Programmer's New Year Resolution

December 31, 2022

web-developmentpersonalfrontend

I am the most undisciplined person I know. I make resolutions every year - and every year - I fall short. But I am stubborn too. So this year, I have decided to be a better programmer and work on my journey in this blog. I am starting with my new year’s resolution as a front-end developer.

To keep me honest I have contracted my wife to check on my progress every month for each resolution. I made it a mission where I get a reward for accomplising my goal and punishment if I fail. I got the idea from this list of commitment apps. My wife promised to make it really hurt financially if I fail. That should keep me on my toes.😁

Inspired by Matt’s programmers resolutions here are my five new year resolutions.

1. Learn three(3) new front-end frameworks
2. Focus on web accessibility
3. Create one (1) blog post per week
4. Stay healthy
5. Streamline workflow

1. Learn three (3) new front-end frameworks

This year was a good year for frameworks. More and more developers are using front-end frameworks. I aim to learn at least three(3) new front-end frameworks. I have been working primarily with ReactJS. I can not say I am an expert. But I am proficient enough to earn a living. This year to start, I want the reach the same proficiency in Vue, Svelte, and NextJS. I have chosen these three because they are well documented and I found a great amount of community support.

By the end of this year, I should have the following for each language;

• Personal project on github
• Blog post on how I made the project
• Cheatsheet I can share on this blog

2. Focus on web accessibility

This year I have been interested with web accessibility. I thought I had been doing a great job of making my projects inclusive. I was dead wrong. This year I will work on projects that improve accessibility, champion accessibility in our company, and share my experiences with my peers.

3. Create one (1) blog post per week

I started blogging to force myself to share the things that interest me. Sharing is my incentive to explore new things. I have been really lax this past few years. I used personal stuff as an excuse when really its my lack of discipline is the issue. This past few months I have been blogging, I realized I learn more when creating an article than I do at studying intentionally. Blogging forces me to research and dig deep into the topic than when I am just solving a specific problem. This year I will try to publish at least one(1) post a week.

4. Stay healthy

From Matt’s list of programmer’s resolution, this one resonated with me a lot. For most who work as a developer keeping healthy is a hard battle. This year I want to do what I can to be healthy. Starting with the following habits;

• Less caffeine
• Go out for fresh air at least once a day
• Run twice a week
• Set aside some time to be offline once a day

5. Streamline workflow

To accomplish the previous resolutions, I need to be more efficient. I have not explored automating some of my tasks and been working with the same toolset from three years ago. This year I will explore streamlining my workflow.

Tasks like;

• Choosing a new machine for development;
• Cleaning up my IDE plugins;
• Using design software
• Uncluttering my workstation
• Exploring new tools

I will probably figure out more things to do later. I will keep you updated.

So that’s it! I have listed my new year’s resolution as a programmer. What’s yours?

Happy new year to all! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