I originally wanted to submit my year-end summary before the lunar new year, but I realized that I procrastinated last year's year-end summary due to laziness. So, I must summarize 2022 before this "double year" ends. But speaking of which, why haven't I joined ByteDance yet? I've already started to have an ego.
Introduction#
In fact, every year I feel that the current year is magical, but the next year always comes along and says, "This year is even more magical." But that's the joy of life, isn't it?
Looking back at my summary of 2020, it was titled "Do Good Deeds, Don't Ask About the Future." I couldn't remember the title last year, so I asked for help in the group chat and found that the title "Stay Simple, Stay Naive" was quite suitable for summarizing and looking forward to the past year. However, as I write these words, I realize that the person I +1Sed last year has already passed away. It feels strange in my heart.
But, once a simp, always a simp. So, I'll continue to be a naive +1S.
Life#
Since the beginning of last year, after leaving Taiji Graphics, I entered the life of a digital nomad. As a freelancer, the biggest advantage is that I have more time to do my own things after eliminating the time spent commuting (mostly sleeping).
After leaving my job, my girlfriend and I moved to a new apartment with a large terrace and great lighting. This allows me to have time to focus on my own things.
So, with my own time last year, I started reading books that I hadn't explored much before. Some of the books that left a deep impression on me are:
- Artificial Beauties
- Immersed in Affairs: The Chinese Government and Economic Development
- Tang History Is Not as Smoky
- The Greatest Trade
- Patient's Family, Please Come In
- The World of Yesterday
- Becoming a Star: Astronaut Diary
I read about 20 books in total. And I discovered that it's a very happy thing to slowly find books and realize that an author's style aligns well with my taste.
In addition to reading books, I also started watching anime. This activity occupied a lot of my free time in Q3/Q4 (thanks to this group for that). Of course, catching up on TV shows and watching documentaries were also part of the year. It was a completely new experience for me beyond technology and sleep.
Then, we added two more cats to our home last year, so now we have a total of six cats. It's a happy trouble for me. Petting cats is fun, but it's not so fun when it comes to cleaning their litter and when they all get sick at the same time.
Of course, amidst all the good things, there are some bad things too. I didn't stick to my weight loss plan last year, and I didn't follow through with my exercise plan either. Sigh.
Since facing the reality of depression again last year, with the help of medication and a relatively free environment, I have been able to control my mental state quite well. However, perhaps because it has been fifteen years since I was sexually assaulted, I had quite a few nightmares last year. I hope time will continue to heal everything. (But speaking of which, I hate the side effects of medication. They're really annoying.)
On the positive side, with my own time last year, we also acquired many things that greatly improved our quality of life at home:
- An 8*16T NAS, so my mom doesn't have to worry about where to store my anime anymore!
- A desktop computer with a 4090 GPU and an i9-13900K CPU, great for work and entertainment.
- An Apple TV 4K connected to the local network NAS, my sister and I watched many movies together. (Remote work is great!)
- A properly sized Android phone for reading web novels.
- A top-of-the-line 12.9-inch iPad Pro, great for lightweight office work and reading WeChat books. (I really didn't use it to eat instant noodles and watch iQiyi!)
Another thing worth mentioning is that I continued to contribute to charity last year. I personally donated over 10k, and the members of the charity group contributed some money to donate over 6k to a village school. Another thing that made me very happy is that I inspired people around me to donate to students. Education is the best form of charity. I don't know how long I can continue, but I will still do what I can.
That's about it. Life in 2022 was quite enjoyable. But I still have some concerns. How long can I continue to live this small but happy life in the overall declining situation?
Relationships#
My relationship entered its fourth year, and last year, due to the Beijing pandemic, I spent the whole year with my partner, Jingche (literally means "clear and honest"). Using a line from my favorite TV series "Soldiers Sortie":
Being together all the time is a test, anytime, anywhere, for a lifetime.
When two people spend all their time together, there will inevitably be some small disputes and conflicts due to differences in details. This is when both people need to be understanding and tolerant of each other. Speaking of which, I am grateful for Jingche's tolerance and supervision of me. She often nags me to wake up, exercise, and continue to improve many of my bad habits. Hhhhhh (mua.jpg).
Many times, when I wake up from a nightmare in the middle of the night, I instinctively hug Jingche. Even if she is half-asleep and doesn't understand the situation, she will turn around and hug me back. In a sense, Jingche's companionship is the source of courage that keeps me going.
Speaking of spending all our time together, it's not necessarily a bad thing. Last year, Jingche and I spent a lot of time together going for walks in the park and exploring different foods. We also went to hot springs and Universal Studios together (long live remote work!). I hope that in 2023, Jingche and I can continue to walk together smoothly, fulfill the promises we made to each other (I want to have an eight-pack abs.jpg), and travel and do more crafts together!
In any case, I am always grateful for and enjoy Jingche's love.
Work and Technology#
First, let's talk about my own changes. As mentioned earlier, at the beginning of 2022, due to my own plans and health reasons, I officially left Taiji Graphics (I really miss my colleagues there) and officially started my life as a digital nomad. Currently, I make a living by providing SRE services to clients. This is actually a big challenge for me. Previously, my role was more focused on being an Infra Developer, so making SRE my formal job direction is a completely new experience for me (thanks to the trust of my clients).
