My Year in Review 2019

This year was quite an exciting year for me, and a lot of things kept me busy throughout the year. I traveled to several places(including six countries), quit my ~4-year-old job, got admit for Masters, and started mentoring young kids. As the year began, my primary focus was to get accepted for Masters in a university of my choice, and more or less, I managed to achieve that goal. Also, I think I have been taking better care of my health.

Highs and Lows

January — March

• I decided to live by myself and moved to a 2BHK apartment.
• At the beginning of January, I finally recovered from my four months of prolonged, persistent low-grade fever. It felt good to be lively again.
• I visited a lot of temples with my parents. We covered all the major temples in Tirupati, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, and Madurai.

• One after the other, I got ten straight rejections from the universities that I had applied for pursuing Masters.

April — June

• Participated in the annual Wikimedia Hackathon, Prague, and worked with folks from the Wikipedia app team to hack our way through Commons app redesign.

• Traveled to 5 countries, ie. The Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, Croatia, and Turkey.

July — September

• Traveled to Coorg, Mukteshwar, and Meghalaya with office friends.

• Mentored a student for a project in Wikimedia Commons Android app as part of Outreachy’s summer round.
• Restarted my focus on outdoor activities by beginning running and cycling regularly.
• I helped in building an AR-based Android and iOS app for Zeta’s design meetup. We created both the apps in less than two weeks. It was my first time making an iOS app. Also, it was my first time working on Unity and React Native.

October — December

• I got admit from 6 universities and finally zeroed down on Arizona State University to pursue a Masters in Computer Science.
• I started mentoring a batch of 20 underprivileged kids for FEA India.
• In November, I traveled to Atlanta to attend Wikimedia Technical Conference 2019. It was my first trip to the USA.

• I quit my job at Zeta at the end of November to get myself ready for studies.

• On 27th December, I got the handover of the first flat that I ever bought. It is a 3BHK apartment in Sobha Silicon Oasis, Bangalore.

Takeaway

All in all, this year was a fruitful year for me both professionally and personally. I achieved a lot of targets that I had set for myself at the beginning of the year.

Next year would be a new beginning for me in a new country with a completely new environment. I would be back to being a student, and it would be interesting to see how I tackle new challenges. Also, I am committing to understanding how the body works and will make changes to my diet and daily routine to take care of it. :)

Happy New Year 2020 ❤

Written on December 23, 2019 by Vivek Maskara.

Originally published on Medium