2025 was a rollercoaster for me. Looking back, I can clearly divide it into two distinct halves. One that tested me, and another that transformed me.
The First Half: Climbing the Corporate Ladder
January started strong. I got promoted at work, which was amazing! Though it was mostly a position bump, I was actually leading a project as an Associate Engineer. The best part? We went from 5 days in the office to just 2 days a week. But honestly, I still chose to work from the office most days because I was so invested in the project.
Then came February, the "love month," and let's just say things didn't go as planned. I hit one of the lowest points in my life.
But you know what kept me going? I dove into spirituality and writing poems. These became my anchors during the tough times.
The Turning Point: When Everything Changed
And then came the moment that changed everything.
I had this massive challenge at work. Our tool was taking 8 minutes just to load an MF4 (MDF file). EIGHT MINUTES. And that's before any computation! We were using the asammdf package in Python, which is good, but painfully slow.
I became obsessed with solving this. I researched everything. Tried JIT compilation, which improved computation time but not the loading. Then I had this wild idea: what if I rewrote the entire package in Rust?
This wasn't just a work task anymore. This was MY mission. I worked my regular job during the day and coded this project at night. I went deep into understanding how MDF files work at the byte level, implementing a custom package specifically for our project. Countless all-nighters, endless debugging sessions, but when it finally worked? Pure magic.
10 seconds. That's all it took to load a 4GB file AND do the computation (which I also replaced with Rust). Only the UI remained in Python.
This earned me so much respect at work. Due to NDA, I can't share the code or methods (corporate life, you know), but the fact that I pulled this off still makes me proud. This was my turning point.
Reigniting the Developer Within
Huge shoutout to Jess and Ben for their weekly "What was your win this week?" posts. Reading those comments and seeing everyone's achievements? That reignited my inner developer. I wanted to be part of that energy again.
I restarted my dev.to journey, but I was rusty. I couldn't figure out what to write about.
Then I discovered DEV Challenges, and wow, what a gold mine! I could build, showcase, learn, and enjoy all at once. Every weekend became about tackling a new challenge. This was exactly what I needed to grow and fall in love with coding all over again.
Discovering New Heights (Literally!)
In the second half of the year, I found another passion. Trekking. I climbed Asia's 1st and 2nd largest monolithic rocks! Out of 9 total treks, 8 happened in the second half alone.
I also did my first solo travel to Hampi. I know it's not far, but for me, it was a huge achievement. Plus, I met some amazing people along the way!
Projects That Keep On Giving
Some of my older projects surprised me this year:
FreeShare is a file sharing platform built with React, Firebase, and Cloud Functions. This project allows users to share files easily and efficiently. It's designed for individuals and teams who need a simple and secure way to share files. The platform provides a user-friendly interface for uploading, sharing, and managing files. With FreeShare, you can share files with others by generating a unique link, and recipients can access the files without needing to create an account.
Varshithvhegde
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FreeShare
FreeShare is a free online file sharing platform designed to simplify the process of sharing files without the need for any sign-up or verification.
FreeShare: File Sharing Platform
🗂️ Description
✨ Key Features
File Sharing
Security and Authentication
User Interface
🗂️ Folder Structure
graph TD
src-->components
src-->App.test.js;
src-->index.js;
src-->reportWebVitals.js;
src-->setupTests.js;
public-->index.html;
public-->manifest.json;
public-->robots.txt;
…
FreeShare is a free online file-sharing platform that needs no sign-up or verification. I built it 2 years ago in college when I was just starting out. I honestly thought it was dead, but when I checked Firebase recently... 10K total users! People are still using it, and my blog post about it still gets views. Sure, it has flaws, but hey, we all start somewhere.
NotePage is a web application that allows you to easily share code, text, or any content using a unique link. You can create new note pages by simply visiting Custom Pages: Create your own custom pages to share content with others. Just use Password Protection: Optionally protect your pages with a password, ensuring that only authorized users can access your content. Real-time Collaboration: Collaborate with others in real-time. When multiple users access the same link, any changes made by one user are instantly visible to others, without requiring a page refresh. Shareable Links: Share your pages with others by sending them the unique link. NotePage is built using the following technologies: Angular: A powerful and popular front-end framework. Firebase: A real-time cloud database, authentication, and hosting platform. Angular Material: A UI component library…
Varshithvhegde
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notepage
NotePage is a web application that allows you to easily share code, text, or any content using a unique link.
https://notepage.vercel.app.Features
https://notepage.vercel.app/<your-page-name> and start sharing.Tech Stack
This was just a side project I built while learning Angular. The UI wasn't great, and it's full of bugs. But here's the thing: my office has a strict NO ChatGPT policy (we can only use a company AI), and copying/sharing text was difficult. When a friend needed to share something, I suggested notepage, and it blew up within the office! I tried improving the UI, but people love the old version, so I kept it. Now I'm almost hitting free tier limits, but I'll keep it free because projects like these taught me so much and drove me to write for the DEV community.
The DEV Community Love
And then came the end of the year. Oh wow.
I finally reached 10K followers! I remember celebrating my first 1K like it was yesterday (it was actually 2 years ago).
I was also a Top Weekly Author twice! My DEV profile is practically part of my resume now. Whenever I'm in an interview, I proudly show it and talk about my journey. Why not? I've worked hard for this.
I participated in 5 DEV Challenges and won 2 of them. These challenges helped me grow immensely. A huge thank you to the entire DEV Team for creating such an amazing initiative!
Shoutouts
Some amazing devs/writers whose content I absolutely loved this year:
Looking Ahead to 2026
So yeah, the second half of 2025 was my redemption arc. I really loved this year, and my resolutions are crystal clear:
- Get all my friends to participate in DEV Challenges
- Level up my skills in AI and Agentic development
- Travel more (maybe even an international trip!)
- Blog about my journey more consistently
- Start learning rock climbing (need to get in shape first 😅)
- Finally get my driver's license 😭 (It was my 2025 resolution too, but I still haven't done it!)
That's all for this year, folks!
Thank you everyone for the support and love. Here's to an even better 2026!
Happy New Year to ALL! 🎉
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