2019-01-20-2018-year-review.html (13033B)
1 <!DOCTYPE html> 2 <html lang="en"> 3 <head> 4 <!-- Sep 03, 2024 --> 5 <meta charset="utf-8" /> 6 <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /> 7 <title>2018 year review</title> 8 <meta name="author" content="Vincent Demeester" /> 9 <meta name="generator" content="Org Mode" /> 10 <link rel='icon' type='image/x-icon' href='/images/favicon.ico'/> 11 <meta name='viewport' content='width=device-width, initial-scale=1'> 12 <link rel='stylesheet' href='/css/new.css' type='text/css'/> 13 <link rel='stylesheet' href='/css/syntax.css' type='text/css'/> 14 <link href='/index.xml' rel='alternate' type='application/rss+xml' title='Vincent Demeester' /> 15 </head> 16 <body> 17 <main id="content" class="content"> 18 <header> 19 <h1 class="title">2018 year review</h1> 20 </header><section id="outline-container-Introduction" class="outline-2"> 21 <h2 id="Introduction">Introduction</h2> 22 <div class="outline-text-2" id="text-Introduction"> 23 <p> 24 Here is my review of 2018, the first of its kind, hopefully not the last 👼. I saw 25 some<sup><a id="fnr.1" class="footref" href="#fn.1" role="doc-backlink">1</a></sup> <i>2018<sup><a id="fnr.2" class="footref" href="#fn.2" role="doc-backlink">2</a></sup> reviews</i><sup><a id="fnr.3" class="footref" href="#fn.3" role="doc-backlink">3</a></sup> articles<sup><a id="fnr.4" class="footref" href="#fn.4" role="doc-backlink">4</a></sup> in my Feedly feed and I thought it 26 would be a good idea to write my own too. 27 </p> 28 29 <p> 30 I’ll try in the next year — maybe month if I ever want to do monthly reviews — to automate 31 some of it ; using the beloved <code>org-mode</code>. 32 </p> 33 </div> 34 </section> 35 <section id="outline-container-Work" class="outline-2"> 36 <h2 id="Work">Work</h2> 37 <div class="outline-text-2" id="text-Work"> 38 <p> 39 The big change this year is : I changed job 👼. I went from Docker Inc. to Red Hat. I 40 needed a change and 5 month in, I think it was the <b>best choice I made in my life</b> so far 41 💃. I’m doing open-source for a living and best part, I am working remotely (more on that 42 later). 43 </p> 44 45 <p> 46 Before that, at Docker Inc., I continued the work I started years before, 47 a.k.a. maintaining the Moby project and the docker engine, among other Docker project 48 (both open-source and closed-source). I also helped the work on the compose side, from the 49 root of <code>docker/compose-on-kubernetes</code> (before it got open-sourced), to the <code>docker/app</code> 50 experiments. 51 </p> 52 53 <p> 54 At Red Hat, I started to work upstream in the Kubernetes community, mainly on the Knative 55 projects. I also work on the Openshift Cloud Function project (and thus team), and those 56 fellows are awesome ! Digging more into Openshift, and other part of the Red Hat portfolio 57 is a really good learning experience, and it’s just the start ! 58 </p> 59 60 <p> 61 As stated above, I am now working home, full-time. I could work from home from time to 62 time when I was at Docker inc, but working home full-time is another kind of beast. So far 63 it is really good, some adjustments were needed but it’s for the best. Here is a small 64 take on “working from home”: 65 </p> 66 67 <ul class="org-ul"> 68 <li>It’s easy to have <b>no distraction</b>, thus having <b>really productive</b> piece of time</li> 69 <li>It’s also <b>really easy to work long day or really long period of time</b>. It’s especially 70 true if, like me, you work on a distributed team (across multiple timezones). 71 <ul class="org-ul"> 72 <li>I ended up using the Pomodoro technique to make sure I move at least few times a day</li> 73 <li>I try to make sure I don’t make an habits of checking out work code, email and other 74 material after a certain hour in the evening. It’s ok to do it sometimes, but for your 75 sanity, you need some rest time.</li> 76 </ul></li> 77 <li>It’s easy to adapt your day to circumstance. If you got to run errands in the middle of 78 the day, it’s no big deal. You can take the time back later on.</li> 79 <li>It’s so good to have <b>no</b> commmute time. That said I end up <i>walking or taking the bike</i> 80 early morning to clear my head before work 😝.