This year, I will learn to code (I hope).
Tags: devresolutions2024
Published: 2024-01-17 00:25:10

Hey hey y'all! It has been a while since I have shared a post on here.

If you don't know me, my name is Rachel and I am our Content Creator here at DEV/Forem/CodeNewbie, it's nice to meet you!

As our Content Creator, I manage a lot of our social accounts, campaigns like hackathons, and a lot of our graphic content. If you see a post that has a fun illustration accompanying it, you can *almost* bet that I had something to do with it! (See: [(DEV)eloper Goals](https://dev.to/devteam/choose-3-developer-goals-customize-your-checklist-4497), [Welcome Thread](https://dev.to/devteam/welcome-thread-v256-d15), [Top 7](https://dev.to/devteam/top-7-featured-dev-posts-of-the-week-5bei), [Discussion of the Week](https://dev.to/devteam/discussion-of-the-week-i-need-feedback-on-my-first-website-26jh), [Daily Byte](https://dev.to/devteam/how-do-you-restart-your-career-after-55-doe), etc.)

I have been working mostly behind the scenes as of late; on this here #DEVResolutions2024 campaign and many others, so it is nice to be back to talk to y'all directly!

---

## This Year's Professional Goals:

**Learning HTML and CSS**
After working here for over a year with a very limited coding knowledge, I am very excited to spend this next bit of time taking my first coding class at UCLA! I just started last week and have a flurry of emotions already. I am proud to be challenging myself and hope to (*fingers crossed*) add HTML and CSS to my skill book before the end of the year. 

![Cowboy on a Barrel Coding](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/23fscrx3jy9s2th58lcr.gif)

**Expand My Portfolio!**
I have been [keeping a portfolio](https://rachelfazio.work/) for a bit now, but have generally had contempt for updating it regularly, though I think it would be super fun to see all my work in one place! This year I am hoping that I will find a bit more time to add in some passion projects and provide more life to my work on there.

(_Note to self: I have been toying with the idea of opening a Substack to document some of my artistic practices, but for right now maybe working with what I already have is for the best!_)

## Personal Aspirations:

**Knitting a Sweater**
The year has finally come in which I feel fully equipped to knit a full sweater.

Long over are the days of hats and scarves, this year, **mark my words**, I will be making the most beautiful sweater. 

Knitting matters to me so so much because it is such a helpful escape when I am looking for downtime, helps me brainstorm new design ideas, and has made me a little group of knitting friends that I hold dear to my heart.

_Note: I think giving gifts is one of the most important practices in maintaining my happiness and extending love to my friends and family, and knitting has really given me an outlet to express that._

**Reading ___ Amount of Books**
I try not to set a big deadline for reading every year, because I find that I don't want to put too much stress on something that, to me, is meant to be enjoyed in my solitude. However, I _totally_ set a GoodReads goal this year of reading 30 books, and I really hope to get somewhat close to this goal! 

## DEV Community Contributions

**Top 7 Compendium**
Since I am joining you for the first time in a little bit, I thought I could *soft launch* our new [Top 7 Compendium page](https://dev.to/page/top7retro). Though, keep this under wraps, because I am not yet finished!

In these next few weeks I will be tweaking my very first HTML project of making this page look beautiful enough to release to you all! I am excited for us to have a everlasting page of all of our Top 7 articles of all time, and am honored to have this as my first project. Suggestions and feedback very much welcome.

All in all, I hope everyone has been having a very peaceful start to their new year. 

**Till next time**, 
Rachel Fazio
(they/them)

---

_ALSO— If you haven't already seen, we also released a (DEV)eloper Goals challenge for the month of January! (Which I of course made the beautiful graphics for!) Go right ahead and get in there, we hope to see you shine._

{% embed https://dev.to/devteam/choose-3-developer-goals-customize-your-checklist-4497 %}