2025 in Review
What a year 2025 has been! I published 24 blog posts covering a wide range of topics from cloud-native technologies to AI experiments, and even some personal reflections. Here are the key themes and highlights from my blogging year:
Cloud-Native and DevOps
This was a major focus area for me in 2025, not really surprising as I moved into a DevOps role this year, with deep dives into modern infrastructure:
- Learning Kubernetes- Started my journey into container orchestration and shared my beginner experiences
- Deploying Hugo with Helm- Deployed this very blog to Kubernetes using Helm charts
- Kubernetes and Let’s Encrypt- Tackled SSL certificate management in Kubernetes
- Monitoring with Nagios Docker- Explored monitoring solutions in containerized environments
.NET and Development
My bread and butter continues to be .NET development, with several posts exploring new features and tools:
- Blazor and .NET 10- Covered breaking changes, fixes, and new features in the latest .NET release
- Adding Elasticsearch with .NET Aspire- Integrated search capabilities using Aspire
- Aspire 9.2- Explored the latest Aspire release
- NuGet Central Package Management- Streamlined dependency management
- What’s New in C#- Covered the latest language features
- Exceptions- Best practices for error handling
Observability and Monitoring
Understanding what’s happening in production became a key theme:
- Getting Started with OpenTelemetry- Made observability easy with modern tracing
- OpenTelemetry Logs- Extended observability to include logging
- Setting up Grafana- Built dashboards for monitoring
Cloud Platforms
- Merging Two Projects into One- Shared my experience consolidating codebases
AI and Creativity
- Fun with AI- Explored ChatGPT’s image generation capabilities
- Using AI- Practical applications of AI in daily work
- Mandelbrot Set- A fun mathematical exploration
Professional Development
- The Pragmatic Programmer- Book review of this classic software development book
- The Hacker Ethic- Reflections on developer culture and values
- Stepping Outside Your Comfort Zone- Personal growth and career development
- Volunteering at NDC London- My experience at this major .NET conference
- Periodic Table of DevOps 2025- A visual guide to the DevOps ecosystem
Fun Projects
- Festive Naughty or Nice Checker- A seasonal AI-powered fun project
Thank you to everyone who read, commented, and shared my posts throughout the year. Your engagement and feedback mean the world to me!
2025 by the Numbers
- 24 blog posts published
- Major topics: Kubernetes, .NET, OpenTelemetry, AI
- New skills acquired: Helm, Kubernetes, observability tools
- Conferences attended: NDC London (as a volunteer) and DDD North
- Submitted content to https://festivetechcalendar.com
Goals for 2026
Looking ahead to 2026, I’m excited to build on this momentum. Here are my blogging and technical goals:
Content Goals
- Publish at least 24 posts - Maintain the pace from 2025
- Deep dive into AI/ML - Go beyond experimentation to practical implementations
- More hands-on tutorials - Provide step-by-step guides that readers can follow along with
Technical Skills
- Master Kubernetes - Move from beginner to intermediate proficiency
- Advanced observability - Implement comprehensive monitoring across distributed systems
- Cloud-native patterns - Explore microservices, event-driven architectures, and service mesh
- AI integration - Build practical AI-powered features into applications
- Platform engineering - Create better developer experiences and internal platforms
Walking
At the end of 2024 I made the following goal:
2024 took an unusual turn. In June, I walked a half marathon across the Peak District, and since then,
I have been doing lots of walks. Walking is good for my physical and mental health,
so I intend to do more of it in 2025. I have a 5k scheduled for January,
which should be lots of fun as it is around the wildlife park.
Well I enjoyed my walk in January 2025, which then led to two 10k walks (in July and September) and a 7.5k night walk (in Blackpool to see the Illuminations). This led me to explore parkrunand I completed my 8th run this morning. I say run, not walk as I am slowly becoming more of a runner and less of a walker.
So my goal here is to keep doing this, as I am so far enjoying getting out and about.
What Would You Like to See?
I’d love to hear from you! What topics would you like me to cover in 2026? Are there specific technologies, patterns, or problems you’d like to see explored?
Drop a comment below, reach out on social media, or send me a message. Your feedback helps shape the content direction for the year ahead.
Here’s to a fantastic 2026 filled with learning, building, and sharing! 🚀
Top comments (0)