What have you accomplished this decade?

We're just over a month away from the end of this decade,* and I'm wondering what big changes everyone has made since December 2010. Did you get married? Become a millionaire with that great side project idea? Finally figure out how to center-align a <div>?

Here are a few of my highlights:

• went backstage at a RUSH concert 🤘
• finished my B.S. in Physics && Math 🎓
• got rejected from 11 graduate programs ⛔
• worked full-time in a falafel shop 🥙
• earned an M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics ⚛️
• got engaged! 💍
• visited 🇩🇪🇦🇹🇨🇿🇭🇺🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇮🇹🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇫🇷🇮🇪🇳🇱🇧🇪🇵🇱🇩🇰🇳🇴🇨🇭for the first time
• moved to Ireland from the U.S. ☘️
• failed my Irish driving test three times 🚗
• got my first job as a software developer 💾
• became an uncle 👶
• ...and lots more!

How about you? What's changed for you in the past ten years?

* using 0-based years, of course

Photo by Chris Gilbert on Unsplash

Comments

[Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard]

Awesome question

In general, I would say that I went from failure to failure without loosing my enthousiasm... which is what Churchill described as the true meaning of success.

In the details

• 🇫🇷 => 🇩🇪 I tried to live in Paris, France. Didn't work for me. I moved on and I'm now since 5 years a proud Berliner
• 💒👰 I went through painful relationship issues and ended up finding a woman I married
• 🤒 I had terrible depression crisis and survived. It feels great to be alive!
• 📱I struggled to become a professional Android developer. It took me years to realize that in fact it was the platform in fact that not well designed and plagues with terrible conventions and documentations.
• 📵 I moved away from Android and don't want to be put in a box anymore. Specialization is for insects
• 👨‍💻 After years of seeing others do open-source, I became a prolific contributor and started my own project, which has worked quite nicely since one year and I have exciting plans going forward
• 🎤 I also started giving speeches at meetups and want to do more of it
• 🙉🙈🙊 I became better at understanding my needs, at communicating, at being flexible like water when it didn't really matter, but assertive and direct when it was something important for me
• 🇫🇷🇬🇧🇺🇸🇩🇪🇪🇸🇮🇹🇯🇵 I became fluent in English, German and Spanish. I also learned a bit of Italian, Esperanto and Japanese.
• 🗾🇨🇴 I had life-changing trips in Colombia and in Japan
• ✍🏻 I started writing after lots of years reading what other people had to say
• 🎹🎸🎙️🎶 I learned to play guitar (I already could play piano) and to sing better
• 🕺🏻💃🏽 I learned lots of dance, from Salsa to Argentine Tango

[Andrew (he/him)]

It sounds like you overcame some incredible challenges, Jean-Michael. Tu es une inspiration!

Quelle type de musique joues-tu à la guitare?

[Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard]

Health issues was the hardest part,
and the catalyst for much of the rest.

J'adore la musique d'Amérique du Sud et d'Espagne.
Salsa, Cumbia, Tango, Bumbuco, ...

[Desiré 👩‍🎓👩‍🏫]

Well, Andrew, you haven't wasted a single minute!

I like the idea, for me...

🎮 Created and organized a videogames tournament until its end.
🎤 Gave a public speech for the first time.
🥒 Found out I actually like veggies. A lot.
🦈 Got some real shark tooth!
🦉 First time living on my own, bye-bye parents!
🖥 Got my first IT job in a company...!
💻 ...And the second one!
💌 Met my actual partner, we're living together!

Guess even more is coming!

[Andrew (he/him)]

Nice! What kind of video games? Retro or modern? PC or console?

[Desiré 👩‍🎓👩‍🏫]

Focused on PC competitive videogames, we did HearthStone, League of Legends and Overwatch! It was fun and a really nice experience for me 😊

[Artemiy Gazizyanov]

Glad to see your progress over the past decade.

Your post made me think about what I have achieved over the years.
As for me, your post can serve as a good retrospective for each of us.

I rarely think about what I have achieved because I always strive forward and achievements always fade in front of what I am going to do next.

Well, let's start:

1. I graduated from high school and passed my exams very well. 👌🏼
2. I received a bachelor's degree in software engineering. 👨‍🎓
3. Studied programming (But as you know, this process never ends) 📚
4. I got my first job after the first year of university. 😎
5. Moved to another city, which is larger and more beautiful than my own. 🙌
6. Now I get a master's degree in software engineering. 🤓
7. Learned to drive a car. 🚗
8. Participated in the development of many interesting projects. 👨‍💻
9. Learned to play the guitar, piano, drums, wind instruments. 🎶
10. I made many new friends whom I love and respect. 😍
11. Travelled the world, most of all I liked the hot dogs in England. 🌭
12. Visited concerts of my favourite bands. 🤘

[Andrew (he/him)]

Do you have a practice space where you live for your instruments? I want to learn how to play the drums but I live in an apartment in the middle of the city 😬

[Artemiy Gazizyanov]

No, I learned how to play them being in local town orchestra. I went there just for fun and it turned out to be very interesting. 😊
At home, I only have some guitars and a synth.
As for drums, I always wanted to have them, but they take up a lot of space and make a lot of noise.
So, I see one perfect decision, is to buy an electronic drum set. They are quiet and can be folded in necessary.