My 2023: A Year of Challenges and Triumphs
Tags: yearinreview, career, learning
Published: 2024-01-02 19:24:16

2023 has been a rollercoaster ride for me. I faced a layoff early in the year from my last company, Hootboard, but bounced back and joined Amazon. Even though it is a contract role, it was the best decision I made. I traveled to the React Nexus conference with Zubair in July and after the conference trekked to Skandagiri Hills. Completing the trek was challenging, but with persistence and the help of others, I succeeded. I also visited Anthargiri Hills in September with Nomadic Gurukul, which was a fantastic experience.

![Photo collage](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/4b1qrr0864y76cwb5cgw.jpg)

## Work:

* Experienced a layoff in February from Hootboard.
    
* Joined Amazon MiniTV in April.
    
* Worked on a large codebase at Amazon, improving SEO performance by correcting headers, meta descriptions, and adding footer links.
    
* Also learned HTTP status redirections 301 & 302.
    
* Also learned how server-driven UI will make your app load faster & configure every section from the backend.
    
* Key learnings at Amazon:
    
    * The importance of thorough code documentation.
        
    * The a need for well-structured documentation when proposing ideas to the team, including a comparative analysis of libraries, along with their advantages, drawbacks, and recommended approaches.
        
    * The significance of writing effective Product Requirement Documents (PRDs).
        

## Outside Work:

* Initially felt discouraged after the layoff, grappling with doubt fullness. However, in hindsight, it was the best thing that happened to me this year, considering the accomplishments I achieved thereafter.
    
* Attended the React Nexus conference in July with Zubair & met great people at the conference.
    
* Successfully trekked Skandagiri Hills. Although challenging due to my fitness level, I was supported by trek friends to the top. This was my second trek, following a previous one to Kudurumuka with another friend Nava in 2022.
    
* Met many incredible people at React Nexus, including Vivek from ARC Browser & Tejas.
    
* Purchased an M1 MacBook and an iPhone for personal use.
    
* Learned swimming during the summer.
    
* Also did an aerial yoga workshop along with my brother, hopefully, next year want to try scuba driving in Andaman or some other place.
    
* Attended numerous meetups in Hyderabad. Notable ones include Web, Cloud & Go Multi-Track DevDays at IIIT Hyderabad, AI & ML Multi-Track event at ServiceNow, and a Temporal meetup at Microsoft.
    

I also wanted to write my experiences of meetups & conferences, I will try to do it after this blog. *If you have read till the end, consider writing your own retrospective and sharing it*  
  
Some more year in reviews you may like to read & which inspired me to write my own

* [https://una.im/2023-in-review/](https://una.im/2023-in-review/)
    
* [https://addyo.substack.com/p/23-lessons-in-2023](https://una.im/2023-in-review/)
    
* [https://blog.cassidoo.co/post/bye-bye-2023/](https://una.im/2023-in-review/)
    
* [https://blog.vramana.com/posts/2023\_retrospective/](https://blog.vramana.com/posts/2023_retrospective/)
    
* [https://duttakapil.com/posts/year-in-review-2023](https://una.im/2023-in-review/)