This is a submission for the 2025 New Year Writing challenge: Compiling 2025.
🌱 The Vision: Reconnecting With Why
Let’s be real—2024 left me burned out. I shipped features, closed Jira tickets, and chased promotions, but somewhere between the sprint deadlines and Slack pings, I lost the joy of building.
In 2025, I’m reclaiming my love for code by tying every goal to a human story. No more “crushing it” just to burnout. This year, I’m coding with purpose—or failing kindly.
💡 Growth: Learning Like I’m 15 Again
1. Rust: For the Love of Craft 🦀
- Why? Last year, I inherited a C++ monolith held together by duct tape. I spent nights debugging segfaults and thought: “There has to be a better way.” Enter Rust.
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How?
- Project: Build a CLI tool to help my mom’s small business automate invoice tracking (she’s still using Excel macros from 2003).
- Struggle: I’ll cry over the borrow checker. But I’ll also host “Rust & Ramen” nights with friends to laugh through errors.
2. AI/ML: Fixing My Trust Issues 🤖
- Why? I’m tired of AI hype. I want to build models that actually help people—like predicting migraine triggers for my sister, who’s battled chronic pain for years.
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How?
- Start with Fast.ai’s “Making Neural Networks Unscary” course.
- Partner with a healthcare nonprofit to anonymize data (ethics first!).
3. Web3: Beyond the Bros
- Why? Crypto’s noise drowns out its potential. I want to build a DAO that funds mental health resources for developers—because we all need therapy after debugging at 2 AM.
- Milestone: Launch a prototype with 10 contributors by September.
🔥 Grit: Building With Imperfection
1. DevCanvas: Because Coding Should Feel Like Play
- Backstory: During a panic attack last year, I doodled code diagrams on a napkin. It calmed me. Now I want to turn that into a tool for visual learners like me who hate staring at monospace fonts.
- Stack: SvelteKit (for speed) + Tauri (because Electron is my sleep paralysis demon).
- Promise: If I get stuck, I’ll stream my failures on Twitch. Progress > perfection.
2. The “No BS” AI Career Coach
- Why? I still cringe at my first resume: “Detail-oriented team player” 🤢. I wish I’d had a mentor to say, “Stop lying. Show your *actual projects.”*
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Features:
- GPT-5-powered roasts: “This bullet point is vaguer than a Python error message.”
- A community forum where devs swap internship horror stories.
3. ClimateTech Dashboard: For My Niece’s Future 🌍
- Why? Last summer, wildfires turned my hometown sky orange. I coded in an N95 mask. Climate change isn’t a “future problem”—it’s here.
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Tech:
- Raspberry Pi sensors to monitor air quality (my dad’s garage lab = MVP test zone).
- Open-source contributions = planted trees (1 PR = 10 saplings).
🚀 Greatness: Success = Joy + Impact
1. Open Source: From Lurker to Leader
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Goal: Become a maintainer for
react-aria(accessibility matters!). - Why? I once built a date picker that confused screen readers. Never again.
- Action: Fix 50+ accessibility bugs. Host office hours for new contributors.
2. Public Speaking: Quiet Dev, Loud Voice
- Fear: I stutter when nervous. But I’ll speak at a local meetup about “Coding with ADHD”—because 10 years of masking nearly broke me.
- Prep: Practice talks with my cat as the audience (she’s a harsh critic).
3. Mentorship: Paying It Forward
- Why? My first mentor saved me from quitting tech after I failed a coding interview. Now I’ll be that lifeline for others.
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How:
- Free biweekly Zoom calls for underrepresented devs.
- A “No Dumb Questions” Discord channel (judgment-free zone).
Non-Tech Wins:
- Unplug Sundays: No code, no screens. Just hikes and terrible guitar playing.
- Therapy Tuesdays: Because burnout isn’t a badge of honor.
📉 The Real Metrics
Forget “productivity porn.” My 2025 dashboard tracks:
- Joy Index: Did I laugh while coding today? (1–10 scale)
- Helpfulness: How many devs did I uplift this week?
- Creative Courage: Did I ship something that scared me?
✨ Join Me (Yes, You!)
Let’s make 2025 the year we code like humans, not robots. Share your goals below—I’ll cheer loudest for the messy, imperfect ones.
Here’s to a year of compile errors, small wins, and remembering why we fell in love with code. 💻
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