Last year, my work content also underwent significant changes, which made me more aware of my shortcomings. If I used to be purely an IC (individual contributor), last year my work boundaries expanded significantly. I needed to consider coordination and systematization more effectively. Many times, I jokingly say that I wrote more documents in a week than I wrote code (XD).
But this is actually a good thing for me. I believe that a change in mindset will greatly improve myself.
Another significant change in 2022 is that starting from February, inspired by my friends at Xuanwo, I officially started publicly documenting my weekly life and technical learning (my boss said he reads my weekly reports). For me, this is a good way to hold myself accountable. It helps me learn through content (not just for the sake of content) and record my insights and experiences (I've shared a lot about stability and observability). I hope to continue this practice in 2023.
In terms of technology, I personally feel that I made significant progress last year. On one hand, in the open-source community. At the beginning of the year, while looking for an alternative to Docker, I started contributing to nerdctl by chance. In June, I was promoted to a reviewer, and in December, I was promoted to a committer. This was my deep involvement in an open-source community. I also discuss open-source topics with my friends, such as chatting with Xuanwo about his OpenDAL project and chatting with GaoCe GG about his startup project envd (he is often surprised that I have more confidence in his project than he does). These experiences of contributing code to different communities, participating in discussions, have been all-around improvements for me. I have become more aware of my naivety and have accepted help and guidance from different people. As I mentioned in a previous article:
Since the birth of the Internet, open source, with its idealistic nature, has truly changed the world. People from all over the world, under the banner of open source, freely express their creativity and make changes to the world bit by bit. Sometimes, when I think about the opportunity I have to participate in such a great activity, I can't help but tremble. I am very fortunate to have joined this great cause in the early stages of my career, and I hope that more and more people around me will join in, sweating together, and finding their own promised land in this messed up but beautiful world.
On the other hand, I made progress in terms of technical depth last year. I continued to deepen my knowledge in observability and stability, and I systematized my thinking in these areas (abstracted into methodologies). I also continued to work on interesting projects related to the kernel and eBPF (such as helping others create small tools). I hope to continue making progress in 2023.
Speaking of which, I had a significant achievement last year, which may not be directly related to technology. Previously, I formed a group to solve coding problems, and last year, the group became particularly active. We solved problems together, donated together, recommended anime to each other (not always good ones), and worked on open-source projects together (two group members became maintainers of open-source projects last year). Many times, when I encounter various problems, I vent and complain in the group chat. Many times, I feel grateful that in this restless era, I have met such a group of enthusiastic and pure-hearted people. It is truly a blessing in life. (But I can't handle alcohol, so I'll just drink a glass of water instead.)
That's about it. I also did many other miscellaneous things last year, such as starting to translate my first book, maintaining a daily coding practice, reading over ten research papers, organizing several group sharing sessions, and working on my own toy projects. Many people think that being a programmer is a boring profession. But to be honest, this profession is truly fascinating.
Conclusion#
Comparing with my goals at the beginning of the year, I would give myself a performance rating of 3.5. Both my strengths and weaknesses are quite apparent. Let's talk about the weaknesses:
- I haven't made enough technical contributions in the open-source community.
- I still lack discipline and spent a lot of time sleeping in, playing games, and watching anime.
- I lack focus and often get distracted from my planned goals.
- I didn't achieve my fitness goals.
The weaknesses and areas for improvement are quite clear, and I hope to continue working hard in the coming year. Here are some OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) that I have set for myself:
- O1: Coding Skills
- Learn front-end development and become a maintainer of an open-source front-end project.
- Continue daily Leetcode practice and ensure that I can solve at least 70% of the daily random medium or higher difficulty problems without looking at solutions.
- O2: Reading
- Reread "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1."
- Finish reading "Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective" (CSAPP) and ensure that I complete at least 80% of the exercises for each chapter.
- The remaining books are yet to be determined.
- O3: Sharing
- Write a netfilter-tutorial based on the xdp-tutorial.
- Share at least 5 times within the group throughout the year.
- Write six meaningful blog posts.
- O4: Balanced Life
- Use exercise to reduce my weight to 145 pounds (I made a bet with a group member to donate 2,000 yuan to charity).
- Travel to at least three different places with my girlfriend.
- Try to sleep after 3 AM for no more than two days a week (currently, emmm).
Finally,
2022 was indeed quite magical, but to quote a cliché from Charles Dickens:
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
To be honest, I don't know what 2023 will be like, or the next few years. But no matter what, love and hope will always support us through the years. Yes, everything is gonna be OK.
Speaking of which, someone asked me this year what kind of person I want to become, and after thinking about it, I answered:
I hope that many years from now, when people chat with their grandchildren or mention me, they will say, "I knew someone named Saka, and he was a pretty good person." That would make me content.
Stay Simple, Stay Naive, always be humble, respect life, and move forward bravely.
Goodbye, 2022. Hello, 2023.