A Year In Review 2017

 

So here comes the year in review blog post. I think it’s fair to say that I’ve never had a year that’s been so head-down and teeth-gritted

Most of what would be considered the fluff or interesting things that you do in a year has been missing entirely, no conferences, no training courses, no anything other than client work. that is not to say I haven’t done new things, each week, each month seems filled with new technology, new things to code, new things to learn but it’s all been work that has to be delivered, work that has to be produced on time.

This resulted in the company itself doing well and thanks to that, I’m in a better position then I think I’ve ever been before, a state that is all for the good because what with Brexit happening soon, UK companies now face an uncertain future so using the next two years to prepare for that is something that is going to be really important.

Looking forward to the coming year it looks as if I have finally reached a point in my career progression where I do not have a major on-site client, all of my work can be done remotely which is a goal I’ve been aiming for for some time, but it’s still a little bit stunning to finally reach it, it will mean I need even more focus in how I work and that will give me a couple of extra blog posts as I formalise the way I behave on a day to day basis but I finally have the flexibility I’ve been after.

It’s always good to look back on the year and try and update your CV, what are you an expert in? what can you sell yourself as? what are you aiming for going forward?
To be frank, knowing technology by rote plays less and less a part of what I provide my clients (both LDC and None LDC).

What I’m good at is learning new1 things. In adapting and providing clients with what they want when they want it. The stuff that I’ve been hired to do going forward this year and things that I’ve been doing for the last 8 months at least hasn’t really been solely technologically orientated, no one has said “oh are you an expert in x” they have just hired me to solve a problem, to make an issue go away, how that is done has been irrelevant or has already been set in stone by corporate decision.

However, I wouldn’t be me unless I still loved new technology and rolled in it like freshly cut grass.

  1. JavaScript frameworks: JavaScript is still the internet darling it has been for the last couple of years, but the frameworks come so fast that I now just poke my nose in each one that passes to see if it does anything ground-breaking or if it genuinely replaces one I am currently using.
  2. Networks and encryption: This has been an odd one to go back to and get up to date with, so many of the solutions I have had to provide this year have not been code related, or rather code has not been the best way to solve the problem, hardware and network performance issues don’t just go away with platform as a service, if anything they get more complex as they are not as transparent.
  3. Salesforce offshoots: Salesforce continues to keep buying things and integrating them into their ecosystem so things like AMPScript have become commonplace.

But there have been losses, this year I lost my IBM champion status, there was the brief pang of “Bugger”, but writing this I can’t say I disagree with the decision, I did no conferences this year2, and thus no speaking gigs, this blog was very quiet on the IBM front, and all the stuff I did for IBM was behind the scenes at client sites and a Champion really does have to be seen …. C’est la vie.

2018

What do I think I will be doing in 2018?

  1. Practical Cloud – The cloud has changed so many things and made them better, but in some ways we have gone backwards and there is a lot of work in such regressions, for example, inter-machine network speed that had reached really rather fast rates on internal networks has suddenly tanked when it is measured between existing onside stuff and new cloud services.
  2. Hard Decisions – Over the last year, I have seen a growing trend of business actually having budget and finally gritting their teeth over modernizing apps that have been around for 10+ years.
  3. Security – Even things that have been trusted for years have failed in the last 12 months, and while there are lots of security people around that will load up your network and apps with new standards and firewalls, there does not seem to be anyone that is willing to fix the trashed performance when the heavy boots of the security forces have been in and done their work.

I suspect quite a lot of my year will be spent using both new and old tech to get things working again after someone has enacted the latest company edict……. 🙂

FootNotes
  1. And by “New” I just mean new to me.[]
  2. LotusSphere/IBM Connect/IBM Think was in direct conflict with a client delivery, I’m not travelling to the US unless I have to for personal reasons so that cuts out the regional US conferences, UKICON was cancelled and I screwed up my passport for Engage[]