2020 - the ‘year’ in review

2020 has been a devious year, not following any rules of space and time. Some months were weird, and some just passed in a blink of an eye. Although this year cast an awful spell on me, I somehow turned the wheels around, if only a little. But alas, it is ending!

I Attended a 24-hour Hackathon

Attending hackathons that ran for over 24-hours gives you an experience worth remembering. It’s like having a sleepover with strangers with similar interests whom you chance upon. Ideas flowed day and night, people bustled to make stuff and consumed coffee as if one was a fish tank. And we dedicated our blood, sweat and tears for setting up a product that could solve a problem and help the community. As I’ve written about our hackathon team project, I will not go over it again. Even if you feel you are not ready enough, I highly recommend taking part in such hackathons.

Mountains Calling!

Luckily, before the pandemic struck, I had travelled with my friends to Manali, a Himalayan resort town famous for its high-altitude ranges in India’s northern state of Himachal Pradesh. We skipped on the planning part and took the next bus as the three-day weekends rolled in. It was a sublime experience, quite stealing the words from my mouth.

Here are some snapshots of the trip!

I Recorded My First YouTube Video

I created a beginner-friendly tutorial for my club. For a change, it was me behind the lens, teaching someone. At first, I was tense but then adapted to switch onto the urgent matters.

Considering that it was my first time, things went a little haywire. This video was initially a live stream. While talking and coding, I’d lost my cool and forgotten to switch my screen slides, causing a disaster. However, I persevered, recorded the required points and uploaded it within an hour.

To date, it is my most focused piece of work. Watch it here and hit me up on Twitter if it helped you.

I Did Two Internships

Towards the end of 2019, I applied to several startups to grab an internship with gusto. And I grabbed one in Pune, India, requiring me to during my three-month-long summer break. You’d think that it must’ve been thrilling, but hear me out. Because of COVID-19, it delayed this ship as well.

As I found myself with free time, even while working on my side-projects, I interviewed with another startup. Although they accepted me, I left after a month for personal reasons.

My in-office internship in Pune converted into a virtual one, and I did my work from home. It was a splendid experience, and I realised my privilege of getting one during those times.

My Contributions to Help Fight COVID-19

I played a part in developing a full-blown software solution to tackle resource management and aid the government to fight COVID-19. With the help of countless online meetings, planning and perseverance shown by my team, we shipped the solution. I’ve written about this project and what went into building it in brief.

Kickstart My Blog!

I was stubborn enough to make this title a reality before 2020 neared its end. At last, I can tick this one from my lists of ambitious projects. Constructing it took a lot of time, mainly because I’m sluggish. But all the time it took was worth every sweat. I hope to write more this coming year. Send good blessings!

Read on why I put a lot of efforts into it and what I’ve learned here.

I Relished Staying at Home

In 2020, One thing I’m utterly grateful for is I stayed with my family after a much-anticipated period. When I had left my home to study in college, everything took a turn. I longed for those times when I did not have to give care for assignments or grades. Lockdown served me to breathe in the comforts of living with my family. My heart goes out to anyone who couldn’t stay with their loved ones or lost someone they cared about in these times.

And More...

Not so surprising, but I watched a humongous amount of TV series and movies. If I’m being honest, about 783 episodes across 17 different shows and 26 movies. Well, bye eyes :)

Moving Forward

And my 2021 resolution is ‘No plans, for no one ever follows one’. Heck, yeah! I choose to incite chaos in my life. Honestly, I dislike planning a year before it starts, because it has never worked out how I want it to. Creating short-term goals and taking baby steps lessens the looming pressure on me. Right now, I have a couple of goals. One is to write on this blog more often, and second is to prepare for job interviews, for I’m graduating next year.

Besides work, I need to keep myself in shape and fixate on my health. As my love for food and coffee is here to stay, I plan to put some time aside for an hour of workout for two weeks. Three cheers for a wonderful year ahead! See you next year!

Have a good one. 🍻
Rohan