</li> 81 </ul> 82 </div> 83 </section> 84 <section id="outline-container-Personal" class="outline-2"> 85 <h2 id="Personal">Personal</h2> 86 <div class="outline-text-2" id="text-Personal"> 87 <p> 88 Health wise, it’s a mix of good and bad year. The first half was really good, the second 89 way less. End of august, I felt something weird in the right knee, and well, turns out my 90 internal meniscus is in a real bad shape. Just as before joining Docker, I’m gonna need a 91 surgery, on the right knee that time. It’s gonna affect 2019 (the first half, I’m not 92 gonna be able to move around much but.. meh, it’s life). 93 </p> 94 95 <p> 96 Now that I work from home, I’m really glad I got a standing desk at the end of 2017. I 97 tend to work standing most of the time – except when my knee hurts (and most likely for 98 few months after the surgery 😅). I invested on a ultrawide screen, to get the same 99 experience I had at Docker. And oh boy those screens are good ! 100 </p> 101 102 <p> 103 I also try to clean my desk and it’s “neighboorhood”. As I get older, I want less messy 104 stuuf (desk, flat, …). I’m leaning towards having less stuff, being commputer related or 105 not. It’s not minimalism, but it feel good to have less stuff, but stuff that you actually 106 use. I still have trouble throwing old computer away, mainly because I fell they can be 107 useful in some way. 108 </p> 109 110 111 <figure id="org4cd4826"> 112 <img src="file:///images/2019/01/desk1.jpg" alt="desk1.jpg"> 113 114 </figure> 115 116 <p> 117 This year I migrate all of my “infrastructure” computer to NixOS. I learned a lot of Nix, 118 reworked my configuration multiple time to end up with a <a href="https://github.com/vdemeester/nixos-configuration.git">system configuration repository</a> 119 that uses modules, and a <a href="https://github.com/vdemeester/home.git"><i>home configuration repository</i></a> (for user configuration). The 120 <a href="https://github.com/vdemeester/home.git">home</a> repository uses <a href="https://github.com/rycee/home-manager.git"><code>home-manager</code></a> and thus doesn’t make any assumption of running on top 121 of NixOS. This allows me to have an <i>easy to get</i> setup on any system that <code>nixpkgs</code> 122 supports (any Linux distribution, Mac OSX, Windows Subsystem Linux). The current 123 configuration is not yet optimal but I’m pretty happy about what I got : 124 </p> 125 126 <ul class="org-ul"> 127 <li>Custom DNS server @home to make it easier to target local hosts.</li> 128 <li>Local proxies and mirrors for docker images, nixpkgs binary package and go modules to 129 eat less bandwidth.</li> 130 <li>Easy to setup VPN using <a href="https://www.wireguard.com/">WireGuard</a>.</li> 131 <li>File replication using <code>syncthing</code> and automatic backup on my local NAS.</li> 132 <li>Automatic system upgrade, thanks to NixOS. I’ll probably write an article about that 133 later on this year.</li> 134 </ul> 135 136 <p> 137 I started to use <code>todoist</code> in 2017, and boy, oh boy, it helped me quite a lot ! I’m using 138 it daily to organize my work and quickly get idea, and <i>todos</i> out of my head. The main 139 problem with it is it’s not integrated with another tool I’m using daily : Emacs and 140 <code>org-mode</code>. <code>org-mode</code> is a fantastic piece of software and is, on its own, the main 141 reason for me to invest time in Emacs. I’m taking note in <code>org-mode</code>, I write my daily 142 standup notes in there too. I end up going back and forth between <code>org-mode</code> and <code>todoist</code> 143 for those daily standup. I am lazy, I want to automate that. And the best way to do it, is 144 to also use <code>org-mode</code> for task management. I’m in a <i>transition</i> mode right now, but my 145 goal for 2019 is to use todoist to take quick note/todo(s) on the move (aka on the phone) 146 and use <code>org-mode</code> for the rest. 147 </p> 148 </div> 149 </section> 150 <section id="outline-container-Reading%20%26%20Writing" class="outline-2"> 151 <h2 id="Reading%20%26%20Writing">Reading & Writing</h2> 152 <div class="outline-text-2" id="text-Reading%20%26%20Writing"> 153 <p> 154 I used to like reading, but the past years, I didn’t really read that much, except some 155 technical books. 2018 in, that respect, is not an exception, I didn’t read too much. Worse 156 than that, I started some book and stopped at some point, for no apparent reason ; and 157 now, I need to start back from the beginning, which, well, is not helping me want to read 158 them again. 159 </p> 160 161 <p> 162 I’m trying two thing to counter that and consume more books for the years to come. 163 </p> 164 165 <ol class="org-ol"> 166 <li>I now have a reading list on my <code>org-mode</code> files, where I track which one I read and 167 when I read them ; and maybe notes too. I have a lot of book on my kindle, that only 168 wait for one thing, being read..