So I am sitting here before a new project kicks off tomorrow, and having just finished checking over the material for a tutorial I am running on how Support Vector Machines work, I thought I should do a year-in-review blog entry.
It's been a different year. A whole year in my current job as a senior software engineer, and in the last year, I have worked on around 5 books for my freelance work, another couple of issues of CYBR magazine, and learnt to drive. It's also been a bit chaotic with the kitchen renovation, new flooring in rooms, the fireplace restored, and learning to drive and passing on the third attempt.
It's also been sad too. My mother-in-law passed away early in the year due to cancer. Having already lost my mother to cancer five years before, losing my mother-in-law has been challenging as she has always supported me in my career, helped us buy our first home, and generally just been there through some of the difficult times. However, this year I also got to meet my sister-in-law in person, who reached out after the passing of my partner's mother. She is much older than us, and lives in New Zealand, so it has been really great having someone not as old as our parents but older than us to have the life experiences, yet close in age, so can also appreciate the same sort of things that we do. She also supervised my first time driving in my car, which was great fun and I am grateful for her being supportive even when living so far away.
So - highlights time in chronological order.
January:
My mother-in-law passed away on my birthday and the subsequent funeral.
Issue 2 of CYBR was released as a limited "rebooted issue", which contained my article about Quantum Computing.
February:
Quiet month.
March:
Quiet again.
April:
The garden renovation was complete.
May:
Released The Ahriman Contract on the St Vault.
Released Project Blacklight on the St Vault.
13 years of Darker Days Radio and 12 years of me as host of the show.
June:
I turned in work for the Xenos Bestiary book for Wrath and Glory.
July:
It was around now that I would say my competency with AWS was improving and was critical as I developed the ETL for the project I was working on.
Most recent issue of CYBR released.
Got some minis featured on the GW Warhammer Hobby roundup
Our Graves Are Empty released.
August:
A quiet month. It may have involved a freelance project that is still unannounced and the Aeldari book for Wrath and Glory.
September:
My first car arrived. (A Skoda Karoq)
Sister-in-law visited and supervised me in the new car :D
Kitchen renovation done!
October:
A quiet month.
The fireplace restoration was finished.
November:
Passed my driving test.
Gave a motivational talk to my old high school, Lady Hawkins High School, about my career and how gaming influences me as a programmer, scientist and freelance writer.
DMs Book Club episode where I chat about the Iron Kingdoms setting and my work on Nightmare Empire.
I turned in my work for the Absolver's book for Wrath and Glory.
A physical copy of Borderlands and Beyond turned up.
Chatted with the team at The Rookery about Machine Learning.
December:
Getting asked to write some new content for an RPG (can't say more yet).
1 year working for Leighton and working for a new client using AWS Lambda and Python.
Rerelease of Issue 6 of CYBR, which contains my interview of Mike Pondsmith, creator of the Cyberpunk RPG.
So the next year should be one of a bit more travel, at least within the UK, and further developing my own skills in AWS Cloud Computing, carving out the niche as a data scientist at the company, writing for more books, and going to more events (finally!).
See you all in the New Year (if I don't post before then).
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