My 2020 in review — Best or worst year?

Just in case you don't know me, My name is Glory Praise and I am a web designer and frontend web developer. This is a summary of my 2020.

2020 has been quite a year, from the coronavirus pandemic to the protests, the 10 months ASUU strike and political unrest in the country to other funny and not so funny incidents that happened during the course of the year.

2020 for me can be summarized in 3 words ( Relearning, Practice, and Growth).

Almost every area of my life has been affected in one way or the other; I would categorize them to make this read shorter.

Academics:

Thanks to both the pandemic and ASUU strike, I spent over 9 months out of school with no form of academic work going on both online and offline. I was worried at first because I felt it was a big waste of time and that I would have to spend more time in school to cover up, but I quickly adjusted and used this time to learn new things, and explore a bit, get to know myself better, improve my coding skill, invest more in my personal development, and spend more time with family and friends.

Tech:

With my goal to be a Software Engineer, I was able to put more time into coding and improving my tech skills, both hard and soft skills. I was able to come out of tutorial hell and practice more. I participated in quite a number of internships and programs in Frontend Development. This includes:

HNG internship:

This really helped me stretch and grow, I was able to get to the 8th stage out of 10 which is a big feat for me because last year I only make it to stage 2. I was able to gain speed in building projects, things that usually took me a week or more can now be completed in hours or at most a few days. I also learned how to collaborate and work with other people. I worked with designers and developers and even made an Indian friend. My problem-solving ability sharpened because I had to learn to think before I started building and this has helped a lot. I worked as a frontend developer using HTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, BOOTSTRAP, GIT, etc.

The Roothub Internship:

The Roothub internship was another great experience. I was appointed the lead intern and I was in charge of interns in the Roothub PH branch where I organized and handled matters concerning the interns. Although I worked mainly as a Frontend Developer, I picked up other skills along the way like

1. Writing - I wrote a couple of articles, lots of emails, and copies.
2. Video creation- I made my first video tutorial (how to create a Google Form).
3. I joined the beginner design track - I created designs for my presentation slides and different other purposes.
4. I improved my coding skills(I learned how to use PHP and MYSQL along the way for a project).
5. I did improve my public speaking skills during the weekly presentation and I trained other interns and trainees on HTML, CSS, bootstrap, git, and a little javascript.

It was an awesome experience and I learned a whole lot.

She Code Africa Mentorship Program:

I was a mentee on the SCA mentorship Cohort 3 JavaScript track. I learned JavaScript from the ground up and actually started building projects with just JavaScript for the first time. Here I really practiced most of the things I have learned in JavaScript, I met awesome people here too; shout out to my Kenyan friend. I wrote an article about my SCA experience here

Personal Development:

I took personal development very seriously this year because I know how important it can be.

1. I started this year by taking courses on digital marketing, I completed the Google digital marketing course and did another on future learn, I did this because I knew how important this was important to businesses and brands and these courses helped me give good advice to the clients I had on how to market their businesses and this was useful during the pandemic.

2. I participated in some leadership training but the one that stood out was Spring LDH by Leaders Quarter. It was a 21 days program with a serious regimen. Values like excellence, priorities, discipline, influence, processes, passion, etc. were drummed into my head. I had to wake up by 5 am daily to meet up with the schedule. It was awesome.

3. another big thing this year was The Skill Booster Academy, I have not yet recovered from this one, I would tell the story next year, wait for the results. It was value overload.

4. I learned Word Press again and how to create sales funnel, eBooks and I even learned 3D video animation and how to convert a podcast to a video…all these little things have helped me along the year to make some cash to support myself while learning how to coding.

5. I was one of the beneficiaries of the Ingressive for Good free access to Coursera courses and I was able to finish two courses: Introduction to Personal branding from the University of Virginia and Responsive web design from the University of London.

6. I planned to read 13 books this year but I beat the target. I read over 24 books on different topics including leadership, relationship, finance, and business, motivational, and spiritual books.

7. I did health and safety training and got certified in HSE LEVEL 1, 2, and 3. This really got me interested in the Oil and gas industry and the environment generally.

I did a lot in this area sha…I would stop here.

Finances:

I am not yet a millionaire…see you next year…lol

Spiritual life:

2020 was a rough year; it is a miracle to still be alive. I took God seriously this year, I became intentional about it and so far it has been quite a journey, sometimes I feel like I have got it, next minute I am really doubting. However, the journey is easier with the Holy Spirit.

Mental health:

At first, I ignored my mental health and found myself being stressed, worn out, and depressed a lot, but I learned and I got a better hang of it, I am happier and more confident now, I had to stay away from social media a lot because I wasn’t getting the kind of energy and vibes I needed. To stay sane, I stayed off.

Relationships

Although I didn't intentionally put in much effort here, I met a lot of awesome people, collaborated, and worked with a lot of people especially online. I bonded more with my friends, they are the best, young people doing great things in different sectors and industries.

Volunteering:

I volunteered for some noble causes.

1. I volunteered as Technical Support Coordinator for Hult Prize Uniuyo and I enjoyed the experience, I met awesome people and managed all the technical needs of the event.

2. I volunteered to help organize some online events during the heat of the pandemic.

And one thing I have learned is that you can work with people from different sides of the world effectively to achieve any goal, you just need the internet. I have not met and may never meet the people I worked with this year.

Conclusion

2020 has been my best year yet, a lot of things happened that I can’t share here. I am grateful. I believe I used this year to learn and build a foundation for my future. I had plans for the year that I couldn’t accomplish and I didn’t plan for most of the things I did, I just took the opportunities as they came.

I lost some friends, family friends, and people I respected during the course of the year, I also got a handful of rejection letters but in all, it was still a good year.

2021 is another year to upgrade and do better and hopefully graduate from the university. I plan to go out of my comfort zone and face my fears. I will focus on building a career in tech, network more, and make more ego(money).

My advice: Life would always happen, 2021 is just another year, hold God tight, look out for opportunities to grow, and take those steps and at the end of the day, we will all be fine.

Cheers to 2021.

Thanks for reading.