My Vision for 2025: A Year of Growth, Innovation, and Impact

Shikhar Sen — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 09:44:01 +0000

As I look ahead to 2025, I am incredibly excited about the opportunities that lie ahead for my personal and professional growth. There are many plans in the pipeline, especially in terms of advancing my career and working on some important personal projects.

1. Professional Goals:

AWS Projects: My primary focus this year is to build projects using AWS. I have already started learning AWS, and I'm eager to apply this knowledge to my work. For example, I recently developed a small to-do list project using AWS Amplify, Cognito, Lambda functions, and DynamoDB. By mid-year, I aim to achieve AWS certification to further enhance my cloud skills.
New Projects: I’m working on a new, complex project involving ReactJS and .NET Core. I enjoy tackling new challenges as they offer me great learning opportunities. Additionally, I plan to continue exploring AI tools like GitHub Copilot, which have helped me accelerate my coding, even though our company hasn’t purchased the license for it. Personally, I use it to enhance my productivity.
AI and Machine Learning: I also plan to learn more about AI and machine learning. These technologies are rapidly transforming the tech landscape, and I aim to build a strong foundation in them.
2. Personal Projects:

Healthcare Web App for India: One of my major goals for 2025 is to develop a healthcare services web app. Last year, I wasn't able to work on this project, but this year, I am determined to bring it to life. The app will help address some critical challenges in the Indian government healthcare system, which often struggles with issues like patient queues, availability of beds, and corruption.
Features: The app will allow users to book appointments with doctors, view their availability, and check the hygiene conditions of hospitals. It will also show the availability of beds in hospitals, which is a significant problem in India. I want to ensure that this app promotes transparency and reduces corruption, as sometimes government hospital doctors take under-the-table payments, which is unethical. By tracking services, the app can help prevent these corrupt practices and improve access to healthcare for all.
3. Personal Growth:

I will continue focusing on maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Regular exercise, mindfulness, and a healthy diet are essential for both my physical and mental well-being.
I also want to read more books, particularly on personal development, leadership, and technology. I plan to read at least 12 books by the end of 2025.
4. Learning New Skills:

AWS & Cloud Technologies: In addition to AWS, I plan to deepen my understanding of cloud computing and its applications. I will work on developing a more robust knowledge of cloud infrastructure, storage, and serverless computing.
AI and Machine Learning: I will take online courses to improve my understanding of AI and machine learning. These fields are shaping the future of technology, and I want to stay ahead of the curve.
Leadership and Communication Skills: I also aim to develop my leadership and communication skills, as these are crucial for my growth as a software engineer and team member.
5. Timeline and Milestones:

Q1 2025: Complete an introductory course on AWS, ReactJS, and start working on my healthcare web app.
Q2 2025: Achieve AWS certification and continue working on the healthcare app. Begin AI and machine learning courses.
Q3 2025: Complete the first phase of my healthcare web app, including doctor appointment bookings and hospital bed availability features.
Q4 2025: Finish the mobile app version of the healthcare project and launch it. Read 12 books and complete a machine learning course.
Conclusion: 2025 is shaping up to be a year of growth, learning, and achievement. I am excited to build on my existing skills in AWS, ReactJS, and cloud computing while also taking on the challenge of developing a healthcare web app that can help improve the healthcare system in India. From building technical expertise to creating an app that can make a difference in people’s lives, I’m committed to making 2025 a year full of accomplishments.

Reflections on 2024: A Year of Challenges, Growth, and Achievements

Shikhar Sen — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 08:06:50 +0000

My name is Shikhar Sen, and I am a 27-year-old Software Engineer working in a product-based company. Throughout my life, I have always been passionate about coding, and over the years, I’ve grown both personally and professionally. As I reflect on 2024, I realize how transformative this year has been, full of challenges and significant milestones.

In 2024, I had many goals, and I always made sure to write them down in my diary along with their deadlines. I then worked towards achieving them in an organized manner. However, this year turned out to be quite challenging for me.

At the beginning of the year, I faced some significant family issues. In January 2024, my father suffered a heart attack, which was a major blow to our family. We had to undergo surgery, but thankfully, it was successful, and he is now recovering with some ongoing medication. Despite the financial strain of his surgery, I managed to pay off my home loan with my savings, which I consider a significant achievement for myself. This taught me an important lesson: while it's essential to focus on work, taking care of one's health should never be neglected. I make sure to exercise daily, which has helped me stay fit and healthy.

On the professional front, I am very happy with my job as a software engineer. I have been passionate about coding since school, even when most of my friends took tutoring classes. I never felt the need for formal lessons and instead taught myself using books, long before YouTube had as much learning content, and it wasn’t as popular as it is now for educational purposes. C++ was the first language I learned, and even today, I continue to practice competitive programming in it. However, at work, I focus on C# and .NET, which I find extremely interesting.

Throughout the year, I worked on some challenging projects. For instance, I successfully implemented caching in my project, which improved the response time, much to the satisfaction of our clients. Additionally, I worked on integrating IBM Orchestra with our project’s APIs and completed a Proof of Concept (POC) within a week. I also contributed to implementing Matomo Analytics into our project in just two weeks, even though I had to work on a different team’s project, which was based on ReactJS and NestJS. This was a very exciting opportunity, and I enjoyed working with new technologies. Currently, I am expanding my skills by learning AWS Cloud.

2024 was full of challenges, both personally and professionally. Yet, everything turned out well in the end. From all these experiences, I learned the importance of maintaining a positive mindset, no matter how difficult life gets. These challenges taught me resilience, and I will carry the lessons I’ve learned into the future.

DEV Community: Shikhar Sen

My Vision for 2025: A Year of Growth, Innovation, and Impact

Reflections on 2024: A Year of Challenges, Growth, and Achievements