It has really been a year, a full year lol! Reflecting on all that happened this year, I will love to share how 2020 has been for me both the achievements and failures.
Highlights
I started a coding journey in March
Contributed to Open Source both technically and non-technically
Became a Public Speaker (Spoke at 6 conferences and 9 events)
Started Technical Writing and blogging ( 24 articles so far)
Finished She Code Africa Mentorship Cohort Program( 3 months )
First female GitHub Star in Africa
Got 4 job rejections
Didn't get into the Outreachy Internship
Made Amazing and Supportive friends
Survived a pandemic!
How was I able to achieve this?
Deliberacy: I was deliberate about my actions, always setting out what I want for myself and working towards it. Even though it failed, after some tears (actually a cry baby), I clean them off and start again.
Asking for help: I made it a habit of always asking for help from seniors, asking strategic questions, for reviews, and constructive criticism.
Consistency: 100 days of Code was a great way of keeping me consistent, cause I was always conscious of doing something about code every day no matter how short the time will be. It helped me pick up the concepts faster than usual.
Public Learning: This really opened up so many opportunities for me and helped me learn better. Engaging in 100 days of Code, tweeting code snippets or programming concepts, sharing what I learned through speaking and writing, posting projects and questions on social media helped me and others learn too!
In a sentence, in 2020 while I was scared to try, I still tried and gave it a shot, some turned out well and some did not. But you know what, I am grateful regardless and hope to do better next year.
Wherever you are reading this, do not feel bad or discouraged if so much did not happen this year, instead share the wins you had even though little ( I will love to see your highlights in the comment section!).
Cheers to the New Year!