Year in Review 2024
This is a list of things I enjoyed and learned this year in no particular order. This list is not exhaustive, just a few things that were meaningful to me. Enjoy and happy new year!
Posts | articles | talks
- Poisoning the day - An excellent analysis at how days are productive until something comes along to poison them. A little fatalist but extremely practical and relatable to how my work day generally progresses.
- Programmer archetypes - I’ve absolutely seen every archetype of programmer outlined in this article. A useful exercise in self reflection.
- Digital consumption - This one goes along well with the aforementioned “Poisoning the day” and the book “Digital minimalism”. I’ve been on a long journey of discovery with my technology use in daily life and this paints a great picture of the costs associated with unrestrained digital consumption.
- Overthinking and political correctness - Great insights into overthinking and overthinking about overthinking. This one has been very helpful for me throughout the back half of this year.
- Waiting, negativity, and misogyny - Remembering that life is happening right now can be hard for ambitious over-thinkers like myself. A good reminder to live your life now.
- My product is my garden - I love the metaphor of a product being a garden to nurture and care for instead of just a machine to generate revenue. It has inspired me to begin searching for something I can build and nurture myself.
- Building software to last forever - Another important lesson in building a product as a garden. Things should last and we should make deliberate choices to ensure we aren’t going to pull the rug from our users at some point.
- Experts vs imitators - A useful perspective, especially when trying to hire someone new or evaluate who should be leading projects.
- New startup era - A lot of this one rang true for me, technological complexity is the new differentiator in big startups.
Technical (and technical-adjacent) books
- Tidy first - A short, concise book on refactoring. I love the perspective that Kent Beck has on building software, it’s practical with a dash of artistry.
- The staff engineer’s path - Staff engineer is a term that gets thrown around at various companies, this one helped me see what that means and what it takes to get there.
- Writing an interpreter in Go - Awesome book for learning the inner workings of building a programming language from scratch. It’s difficult to find a book on interpreter or compiler design that isn’t very technical and theory based.
- Rework - Important notes on how a company can be run that goes against some of the terrible norms of modern offices. A quick enjoyable read.
Non-technical books
- Wind and Truth - The world-building in Brandon Sanderson’s books is unrivaled. This book wraps up the first arc of my favorite series of all time.
- Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman’s writing style is one of my favorites. One of his classics.
- Digital minimalism - More exploration of technology, one of the most impactful books i’ve ever read. So valuable, especially as i’m building a family.
Music
- Take me back to eden - Sleep Token - Technically metal. But if you’ve ever listened to Sleep Token you’ll know that you’ll find a little of everything in their albums. Take me back to eden is exceptional, couldn’t stop listening all year.
- Smile - Porter Robinson - I’ve been waiting for Porter’s next album for a long time, this one didn’t disappoint. He continues to evolve his style, this live show was incredible as well.
Podcasts
- Modern Wisdom - I’ve spent the last couple of years listening to Modern Wisdom during my commute. I have learned so much about being a human being. Chris Williamson is great at asking questions to really let his guest’s shine, he is also exceptional at tying all of their insights together into maxims that are easy to remember.
- The Time Ferriss Show - The best of the best in terms of questions and guest choices. Tim Ferriss is a legend.
- We’re here to help - I’ve really enjoyed listening to this show with my wife on roadtrips. Gareth and Jake are hilarious and do such a good job at bringing out the best in every conversation.
- P1 with Matt and Tommy - Discovered this show at the end of this year. Super funny and insightful into the current state of formula 1.
- Neovim - My most used tool of this year. Day in and day out I use Neovim for my text editing needs. I love the customization, speed, and simplicity of concept.
- Ghostty - Just released this last week. I put it here because i’ve already fallen in love with the speed and sanity of this terminal emulator. Another great example of a product that is truly a garden.
- Lazygit - I used to swear by just using the git CLI for day to day work. I have found that Lazygit makes my workflow more straightforward and simple without hiding the actual git commands being run under the hood.
Programming languages learned
- Rust - I’ve been learning Rust as we rewrite our core product at work. A solid language with plenty of quirkiness. I’ve enjoyed it so far!