Looking Ahead: My 2018 Projects
Published on 5 Mar 2018 · Filed in Personal · 538 words (estimated 3 minutes to read)For the last six years or so, I’ve been publishing a list of projects/goals for the upcoming year (followed by a year-end review of how I did with those projects/goals). For example, here are my goals for 2017, and here’s my year-end review of my progress in 2017. In this post, I’m going to share with you my list of projects/goals for 2018.
As I’ve done in previous years, I’ll list the projects/goals, along with an optional stretch goal (where it makes sense).
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Become extremely fluent with Kubernetes. I’m focusing all my technical skills on Kubernetes this year, with the goal of becoming extremely fluent with the project in all its aspects. There are some aspects—like networking, for example—where some specialization/additional focus will be needed (focusing on particular network architectures/plugins). That means “leaving behind” other technologies, like OpenStack, in order to more fully focus on Kubernetes. (Stretch goal: Pass the Certified Kubernetes Administrator [CKA] exam.)
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Learn to code/develop in Go. Given that Kubernetes is written in Go and that Go seems to be the language of choice for many new projects, tools, and utilities, I’m going to learn to code/develop in Go in 2018. Because I learned in years past that one needs to have a reason to write some code, I’ll focus my Go learning efforts around Kubernetes and related projects/tools.
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Make three contributions to open source projects. I’ve had this on my list in previous years; last year I removed it because I had a miserable track record. I’m including it here again because I’m going to allow myself to count documentation contributions or code contributions against this goal (it’s probably going to be the former, if I’m honest with myself). To increase the synergy with other goals, I’ll focus efforts around Kubernetes and related projects/technologies. I chose three contributions because I can break that down to one per quarter in the remaining three quarters of 2018. (Stretch goal: Make five contributions.)
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Read and review three technical books. This is more formalizing something I’m already (sort of) doing. What I mean is that I’m already reading technical books; what I’m not currently doing is (typically) finishing them or providing a review of them. The idea of adding the review is to serve as a “forcing function” to be sure that I focus on comprehension and actually finishing the book so that I can provide a review here on the site. As with the previous item, I selected three because I can do one in each of the three remaining quarters of 2018. (Stretch goal: Read and review five technical books.)
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Complete a “wildcard project.” As I’ve explained in previous years, the purpose of including this item is to allow for the unknown future. Having this project gives me freedom to explore as new projects, new technologies, and new ideas emerge over the course of the coming year. If I don’t complete a wildcard project, I won’t count that against myself.
So that’s my list of goals/projects for the upcoming year. I’ll try to do a better job this year of providing ongoing updates throughout the year on my progress. Feel free to contact me on Twitter if you have any feedback (positive or negative) or questions.