So for the past few years I've done little writes up like this ("My 2016 and my plans for 2017 "). The idea is to look over what I accomplished, take stock, and plan for the next year. I always worry that this kind of comes off as bragging, but as I constantly tend to feel I'm failing, I like to allow myself to feel proud of what I've done. At least once a year. ;)

2017 #

This year I continued in my role as a developer advocate for IBM's StrongLoop team, specifically the API area. Honestly I can't remember the exact name of our group and as those things seem to change a few times a year, I don't pay much attention to it. I basically spent my time focused on LoopBack, Node, and serverless.

In terms of presentations, my total count went down a bit this year. I gave 15 talks total compared to 21 last year. But the adoption really played a part in that as I couldn't really book a lot in the later half of the year. I'm doing much better at tracking my presentations now ("Speaking Engagements") so it's easier now to see what I've done. This year I did multiple presentations on OpenWhisk and serverless technology as well as my first talk on voice-assisted technologies (specifically Alexa).

In terms of travel, I took 62 flights (some were personal, hello China) and nearly it 60K miles. My longest flight was 14 hours and 50 minutes (again, hello China) and I spent a grand total of 6 days, 18 hours, and 40 minutes in the sky. Thank you, JetItUp for the cool stats and visualizations. Here's a Earth-size view of my trips:

Travel

And here is a US-focused one:

Travel

I released two books this year. First was a book on static sites that I wrote with Brian Rinaldi. The second was a free book on serverless written for IBM and O'Reilly. I'm hoping to turn that short ebook into a "real" full size book in 2018.

I also released my first course for Lynda.com, "Learning Ionic Basics" and I'll have my next one out in a few weeks. I really enjoy working for Lynda.com. They do an incredible job of supporting their creators.

My blog traffic declined this year. I got around 1.6 million page views in 2016 and only 1.3 in 2017. That's still good traffic, but I'm hoping I can see a rise in 2018. I published a bit over 150 entries with serverless being my top category. If you are really bored, you can view my stats yourself.

2017 Goals #

How did I do in my goals from the end of 2016?

  • Continue to work with Node, API Connect, Ionic: I'm still doing Node stuff, but less 'full server apps' and almost entirely serverless. API Connect hasn't necessarily been something I cover a lot lately as I've focused more on OpenWhisk. Ionic is also something I've put on the back burner. Not for any reason - I still love the product and the team, but I've been focused on other areas. I'm hoping to turn my attention to it soon as they begin to support Vue.
  • "I've been saying this for a while now, but I really want to get better at NativeScript." Sigh I don't know what to say. I like NativeScript. A lot. And I'm great friends with the Progress folks. But once again I failed to spend much time looking at it. However, they too are looking to support Vue soon so once again I'm hoping this is the year I can spend time on it. I absolutely recommend it. Do not take my lack of attention to it as any kind of criticism.
  • "Learn and play a lot more with serverless": HELL YES, VICTORY, DING DING DING DING
  • Become a better presenter: Still working on that and have no plans on stopping my growth.
  • Do deeper dives into static sites: I didn't really do this much, but as they work so well with serverless, I'm hoping to spend some time talking about both topics. I've got a few proposals out on that topic right now.
  • Lose 20 pounds: Oops. Next year? I'm going to blame the adoption again.

2018 Goals #

  • Become a Serverless "expert" - whatever that means. I think I'll be digging into this area for years to come.
  • Become an expert with Vue. I freaking love Vue. I've got my first talk on it in a few months.
  • I've got a secret goal that I've been working on the past few months. I've already failed at this particular goal multiple times, but I'm not giving up. Certain friends are well aware of what I'm trying to do, and as soon as I succeed, I'll share here of course. Feel free to guess in the comments. (Nope, not at an adoption again, we're done with that.)
  • "Above all - try to be the best father, husband, and friend to everyone in my life. For the nameless people who read this blog and see me in person - try to educate and help as much as possible." This is a repeat from last year. Being a good father/husband/friend will always by my number one priority. I'm not saying I always succeed at it, but I always try to keep it in mind.