</li> 169 <li>I subscribed to <a href="https://www.audible.fr">Audible</a> 👼. Working from home, I tend to take a long break after lunch, 170 where I’m going for a walk, for around an hour. I can’t read while walking but I 171 definitely can listen - that make audio books perfect for these moments. I also 172 alternate between audio books and non-musical podcasts.</li> 173 </ol> 174 175 <p> 176 On the writing side, 2017 was a slow year in terms of writing (only 2 posts), 2018 was a 177 bit better, 6 posts – it’s a bit cheating, as it was mainly between changing jobs, and 178 on a series I still need to finish. I’m hoping to write more this year, hence the goals 179 I’ve set to myself below. 180 </p> 181 </div> 182 </section> 183 <section id="outline-container-2019%20Goals" class="outline-2"> 184 <h2 id="2019%20Goals">2019 Goals</h2> 185 <div class="outline-text-2" id="text-2019%20Goals"> 186 <ul class="org-ul"> 187 <li><b>Get back on my feet after knee surgery (exercices, …)</b> 🏃</li> 188 <li><b>Read at least one book per month (be audible, ebook or paper)</b> 📖</li> 189 <li><p> 190 <b>Giving at least a talk (on Knative, containers, nixos, ..)</b> 🙊 191 </p> 192 193 <p> 194 I didn’t give too much talk in 2018 (at least less than 2017). I’m gonna try to get back 195 at it this year. The surgery won’t help but it’s just few months. 196 </p></li> 197 198 <li><p> 199 <b>At least 1 video per month</b> 📹 200 </p> 201 202 <p> 203 I want to start recording some video, as I feel it’s an easier medium than writing and, 204 well, I wanna try ! 205 </p></li> 206 207 <li><b>At least 1 post per month</b> ✍️</li> 208 <li><p> 209 <b>Enhance my emacs skills (aka don’t be afraid of the lisp)</b> ⌨️ 210 </p> 211 212 <p> 213 I’m using Emacs for almost anything that doesn’t happen in a web browser. But I still 214 feel like a newbie. I want to learn more, to write more lisp that help me being even 215 more lazier (aka achieve more doing less 😝) 216 </p></li> 217 218 <li><b>Enhance my Nix(OS) skills</b> 🐧</li> 219 <li><p> 220 <b>Learn / master a new language</b> 🎽 221 </p> 222 223 <p> 224 I’m working with Go 90% of my time. I want to master and learn more language. On my list 225 are Emacs Lisp, Rust, Typescript and Haskell. 226 </p></li> 227 </ul> 228 </div> 229 </section> 230 <div id="footnotes"> 231 <h2 class="footnotes">Footnotes: </h2> 232 <div id="text-footnotes"> 233 234 <div class="footdef"><sup><a id="fn.1" class="footnum" href="#fnr.1" role="doc-backlink">1</a></sup> <div class="footpara" role="doc-footnote"><p class="footpara"> 235 <a href="https://punchagan.muse-amuse.in/blog/2018-in-review/">2018 in Review - Noetic Nought</a> 236 </p></div></div> 237 238 <div class="footdef"><sup><a id="fn.2" class="footnum" href="#fnr.2" role="doc-backlink">2</a></sup> <div class="footpara" role="doc-footnote"><p class="footpara"> 239 <a href="https://medium.com/@buster/42-dig-deeper-e2278d1fe015">42 — Dig deeper – Buster Benson – Medium</a> 240 </p></div></div> 241 242 <div class="footdef"><sup><a id="fn.3" class="footnum" href="#fnr.3" role="doc-backlink">3</a></sup> <div class="footpara" role="doc-footnote"><p class="footpara"> 243 <a href="https://jvns.ca/blog/2018/12/23/2018--year-in-review/">2018: Year in review - Julia Evans</a> 244 </p></div></div> 245 246 <div class="footdef"><sup><a id="fn.4" class="footnum" href="#fnr.4" role="doc-backlink">4</a></sup> <div class="footpara" role="doc-footnote"><p class="footpara"> 247 <a href="https://writing.natwelch.com/post/685">Nat? Nat. Nat! | #685 2018 Year in Review</a> 248 </p></div></div> 249 250 251 </div> 252 </div></main> 253 <footer id="postamble" class="status"> 254 <footer> 255 <small><a href="/" rel="history">Index</a> • <a href="/sitemap.html">Sitemap</a> • <a href="https://dl.sbr.pm/">Files</a></small><br/> 256 <small class='questions'>Questions, comments ? Please use my <a href="https://lists.sr.ht/~vdemeester/public-inbox">public inbox</a> by sending a plain-text email to <a href="mailto:~vdemeester/public-inbox@lists.sr.ht">~vdemeester/public-inbox@lists.sr.ht</a>.</small><br/> 257 <small class='copyright'> 258 Content and design by Vincent Demeester 259 (<a rel='licence' href='http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/'>Some rights reserved</a>) 260 </small><br /> 261 </footer> 262 </footer> 263 </body> 264 </html>