Development Goals 2019

It’s good to start every year with a few goals in mind. Without having a clear target, there’s nothing to aim for. With nothing to aim for it’s hard to make trackable progress on anything. This list of goals is a stream of consciousness of the development goals I’m aiming for in 2019 as of December 31, 2018. Note that everything here is subject to change, but I can see these things taking priority in the year ahead. Over the next few weeks, I’m going to put together a plan to make these things happen. Here’s a brief look at what I’m aiming to make happen in 2019.

Launch Three New Apps or Sites - Launch at least three new sites or apps. In order to keep pace, plan to get something launched every three months in order to stay ahead of schedule. Use each of the apps to learn, improve, and possibly generate a new stream of income.

Read More than Ten Software Development Books - In a perfect world, I’d complete one technical development book each month. Often development books take longer to read than a single month, therefore the baseline goal is ten books. Make it happen. To kick off my year of technical software development reading, I’ve started reading the newly released second edition of Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler.

Interview with Several Companies - Interviewing is a great way to assess your current skills. It makes it apparent what you’re good at and what you still need to learn. Put yourself out there and go on a number of interviews 2019. See if there is a good fit out there that works for both sides.

Find Joy in Development - Bring joy into the practice of development. The majority of the time I greatly enjoy writing code, but sometimes development can feel like a chore. Try to bring the beginner’s mind back to the practice of development in order to make the act of development more joyful. In fact, I’m intending to apply this to everything I do in 2019. Believe in the wonder.

Keep Learning Daily - Keep learning every day. The goal of dev-eryday is to get better as a software developer every day. Keep living out the mission of the site. With any long running project, there will be lulls. That’s okay. Do your best and stay diligent in improving your craft.

Write Over Ten Development Posts on Dev-eryday - I didn’t post too many in depth technical articles here in 2018. That’s disappointing to me. I want to raise the bar in 2019. Post not only more in depth technical articles, but improve upon the quality of the content you create. Write valuable posts that share useful information that people can learn from and want to share with others.

Connect with Industry Experts - There are so many great industry experts out there. Connect with a few. Try to provide as much value to them as they provide to you. Reach out to experts who you’ve learned from in the past and let them know how beneficial they have been in your journey.

Teach Others Valuable Skills - Teach others lessons that you’ve already learned. Share the information you find useful. Publish information here on the site and also help teach in person when opportunities arise.

Use Skills for Creating a Better World - Try to build software and generate work that helps make the world a better place. It’d be great to make the world better on a massive scale, but just start with helping one person. The small acts on the micro scale can snowball into something truly impactful.

So these are the things that I’m aiming to make happen in 2019 in the realm of software development. Nothing here feels out of reach. Yes, it will take a lot of hard work and dedication to see all these goals through, but I know that I can accomplish each item I’ve listed here. I wasn’t nearly as productive as I wanted to be in 2018 on the Dev-eryday front so I’m going to stay more disciplined in 2019. These goals are a first step in that direction. Now that there is something specific to aim for, I’m going to work towards making these things happen. Best of luck with whatever your software development and life goals are in 2019, thanks for reading some of mine!