2023 In Review
The fourth installment of the Year in Review series. I'm beginning to realize the main article photo and the title don't make sense.
I'm beginning to think that I should be writing these year in review posts during the year, rather than waiting until the last 4 hours of the year to write this. At this point, I don't even remember what had happened throughout the year enough to even write this post.
But let's try to do it anyways.
How was this year different from the last?
Just like how I said last year, I had a lot of time on my hands.
2022
- Go to work
- Come back home
- Repeat
But then in 2023, I just added one more thing to the list.
2023
- Go to work
- Come back home
- Play games
- Repeat
When I'm home, I'm either doing some research on some topic or doing some light coding. If I'm not doing any of that, then I'm playing games. More on the games later.
Javaabu
The year kicked off with me diving back into familiar territory — the ongoing projects that had carried over from the previous year. One notable endeavor was the Hakathari project for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, and Technology (MECCT). The goal was to establish Hakathari as the authority issuing energy efficiency stickers for appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, and washing machines.
Navigating this project involved some collaborative programming with my boss, particularly since certain aspects required his expertise. However, this year came with an added twist — my boss was abroad pursuing his Masters. The 5-hour time difference posed a challenge, often leading to late-starting and late-ending meetings. I vividly remember one instance when a meeting began at 2 PM, and by the time we wrapped up, it was already 7 PM. I'm pretty sure my boss lost track of the time difference that day.
Upon successfully concluding the Hakathari project, there was a bit of a lull in terms of new assignments. Instead, I found myself mainly immersed in providing support for projects covered by support agreements and addressing bug fixes for some of my earlier projects.
When a new project came my way, it turned out I wouldn't be taking the lead this time. Instead, the reins were handed over to one of my colleagues. While part of me felt a bit annoyed at not being the lead, I also found relief in not having to directly manage client communications and navigate their potentially scope-expanding demands. It seemed like a great opportunity for my colleague to step up and handle a project of this scale independently, a valuable experience for his growth.
The project ended up being extremely complex. The initial requirements collection for the project went well but once we started actually working on it, we quickly realized that we needed to write more code than we had initially expected. With a lot of hardship, we did end up completing the project for launch.
And once again, I am without a project to work on.
During this period, I took on the challenge of engineering a solution for creating a comprehensive documentation system for all of Javaabu's projects. We rely heavily on various internal tools daily, but the absence of documentation on how to use them was a significant pain point. The only options were to seek guidance from someone who had used the tool, figure it out independently, or start from scratch.
Recognizing the need for a change, I initiated the documentation overhaul. Typically, documentation is composed in Markdown for its straightforward formatting capabilities. However, reading raw Markdown can be less than enjoyable. To address this, I conceptualized a system that not only compiles all our tool documentation into a structured format but also generates aesthetically pleasing HTML pages.
Long story short, docs.javaabu.com. It's looks pretty jank, but once you get a few pages in, it looks pretty cool.
Behind the scenes, when new docs are written into the tool's codebase, the system retrieves all the files, organizes them, converts them to HTML and adds it all into a database that enables some pretty advanced searching capabilities.
Overall, it's another great year at Javaabu. The team has grown quite a bit, and the new guys have a lot of potential and have already proven their worth in some projects.
Over 6 years at Javaabu. 7th year starting soon.
Baivaru
Baivaru has experienced some fantastic years filled with ambitious beginnings and notable achievements. Initially, we launched BaivaruTV+, an online streaming service similar to Netflix but more affordable and content-rich. We successfully reached a significant audience, providing them with subscriptions to our service.
However, after a year of operation, we've made the tough decision to shut down BaivaruTV+. While it was a hard call, it became necessary due to impending copyright laws. We decided to wrap things up preemptively to avoid potential troubles down the road.
Nowadays, Baivaru has evolved into a close-knit friend group. What initially started with just two people has grown over the years, with the recruitment of more individuals for the Baivaru project. We've become a collective of multi-talented folks who simply enjoy hanging out. Although coordinating hangouts has become more challenging, our bond remains strong.
What is dead may never die...
Computers
I figured this might be a good year for me to finally talk about my computer setup at home. Some people have been asking for setup updates and I guess this is going to be it.
The Storage
I've already upgraded the storage situation on my computer. BaivaruTV+, we were very profitable, and I spent a big chunk of that money on a 2TB NVMe SSD.
Before I used to have all my larger games like Spider-Man, Hogwarts Legacy and Horizon: Zero Dawn on a HDD. While it worked just fine, because the games I play are so graphically demanding, sometimes it takes too much time to load all the assets when I'm switching scenes. I put on the SSD, moved all my games to the new drive and I went from loading a new scene in Hogwarts Legacy in 38 seconds to a whopping 6 seconds. Great success.
The Keyboard
I finally have a mechanical keyboard. It is not some big name brand, but it definitely is a brand. I got myself a Royal Kludge RK65. It's a small keyboard in the sense that it does not have a number pad. Other than that, it's just a normal keyboard. The keys feel great and I've already improved my typing speed by a lot using this keyboard.
Mechanical keyboards have ruined normal keyboard for me, and this is why I take my keyboard to work with me. I just can't see myself using anything else ever again.
The Monitor
Das rite. Tru gamer in da hause. Spent a ton of money on a gaming monitor and this is my best purchase of the year. I got an Acer VG271U. While this monitor did give me a lot of issues at first, I worked it out with the seller and now everything is all good.
Normal monitors refresh the screen at a rate of 60 frames a second. The monitor I got refreshes at a 170 frames a second. It's also a much higher resolution than most common monitors at 2560 x 1440.
Now that's an upgrade.
The first person shooter games I play are super smooth and makes all the difference in winning games. I now effectively have double the time to react to any changes that are on my screen.
Other games like Spider-Man and Horizon: Zero Dawn are absolutely stunning on this screen and makes the game play so much nicer. I never knew games could be this good.
Personal
Many things have changed this year. My sister left the country to pursue her Masters, which left me alone for the whole year. Sure, mum and dad come to visit every now and then, but they usually stay around for about a month or so. When my sister did leave, I stole her computer monitor and added it to my computer setup so hehehe.
I don't really know what else to write in this section, cause a very big chunk of what I had felt in the middle of the year, I had already written in a different blog post.
Athfan Khaleel
This was written during a very stressful period of the year, when I was between two major projects at work.
The year really just zoomed by just like that, and I don't really know what happened during the start of the year and now. I've experienced a positive shift in my lifestyle. No more worrying. Just good times all around.
In Memory Of Frederick The Goldfish
Just a few months ago, Frederick fell seriously ill. He bounced back for a bit, but then it hit him again, and it was rough. Heading to work every day with the knowledge that he's not well has been a heavy weight on my mind. Then one morning, I woke up to the see that he was gone. The sadness hit me hard, and I couldn't even bring myself to punch in that day. I had to take a Family Leave, just needed some time to cope.
His tank is still there, lights on, water flowing, and yeah, it's full. But you know what's weird? It's full of water, but it feels empty. I had this idea to revamp the tank, maybe get some new fish, but I never got around to it. I've decided not to replace Frederick, though. If I do get new fish, they won't be getting any fancy names.
Gotta keep a bit of distance, you know?
Can't go getting too attached again.
Wish Frederick was here to see what is going on in the world. I'm sure he would have a lot of opinions.
