2016 is almost over. Time for the obligatory year-in-review post. Here’s what I learned this year.

Technologies I Learned

Vue.js

Started the year knowing React, ended it preferring Vue for most projects. The simplicity and great documentation won me over. Vue 2.0’s release in October was a highlight.

Go

Dove deep into Go this year. Built several microservices and fell in love with the simplicity. The concurrency model is brilliant, even if error handling is verbose.

Docker

Finally got serious about containers. Dockerized our entire development environment and most of our production services. Game changer for consistency.

Kubernetes

Spent December playing with Kubernetes. Still not sure if it’s worth the complexity for our team size, but I see the potential.

Projects I’m Proud Of

1. CI/CD Pipeline Overhaul

Migrated from freestyle Jenkins jobs to Pipeline as Code. Added Docker integration. Cut deployment time from 2 hours to 20 minutes.

2. AWS Cost Optimization

Reduced our monthly AWS bill from $12k to $4.8k through reserved instances, right-sizing, and auto-scaling. Management was happy.

3. Memory Leak Hunt

Debugged a production memory leak at 2 AM using heap dumps and MAT. Learned more about Java memory management in one night than in years of development.

Mistakes I Made

1. Over-Engineering

Built a complex microservices architecture for a project that didn’t need it. Spent more time on infrastructure than features. Lesson: start simple, add complexity when needed.

2. Ignoring Monitoring

Deployed a service without proper monitoring. It failed silently for a week before anyone noticed. Now I set up monitoring before deployment.

3. Not Documenting Decisions

Made architectural decisions without documenting the reasoning. Six months later, couldn’t remember why we chose approach A over B. Now I write ADRs (Architecture Decision Records).

Technical Lessons

1. Simplicity Wins

The best code is code you don’t write. Simple solutions are easier to maintain, debug, and explain to teammates.

2. Measure Before Optimizing

Spent days optimizing code that wasn’t the bottleneck. Now I profile first, optimize second.

3. Error Handling Matters

Production taught me that error handling is more important than the happy path. Spend time thinking about what can go wrong.

4. Tests Save Time

Every hour spent writing tests saves 10 hours of debugging. This year I became a testing convert.

Soft Skills

1. Communication

Learned that explaining technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders is a crucial skill. Practice makes perfect.

2. Saying No

Got better at pushing back on unrealistic deadlines and scope creep. Quality over speed.

3. Mentoring

Started mentoring junior developers. Teaching others solidified my own understanding.

Books I Read

  • The Phoenix Project - Changed how I think about DevOps
  • Designing Data-Intensive Applications - Best technical book I’ve read
  • Site Reliability Engineering - Google’s approach to running systems
  • Clean Code - Classic for a reason

Blog Stats

Started this blog in January. Stats for the year:

  • 45 posts published
  • ~10,000 page views
  • Most popular post: “Java 8 Streams Gotchas”

Writing has helped me learn and connect with other developers. Planning to write more in 2017.

What I’m Excited About for 2017

Technologies

  • Kotlin: Looks like a better Java
  • Vue 2.x ecosystem: vue-router 2.0, Vuex 2.0
  • Kubernetes: Want to get it production-ready
  • Serverless: AWS Lambda looks interesting
  • GraphQL: Alternative to REST APIs

Skills

  • System design and architecture
  • Performance optimization
  • Security best practices
  • Leadership and mentoring

Goals for 2017

  1. Contribute to open source: Been a consumer, time to give back
  2. Speak at a meetup: Share knowledge with the community
  3. Learn a new language: Thinking Rust or Elixir
  4. Build a side project: Something useful, not just a learning exercise
  5. Write 50 blog posts: One per week

Advice to My Past Self

  • Start using Docker sooner
  • Write more tests
  • Document your decisions
  • Don’t be afraid to ask for help
  • Take time to learn fundamentals, not just frameworks
  • Production experience is the best teacher

Thank You

Thanks to everyone who read my blog posts, answered my Stack Overflow questions, and helped me learn this year. The developer community is amazing.

Here’s to 2017! 🎉

What did you learn this year? What are your goals for 2017? I’d love to hear about them.