It's time for some yearly reflections again. What a year 2024 has been! Both in good and in bad. This yearly review is my fourth, and you can find the previous ones from these links:
Okay, let's dive in.
Accomplishments
A lot has happened, and looking back, I've accomplished a bunch. Here are some of the highlights from the past year.
I become a GDE (Google Developer Expert). That was a tremendous thing for me, getting recognition for my community contributions over the years. Also, after a huge case of imposter syndrome I had in the spring, getting the email welcoming me to the GDE program felt just incredible.
Other accomplishments from 2024 relate to my studies - first, in the spring, I completed my master's thesis about Android developers and accessibility. It was a fun project, and I've written about the checklist I developed during the process in this blog post: Android Accessibility Checklist.
I also graduated in December, and can now proudly say that I'm, in addition to my previous master's degree in Russian language and culture, Master of Science in Economics and Business Administration, with a major in Information Systems (and the master's program was technical communication).
The final accomplishment I want to highlight is that I released Neule.art Android app in December. It's a Compose multiplatform app, and I'm learning as I go - but it's been super fun! And sometimes frustrating because I'm a total iOS noobie, and when I need to add something in native code, I sometimes don't even know the right words to search for answers. Nevertheless, I've learned a ton in the process. I've written about the initial thoughts in this blog post: First Impressions of Compose Multiplatform
Speaking
In 2024, I did some public speaking. I also had to cancel some things due to booking flights on the wrong days and realizing it only right when I was supposed to leave, and getting sick, which was a pity. But anyway, here are all the conferences and meetups I spoke at in 2024:
- Conferences and Webinars
- Android Worldwide (online)
- Accessibility in mobile apps - IAAP Nordic (online)
- Droidcon Berlin
- Quality Forge (online)
- Droidcon London
- We Are Developers Live - Accessibility Day (online)
- Meetups
- Turku <3 Frontend
- Turku Mobile
I was about to write that I didn't do that much public speaking this year, but looking at the list and comparing it to last year, I actually spoke in more events than in 2023. Oh wow. That's nice.
Writing
In 2024, I improved my writing game. I wrote more, and I feel like the quality of my posts has increased. In total, I've published 27 blog posts (this being the 28th), and six of them got boosted by the Medium team. The topics of the blog posts were related to Android, Android accessibility, career and inclusion, and burnout.
Also, most of my blog posts were featured in multiple newsletters, which always feels great. So, a big thanks to everyone behind those newsletters! Some of these newsletters include Android Weekly, Jetpack Compose Newsletter, Software Testing Notes, and Software Testing Weekly.
I'll also list some of my personal favorites from 2024:
This blog post is part of Dev.to's #WeCoded campaign, which started as She coded, sharing stories from women in tech around International Women's Day, and has evolved to a month-long celebration of gender minorities in tech. It was hard to write, and at the same time, I knew it had to be written.
So yeah, in the post, I share my experiences of being in gender minority in tech from the previous year (at the time of writing), and some of them are super misogynist. With this post I also got my first experience of being harassed on other platforms by someone who was blocked on Dev. But more about that in next March's #WeCoded-post.
I loved writing this blog post - it has two elements I really like: cats and custom layouts. In the blog post, I explain how to create a custom stacked card layout to display cat pictures in those cards. As often happens, this blog post was a byproduct of another blog post (which I haven't yet published), and I had so much fun writing it.
In the second half of 2024, I've been writing about Compose and Canvas, and this blog post is one in a series of those blog posts. This one discusses adding text and different text styles and fonts to Canvas. In addition, it highlights a theme dear to me: Bisexual visibility and existence.
Other Things
This year was a hard one. I mean, look at the world burning - that alone makes everything hard. But I also have been burned out pretty much the whole year - that seems to be my state of existence now. It got better in the summer and beginning of fall, until everything started falling apart in ways I never would have imagined them to do.
But at the same time, 2024 was a year of me finding myself. It was the year when I've finally been able to do some things and live as myself. You see, I spent my youth and early adulthood in charismatic Christian circles, and only now, almost 10 years after leaving (or being forced out, because divorce is one of the biggest sins you can commit), I can finally come out as a nonbinary woman. Bisexuality was somehow an easier thing; I don't know why.
Also, I've finally done something I had planned for more than 10 years: I've got tattoos! They're adorable and so freaking cool. And they won't be the last ones. I'm so glad I work in tech and can afford such things.
So, 2024 was not all bad. How about 2025?
What About 2025?
Yeah, I'm not going to promise anything. But I have one wish - I wish that a year from now, I wouldn't have to think or write about burnout so much. So, if you have a job opportunity where burnout is not that likely, I'm all ears. But I do want to do Android development and/or accessibility-related things.
I wish you a better year in 2025!
Links in Blog Post
- Year in Review - 2021 Edition
- Year in Review - 2022 Edition
- Year in Review - 2023 Edition
- a huge case of imposter syndrome
- Android Accessibility Checklist
- Neule.art Android app
- First Impressions of Compose Multiplatform
- Android Weekly
- Jetpack Compose Newsletter
- Software -Testing Notes
- Software Testing Weekly
Top comments (1)
Congratulations, Eeva-Jonna, on becoming a Google Developer Expert! That’s a remarkable recognition of your hard work and contributions to the community. Your accomplishments this year, from completing your master's thesis on Android accessibility to releasing the Neule.art app, are truly inspiring. The blend of technical expertise and creativity shines through in your projects. For anyone interested in tracking and analyzing data trends, tools like FL Crime Lookup can serve as great examples of applied data solutions. Wishing you continued success on your journey—looking forward to seeing what you achieve next