2017 - We've grown.

It’s the end of another year. Here, I reflect on how this year was one of the craziest years of my life so far, and share with how proud I am of everyone in our little rag-tag Y32 community.

We’ve grown as programmers.

At the time of writing, the Y32 team has 2,444 contributions publicly listed on our profiles. While this may not seem like a whole lot, between these commits, we solved problems together. We answered each other’s questions. We trolled the hell out of each other.

I’m confident that everyone can look back upon these past months and say that they’ve learned something. I’m confident that everyone here can think of the programmer that they were a year ago and see that they’ve summited hills, even mountains, of tasks, knowledge, and challenges they once stood at the foot of.

We’ve also said “fuck” a lot.

As programmers - as problem solvers - we naturally spend a lot of our time being frustrated. We’re constantly frustrated and challenged by things we don’t understand, but that’s also part of what defines us.

This frustration is what pulls us forward and tempers us from the natural drive we have to improve ourselves. The drive to make something great. To make something we can all celebrate - you made a thing! No matter how small, that’s something to be proud of, because you did it. You challenged yourself and won.

Never undervalue even the smallest victory.

We’ve grown as people.

The guild has been around for a little more than a year now. Some people have come and gone, but that’s okay. I guarantee that everyone of our members at some point have participated in our conversations and laughed, smiled. That’s a victory to me, and the most I can hope for.

Then there are those of you who go above and beyond. I am constantly humbled by those of you who take your time to ask questions, and those of you who take your time to answer them. You all clearly respect and value the experience of your friends here. That’s amazing to me, and you should all be proud of yourselves for that.

And even still, some of us have made personal connections with your friends in the guild here. We play games together. We slide in each others DMs, and we help each other overcome the curve balls our lives have thrown us, or even just provide each other company to endure. We genuinely care for each other and that’s something really special. I know for me personally, I wouldn’t be who I am today in some way had I not met some of you. For better, I hope some of you can say the same - or for worse, I hope you can realize that you’ve still grown as a person from your experiences together.

And for that I thank you.

2018 - Forward.

Next year is going to be a huge year for me, personally. I’m trying to take the next step in my career. At the end of 2018 I plan on moving to another state so I can live closer to my best friends. And I’m going to be writing a lot of code, asking a lot of questions, and hopefully answering them too. It’s going to be tough.

I hope you’ll be here with me as you’ve been for the past year. If only to share memes, and make each other laugh. But I hope you’ll continue to help each other too, as programmers, and as people - friends. I know I’m going to need your help.

I can only imagine how much frustration 2018 will bring. I can only imagine how many challenges we’ll overcome, how much we will learn. And I can only imagine how much we’ll grow, forward, together.

Happy Xmas, New Years, Festivus, etc.!

With love, Zac