Closing Out 2024
Reflecting on Achievements and Milestones in a Rapidly Passing Year
I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown by—it feels like 2024 just began, and here we are, wrapping it up. Time seems to accelerate as we age, with months slipping away in the blink of an eye. Yet, no matter how fast the years seem to pass, the truth remains: we still live minute by minute, day by day.
At the end of each year, I like to pause and reflect. This habit, established years ago, helps me identify what I’ve achieved and prepares me for the year ahead. Before diving into my highlights of 2024, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to you. Your support—a like, a share, a subscription, or any kind of interaction—means the world to me. I deeply appreciate having you along on this journey.
2024 in Review
Looking back, 2024 has been a productive year for me. I published 35 issues of this newsletter, both free and paid. One of the standout additions was the Design Challenge series, which focuses on code refactoring challenges and solutions. Your positive feedback on this series has been incredibly motivating, and I’m excited to expand it further in 2025.
A special thank you to Pablo for his proactive engagement in the Design Challenge series. His solutions and insights enriched the discussions and made the series even more impactful for the community.
The complete list of solutions for the Design Challenge series includes:
Solution to Design Challenge 001: Improve Your Component’s Readability
Solution to Design Challenge 002: Enhancing React Component Flexibility
Solution to Design Challenge 004: Cleaning Up Feature Toggles
Solution to Design Challenge 005: Synchronizing State Across Your React Component Tree
Solution to Design Challenge 006: Breaking Down a God Component
Solution to Design Challenge 007: Handling Dynamic Data with React
The most popular issue of the year was Making Life Easier for Your Team. This piece resonated with many readers, reflecting the core goal of simplifying workflows and fostering team collaboration through better design and engineering practices.
This year, the newsletter reached 1,800 subscribers, a milestone I’m incredibly proud of. Thank you all for making this happen—your engagement and support are what keep me going.
My second book React Anti-Patterns
After months of effort, my second book, React Anti-Patterns, was published with Packt. You can read more details about the book on the interview here.
This was a significant milestone for me, and the feedback has been heartwarming. For example, Erica wrote on Amazon:
"It's really helping me develop a better understanding of design patterns and anti-patterns so I can feel more confident speaking about them in interviews. I'm most excited about how it's helping me learn to write better code and ultimately, be a better developer. 😊
I absolutely recommend it to anyone who's trying to up their game and grow as a software engineer! This one is a must-have!"
Long-form article on MartinFowler.com
In mid-2024, I published an article on MartinFowler.com. Writing about data fetching for single-page applications was a rewarding experience, and I’m glad it could guide others in building more performant frontend applications.
I’m also collaborating with Martin on a long-form article about codemods. It’s scheduled for release in January 2025, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with you.
Sneak peek into 2025
Many of you have asked for more content related to coding and system design interviews. Recognizing this need, I’ve started preparing resources to help developers excel in these areas. In 2025, I plan to refine and share this material, aiming to support more of you in acing interviews.
I have done my first video on that matter, please let me know what other topic you’re expecting:
Looking Forward
As we transition into 2025, I’m excited about the opportunities ahead. From expanding the Design Challenge series to diving deeper into interview preparation and publishing more long-form content, there’s so much to look forward to. Your feedback and ideas are always welcome, so let me know what topics you’d like to see more of in this newsletter.
Thank you once again for your unwavering support. Your engagement has been a driving force behind my achievements this year. I hope you enjoy a well-deserved break and step into 2025 recharged and ready to tackle new challenges.
Cheers to a fulfilling new year. See you in 2025!
Warm regards,
Juntao