Journey of 2022

Introduction:

Hey! I’m Lily Khan, a designer and a front-end developer from India. Some of you reading this may have come across my previous write ups and followed my journey. This is a continuation of my yearly blogs in which I share my experience.

Recap:

At the end of 2021, I applied for my 1st internship at Replit. Then in January 2022, I got accepted, and I started my internship as a community manager until September.

From “How I became a part of the Replit Community” to becoming an intern at Replit. I’ve come so far in these 3 years.

Let’s start where we left off last year in “Reflections of 2021”

My first internship:

Replit.com was my dream company to work at. I was so happy when I heard back from them because they offered not just one, but two roles. The first one was for a design role that started in the summer, and the other was for a role in the community which I could start right away – and I chose the later. I worked on so many things and enjoyed my experience in the community. For example, In July we hosted Replit’s first India meet-up in Bengaluru. It was my first in-person event and was such an amazing experience for me. I met my online friends and colleagues for the first time and had so much fun meeting new people. I made videos from the event which we posted on our TikTok account.

If you want to know more about my internship experience, I’ve talked more about it in my blogpost on Replit.

Recently, I also got mentioned in Reach Capital’s impact report by Tony Wan

Break:

When my internship ended, I wanted to take a break and look for better opportunities. Ever since things went back to normal, it’s becoming more difficult to find suitable remote opportunities, quite the opposite of how it was before. After a few attempts, I decided to take a break and recharge myself a bit. This year was very hectic for me. I completed high school and was busy with my school practicals, exams and of course my internship. Then, I also got married during my exams. After my marriage, I also had to travel from my house to my new house, from one state to another, which was very tiring.

There are both pros and cons to taking a break from a career.
On the plus side, it can give time to reassess goals, relax, and learn new skills. Additionally, it can be a good way to reduce stress and take a much-needed vacation from the grind of work, which can cause burnout.

On the downside, taking a break from a career can put us behind our peers, makes it harder to find a job when we're ready to return, and causes us to lose touch with our professional network. Additionally, it makes it difficult to re-enter the workforce after an extended break.

Next year:

I have many goals both in my personal and professional life. I’m planning to participate in more hackathons and hopefully attend more in person meet-ups. I’m also building my new portfolio and hopefully trying to get a new job. After this year's drop from college I’ll try to figure out about my college and find suitable courses. As for my learning, I want to try out new and different things I’m still not sure what exactly, but one thing is for certain: as much as I can.

Conclusion:

This year has been such a roller coaster ride! It was very high in the start, and in the middle it was going down. But now, I’m trying to take it back to high and hopefully with this new year I’ll begin a brand new journey.

Happy New Year to all!! :D