons. My deepest thanks to my colleagues and mentors there.
The Reset
In August, I left work to focus on personal matters. It was a bit of a leap, but it paid off. I started writing again, which felt great. Writing forced me to clarify my thoughts and I just really enjoy sharing ideas and experiences. I realized I’m quite bad at writing, so I picked up a few books and internet advice. It has worked out well so far, but I am still experimenting with my style and process.
I also spent a couple months renovating and moving to a new place with my family. Learning about the construction logistics and interior design was fun.
Research
While I was working, I tried to think about my research ideas on the side. It didn’t quite work out. I thought I either lost my research mojo, or I never hard it to begin with and got lucky with my past projects.
In around October, old and new ideas started to pop in my head again. I followed a few threads and found some interesting directions.
Retrospectively, it seems that when I was working, I had the job running in the back of my mind. It was a big cognitive load and likely explains why I couldn’t think creatively. It also explains why I got many good ideas about the work related stuff, though (but not necessarily things I am interested in researching), without needing to work ungodly hours.
Life
Outside of the terminal, things were moving too.
I started going to the gym in March. It was my first “real” time going. I wanted to do this for a long time, but never got the time or motivation. This time, the main motivation was losing strength after losing a lot of weight on purpose. The gym has been great and I like my newbie gains. It makes me stronger and the activity itself is a good rest for my mind.
Moving was also a necessary and positive change. The new place is more healthy and functional for my family.
Family and friends were great throughout the year. Being at home for a longer period past couple months have helped me and them. There’s a unique flavor to discussing something (silly or not) with family. I got to see some old friends in the past couple months at home as well, which was great.
I also made space for some good stories. Notably, my recommended games are The Last of Us games, Uncharted games, and the original God of War trilogy. For TV, check out Severance, Mindhunter, Chernobyl, Pantheon, Ted Lasso, and Hajime no Ippo. For books, I reread the SICP and enjoyed through cognitive science and psychology literature. For movies, I liked The Wild Robot and Life of Chuck.
I did good job avoiding streamline social media and short-form videos. That’s not the say I don’t do some mindless scrolling on the web sometimes, but so far I’m happy to avoid the worst of it.
Not Everything Perfect
Not everything went perfectly this year. I had some rough patches here and there, related to different aspects of life. But right now, I remember the good parts more vividly.
I’ve also thought a lot about state of life for other people — Civic Duty, or a Debt to Humanity, or whatever name you’d have for it. Social justice, economic inequality, world and local peace, mother nature, and so on. It’s easy to get lost in these thoughts. It’s very difficult to know what to do, and I don’t have the best answers. But I’ve learned more about being a good person and a human being, and I have hope that this will eventually give me some clarity.
Ending on a High Note
I spent December working almost full-time on a side project (private for now). It feels great to build from a place of experience: keeping the technical excellence I’ve gained, but ditching the baggage that came with it. I am excited to see where this goes in 2026.
I am ending the year with a lot of optimism. My plans for 2026 are still unfolding, but I’ve a good feeling about it.
Happy New Year! Enjoy your 2026 through and through. Keep good health, stay safe, and be kind to yourself and others.