I wanted to start this blog by explaining how it first came about. Back in 2010 a friend of mine set himself 101 goals for 1001 days. I think this is great, it's really important to push yourself. It's far too easy, especially for developers, to get stuck in a routine where you're not challenging yourself on a daily basis. At the beginning of this year I decided to set myself a similar task; 30 goals for 2013. One of these goals was to create myself a website and blog. This is something I have been meaning to do for some time to showcase my work, air my ideas and to put any technical resources I can online for the .NET development community. And finally - it's here.
The goals that I set myself are split between technical and lifestyle ambitions.
Lifestyle Goals:
- 1 month without alcohol - Amazingly I did this right away, January was a dry, very boring month.
- 3 months without Xbox - Almost done with this one too, watch my progress slow down once I'm back on it.
- Eat something I've never eaten before - This is more of a general rule to try new foods.
- Visit a foreign country
- Brew my own beer - I like making things and I like beer. Perfect goal.
- Finish a marathon - This one isn't going so well.
- Read a book each quarter - Getting there with this one but I need suggestions for a book to read next quarter.
- Go to the gym regularly
- Find a diet that doesn't give me acid heartburn
- Go to see an established band that I've never seen before - I see a fair few local bands so thought it was good to specify that it had to be an established band.
- Go to a festival - Might be able to kill two birds with one stone here.
- Go to a comedy show - Who doesn't like a laugh?
- Go to the theatre - A bit of culture never hurts.
- Raise money for charity - Hoping to tie this into the marathon run.
- Spend a week with my mum and dad - I don't see them enough. End of.
- Make my own cheese - I like cheese.
- Climb to the top of a UK mountain - Snowdon or Ben Nevis! This is one to attack with the BWCAA (Bread, Wine and Cheese Athletics Association) I think.
Technical Goals:
- Enrol in a technical course - Done, I am currently doing the free online Udacity coarse for Html and Javascript game development.
- Attend a technical meet up - Done, LeedsSharp is now firmly in my diary.
- Give a talk at a technical meet up - One for later in the year I think.
- Write a portfolio website and blog - And here it is!
- Read a technical book each quarter - This one isn't going so well, turns out I read everything online these days.
- Write a blog post each month - A little behind schedule on this one…
- Contribute to an open source project - I need to find a project that I want to contribute to. I am thinking NancyFX, mainly because it seems really cool.
- Take a Microsoft exam - This is something I've had on my to do list for about 3 years but I never seem to get around to doing it.
- Learn a new programming language - Candidates are C++ and Ruby.
- Write a Google Chrome plugin and get it submitted to the chrome web store
- Write an IOS app and get it submitted to the apple store
- Write a Windows phone 8 app and get it submitted to the windows app store
- Write an Android app and get it submitted to Google Play
Sometimes I wonder if I'm too ambitious...
Take a look at how I'm getting on in Trello