2024 Retrospective

[abdulrcs]

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slug: 2024-retrospective
date: 21-Jan-2025
summary: A late retrospective on 2024. Moving to Bali, stepping outside my comfort zone, and embracing a year of growth and new experiences.
readingTime: 6 min read
image: https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/f9cc99b2-5883-44de-aa17-f5b80763a3e3

Introduction

I’m writing this on 21 January 2025, a bit late for a retrospective, I know. But with so many things that happened in 2024, I wanted to do it justice.

Right now, I’m sitting in a cozy cafe in Lombok with a hot chocolate, organizing all the photos and memories from the past year. It’s been quite the journey, from graduating college to trying new things like playing board games with strangers and sliding down crazy waterpark rides.

2024 was the happiest and most eventful year of my life so far. Let’s take a look back!

Graduating College

This year, I officially wrapped up my college journey and graduated!

Even though I just graduated this year, I’ve actually been working full-time since my second semester. Balancing classes and work turned out to be smoother than I expected, thanks to the unique circumstances of attending college during the pandemic. With everything being remote, I didn’t have to worry about commuting to campus, which made it easier to manage both responsibilities effectively.

The graduation ceremony itself was a mix of excitement and nostalgia. I will miss hanging out with my friends in the computer lab playing Valorant together and downloading games at 100MB/s speed. Here’s to all the memories I made with my college friends over the years 🥂

A Year at GGL

I spent a full year working at GGL, where we finally shipped their fitness app to the public! It was an incredible journey building a product for a renowned company with an existing user base of 300K.

I learned so much from the experience, especially about scaling apps and collaborating with a talented team remotely, I also wrote my college thesis on implementing a caching strategy to boost performance for the GGL fitness app, read more about it here.

Moving to Bali

Moving to Bali was a huge leap out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t just about relocating, it was about putting myself in unfamiliar situations and seeing what came out of it.

For three months, I got to experience coworking with complete strangers in a vibrant Bali setting. After working remotely for three years, this shift was both exciting and challenging. Imagine meeting new people every day, sharing ideas, and working in buzzing cafes, coworking spaces, or even investor-backed offices!

New Friends and Connections

Making friends this year has been one of the most rewarding experiences. From board game nights every Wednesday to random tech meetups, I loved how easy it was to connect with people.

One of the highlights was attending a tech networking event where, I get to meet SaaS founders, fellow Software Engineers that worked with Google and Meta, and surprisingly, one of the presenters turned out to be my old employer that I worked with remotely before! Small world, right?

Moving to Bali felt like stepping into a new chapter of my life. It was a mix of adventure and stepping out of my comfort zone.

One of the most thrilling parts was trying out the waterpark. I finally got to experience the vertical drop slide I’d seen online, and wow, it was terrifying but so worth it.

I tried a Superman-style headfirst slide that felt like I was floating mid-air, and I also played an intense game of Giant Jenga 😂

Bali’s nature didn’t disappoint either. I went on a four-waterfall hike in one day, even though I’d only slept two hours the night before. It was exhausting but one of the best decisions I made.

Learned to Play Pool

At one of the networking dinners, I got invited to play pool afterward with a random group of people from Germany. It turned out to be one of the most fun nights, as they taught me how to play pool for the first time.

The week after that, I signed up to a friendly pool competition even though I just played once 😂

It became a routine to go there every Tuesday night, of course I got destroyed each time, but I went there only for the vibes, there's good food, good music, and good people to hangout with.

Fishing for the First Time

Fishing for the first time was... interesting. I got hooked (pun intended) after watching a YouTube video titled ‘Eating Only What I Catch.’

It was a peaceful and refreshing change of pace from everything else, I was fishing for 7 hours and got 35 fish! (9.2kg in total), I'm ready to become a fisherman once the tech industry has fallen off 😂

Back to Lombok

After my time in Bali, I moved back home to Lombok. One of my friends from the Bali Walk Club started a digital nomad community here, which has been amazing. Weekly dinner events on Tuesdays have become a highlight of my routine, giving me a sense of community even at home.

On top of that, I discovered a board game community in Lombok too! I never expected to find something like this here, but now I get to enjoy weekly board game nights with a group of super friendly people. Even during my first time playing, everyone was welcoming, and we had so much fun.

Looking back, I realized I have grown so much. Without my time socializing in Bali and meeting with strangers, I wouldn’t have been able to feel this comfortable meeting new people and being part of such vibrant communities back home.

What’s Next?

Looking ahead to 2025, here are a few things I’m excited about:

• Blogging more consistently, especially retrospectives like this to capture my journey.
• Getting back in shape after the weight gain during the pandemic, hitting the gym and playing basketball again, just like in my school days.
• Socializing more, building on the social skills I rediscovered in Bali, and making new friends in Lombok.
• Exploring the possibility of building a SaaS product, turning ideas into something tangible.
• Taking a big step: moving abroad?

This year was easily the happiest of my life so far. After years of isolation during the pandemic, it felt amazing to finally socialize, explore, and make new friends.

Here’s to 2025 and everything it has in store! 😊🥂