Year of Growth and Gratitude: 2023 in Review
2023 has been a remarkable year for me, marked by unexpected events and changes. I've found reasons to be grateful and a renewed sense of purpose through these.
This year, I reached the significant milestones of 2,000 subscribers on my newsletter and an equal number following my Medium blog. These numbers are not just statistics; they represent a community of engaged, thoughtful readers, and for that, I am immensely grateful.
My commitment in the future is clear: to help developers in honing their technical expertise. I revel in unravelling complex concepts and tackling real-world issues, helping others to elevate their coding skills, enhance their software designs, and achieve their professional goals.
I thank each of you – friends, colleagues, and readers across various platforms. Your support for my books, YouTube channel, and especially this newsletter has been invaluable. To my paid subscribers, your investment in my work allows me to dive deeper and deliver more nuanced and comprehensive content. Thank you for believing in my vision.
Achievement
Reflecting on this journey, I've created courses, videos, tutorials, and books focused on Refactoring and Clean Code in the React realm since last Christmas. This endeavour resulted in 33 articles on Medium, 38 issues of this newsletter, and 23 YouTube videos dedicated to Maintainable React and Design Principles. In 2024, I plan to zero in on these areas, particularly helping developers write more effective React code.
A personal triumph was contributing two articles to Martin Fowler’s website – a dream I've harboured since 2020. This accomplishment, among others, has been a highlight of my year.
Workwise
After an 11-year tenure at Thoughtworks as a senior consultant developer, I embraced a new challenge at Atlassian, joining their Jira Service Management team as a frontend engineer. My prior experience on Atlassian projects has made this transition a rewarding one.
Working on a platform like Jira, with thousands of other developers, brings its own set of challenges and learning opportunities. It's an environment where ensuring code performance and scalability is as exhilarating as it is demanding.
Books
In the interlude between my job shifts, I revised "Test-Driven Development with React and TypeScript," leading to the publication of the second edition in August. During this time, Packt approached me for a book on React Anti-Patterns. Capitalizing on my pre-existing drafts and ideas, we've been working diligently on this project, which is now nearing publication and set for release in January 2024. Stay tuned for more details!
Looking Forward
Thank each of you again for your unwavering support. Your engagement has helped me reach significant milestones and fuels my aspiration to help developers grow and excel in their careers.
As we approach 2024, I'm excited to continue sharing my experiences, learnings, and the challenges we overcome. My upcoming book is part of this journey, and I can't wait to share it with you.
Enjoy your well-deserved break, and here's to a prosperous and fulfilling new year. See you all in 2024!
Cheers,
Juntao