All the small things

We've reached that time of the year when I start to think, "Wow, the year is ending," and many people begin to plan their objectives and achievements for the next year. Although I'm uncertain about what I want to do in the upcoming year, it might be insightful to list some events or experiences that occurred this year, which have brought me to my current position. One of the many reasons that drove me to build this website is to 'put things on paper (or on a screen, in this case)', primarily because it helps me to sort out my thoughts.

Personal

I don't have precise statistics, as I'm not one to meticulously track every habit or achievement throughout the week. However, in a broader sense, here's where I stand so far this year:

  • Books: I've read 13 books this year, many of which are technical, like 'Refactoring' by Martin Fowler.
  • Travels: I've traveled to three different countries this year: Equador, the USA, and Argentina. I visited 27 new cities, with the trip to Gramado being a highlight.
  • Sports or Gym: I always enjoy being active. I'm quite proud of my 152 check-ins at Gympass just this year and the time spent playing basketball games.
  • Podcasts: I spent 7,233 minutes, or approximately 120 hours and 33 minutes, listening to podcasts. I mostly listen to them while working, driving, or even at the gym. Highlights include Hipsters.tech, Lex Friedman Podcast, Nerdcast, Naruhodo, and Science Vs.

I'm also trying to switch my main code editor. I'm currently using the editors from JetBrains (IntelliJ, Rider, Pycharm and GoLand) and VS Code, but I've decided to finally config for my neovim properly and I started to code some Javascript lines from there. I feel my productivity going down, since I'm still adapting to the Neovim shortcuts, even though I've configured them myself. For this reason, I'm primarily using Neovim for personal projects at the moment, but plan to give more code time with nvim.

my-nvim *This is my neovim layout. As you can see, I filled it with plugins.

My current nvim configuration and plugins can be checked here: My Nvim Configuration

Additionally, speaking of personal projects, I am nearing the completion of my 'own computer project.' The core concept is derived from the book 'The Elements of Computer Systems' by Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken (you can find the book here; I purchased my physical copy from Amazon: The Elements of Computer Systems). This project involves building and designing a computer from the most fundamental logical gates (Nand, Or, Xor, etc.), including the CPU, RAM, memory, and machine language, all the way to developing basic software based on this language. I still have to generate the VM code in order to start to build a high-level language, but most of the machine language is done by this time.

computer-system-diagram *This is the general idea of the project.

However, between trips, tours, changes in perspectives and career, the biggest highlight of this year was an extra cat for the collection. In this year's beginnings, Lady Paprika arrived at home, bringing me some happy moments and even more broken cables - totally Worth it, I must say.

Oh yeah, and i decided to write my own webpage.

Career

This year was a game changer in my career. I made the decisive move to step away from industrial engineering, driven by a multitude of reasons. Notably, my increasing immersion in software engineering played a crucial role. Throughout my professional journey, shifting across different fields has become a second nature to me. However, after years of such diversity in my work, I've felt a growing urge to devote more time to my personal projects and life, all of which are intricately linked to the computer science field. There was a moment when my life seemed merely an extension of my work, and so I decided to change the things a little bit and “integrate” my work into my life as one of its many aspects.

my-life-and-work-sphere

That all said, I leave my position as a R&D Researcher on the industry and move to a Software Architect role in my current job. I still learning great deals about the architecture itself, particularly because it has been quite some time since I last worked with a complex system of numerous microservices. I'm not yet well familiarized with the recent changes of the .NET 6 & 7 (the main stack used here), so I'm still taking my time to learn more about.

Another positive aspect with my decision is that I'll have more time to focus on my master's. I had been postponing some subjects and consequently my thesis, simply because I had absolutely no time to dedicate to it. I expect to return to the 'normal pace' on the next year, when the winter session classes start.

What's next

As this year comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on the small yet significant moments that have shaped my 2023 journey. Whether it’s the joy brought by Lady Paprika, the challenges in my career shift, or the pursuit of any personal project, each experience has contributed to who I am today. Looking ahead, while specific goals for the next year remain undefined, I'm excited about the possibilities that lie ahead in both my personal and professional life. Embracing the unknown with a focus on the small aspects of life, I step into the future with more curiosity.

© 2024 Arthur Saito. All Rights Reserved.
;