2023: Year in Review
Happy New Year! 🎉 Wishing you all a year ahead filled with love, laughter, and the pursuit of your passions. ✨
As the calendar turns, I’m a tad late with my year in review, but better late than never, right? Join me in reflecting on the highlights, lessons, and unexpected twists of the past year.
As we reflect on 2023, it’s evident that tech innovation has been nothing short of a bard’s symphony, weaving together advancements that resonate across industries. OpenAI continued to shine, with GPT Store becoming the go-to marketplace for cutting-edge language models, shaping how we communicate and create content. Adobe Firefly and Microsoft Designer illuminated the creative landscape, offering designers a powerful tool to bring their visions to life. Mistral AI brought a refreshing breeze to artificial intelligence, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in machine learning. AR and VR continued their ascent. VR headsets became more accessible, while AR found fertile ground in education, healthcare, and even retail. Mixed reality holds immense potential for the future, particularly in training and collaboration. Meta’s Llama introduced us to a new era of virtual presence, blending the physical and digital realms seamlessly. In the realm of AI, Grok emerged as a silent but powerful force, decoding complex patterns and making sense of vast datasets. These technologies not only enhanced user experiences but also paved the way for a more immersive and intuitive digital world. As technology advances, so do the ever-evolving threats posed by cybercriminals. 2023 witnessed sophisticated cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure, businesses, and individuals. Remote work wasn’t going anywhere. PJs became the new office attire, and video calls with messy bedrooms became normal (as long as your boss didn’t see the laundry pile).
2023 has been marked by groundbreaking technological advancements, from the widespread integration of AI in daily life to the rapid development of innovative solutions addressing global challenges. 2024 will be filled with more innovation, creativity, and the potential to solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges, driven by the tireless efforts and ingenuity of developers worldwide.
For me, 2023 was a great year, filled with pain and challenges that ultimately led to valuable lessons and personal development. A lot of fascinating stuff happened. Well, let’s get going.
❌ My failures of 2023: ❌
- Regrettably, failed to start or complete the projects that I wanted to do.
- I did not secure a place as a mentor in the Women Developers Academy program.
- Failed to take care of my mental and physical health.
- Although invited to the ML Summit in Uzbekistan, I couldn’t go because of my health issues.
✅ My wins of 2023: ✅
- Participated in MLH’s Global Hack Week.
- Attended the Docker conference and got a cute Moby dock.
- Got 2nd place at Reskilll x Google Cloud’s DevSkill Quiz on Cloud Computing.
- Supported the vision of a better, healthier internet from Mozilla and received some cool swags.
- As a Google Local Guide, made it to the top 10% of contributors in Patna.
- Hosted ML Olympiad and received cool swags from Google Developers ML Team.
- Spoke at GDG Patna’s IWD event on International Women’s Day.
- Attended MozFest, JS Conference, and GitHub SummerFest virtually.
- Got 1st place at the Azure quiz on Azure Developer Community’s Discord Server and won an MS Azure T-shirt.
- On April 15th, attended Postman’s API Days workshop at NIT, Patna.
- I was lucky enough to attend a Train the Trainer exclusive session by Google Developer Experts.
- Completed my master’s degree in computer applications — MCA at JECRC University, Rajasthan!
- Earned a special reward from Google Local Guides.
- Won the Local Guides Trivia Quiz and had a great time hanging out with my fellow Local Guides.
- Got an invitation & sponsorship to attend Google’s India Community Summit on June 23 - 26 in Goa.
- On June 27th, attended the Map the Way event at Google Office.
- Attended Google for Developers Community Mixer event.
- Made a little donation to Pratham (one of the largest non-governmental organizations in India).
- Got a chance to attend Google I/O Connect and met some GDEs and Twitter pals. 🤩
- Nailed the Microsoft Ignite: Generative AI with Azure OpenAI Challenge.
- Took part in the Google Cloud Challenge. Here’s my public profile link.
- Got my hands dirty on OCI, and DevOps.
- Crushed the 1-month Oracle’s SQuizL Challenge.
- Got some Amazon Gift cards from my company (Shiv Guru IT Solutions) for being a rockstar employee.
- Got an e-book titled “Transitioning to Java” by Ken Fogel, who’s my favorite Java Champion.
- Crossed Level 25 on Crowdsource by Google App and got featured on Google Crowdsource Facebook Page.
- Took on a 30-day challenge of Three.js and completed it successfully. Check out the codes on CODEPEN.
- As the organizer of the TFUG Hajipur chapter, hosted 8 events including 1 in-person event. Some of these events have been featured on Google Developer Experts — Medium and Google Developers Blog.
- Read 5+ books this year. 📚
- My LinkedIn followers have grown to 1900+.
- Crossed 700+ followers on Twitter, 1.5k followers on Instagram, and 90+ followers on GitHub.
🤩A few unexpected/interesting things that happened
- Had the opportunity to fly for the first time. ✈
- Messed up and missed a morning flight. 🛫
- Visited the Google Office for the first time.
- Met with an accident on June 29th.
- I underwent an MRI scan. It was like being inside a giant donut.
- Played a variety of musical instruments, including Guitar, Piano, Melodica, and MIDI Controller. 🎼🎛🎸
- Lost my Sony Camera & MS Edge Power Bank. That was a bad day. 😪
- I watched 10+ series, 3 documentaries, and 30+ movies at home. I need to get a life. 😆
- Got a Diploma Certificate From 5 Star’s Nothing University. 😂
✨Quote of the day✨
“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
⭐Lesson I learned⭐
- People can go from people we know to people we don’t.
- Sometimes less is more.
- God's plan is always best.
- Life is short; smile while you still have teeth.
- Embrace the chaos, and find the calm within.
- Do more things that make you forget to check your phone.
- Always be grateful.
Reflecting on the year 2023 — reveals a mix of highs and lows. The multitude of new opportunities and challenges has been both invigorating and daunting. It’s 2024, and I am optimistic that this year holds increased stability and continued personal & professional progress. ✨💯
