Looking back at 2022
Tags: review
Published: 2022-12-30 13:00:00

It's time to look back and reflect on what 2022 has been like. 

There's been some notable changes and achievements for me career wise this year. 

## Career

At the start of 2022 I was a Senior DevOps Advocate at [Octopus Deploy](https://www.techielass.com/what-is-octopus-deploy/). I threw myself into the role and that enthusiasm was rewarded when I was promoted to Lead DevOps Advocate at Octopus in the later part of the year. 

I was honoured to become a member of programs and recognised for my community contributions. 

In April 2022, I was awarded the [Microsoft MVP award](https://www.techielass.com/i-am-now-a-microsoft-mvp/). This was an award that saw me recognised for all the community work I had been involved in. 

August 2022 saw another program recognise the enthusiasm and passion I have for the Lenovo ThinkPad laptops and was invited to become a Lenovo INsider.  

[The Redgate 100](https://www.techielass.com/redgate-100/) was released in September 2022.  It was truly special to be in amongst the list. 

![Awards](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/2v42mxk1rnbrm4eqbzi4.png)

October 2022 saw me invited to join the [GitKraken Ambassador](https://www.gitkraken.com/meet-the-gitkraken-ambassadors) program. 

But the biggest change for me was in November, as I re-joined Microsoft.  

Throughout the year I had started to miss talking to customers, hearing their challenges, trying to solve them and guide them. And realised I needed to get back to that. 

So, I am back at Microsoft as a Cloud Solution Architect, and I am truly happy and loving my job!

## Video

I started properly investing in my [YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/c/techielass) back in 2019, it was something I started to get more comfortable talking to the camera.  Initally that saw me doing a [weekly update](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbjernQTVXitYGv7gWIRNqeWBFyVZJOBk) video.  Where I shared news information and thoughts on what was happening in the community and industry. 

In December 2021 I stopped doing those updates though. Instead, I have started doing videos answering questions or summarising large events and the news from them. 

The one thing I have shared this year regarding my channel is that it isn’t [monetized](https://www.techielass.com/my-youtube-channel-isnt-monetized/).  Everything you see on my channel is done in my spare time and at my own expense and I receive no payment for those videos.  I don’t earn money from YouTube, which means every like, every comment, every subscriber, every share means the world to me. 

## Blogging
It’s funny looking back at the previous [“year in review”](https://www.techielass.com/tag/year-in-review/) blog posts and reading what I did.  In 2021 I wrote over 170 blogs! That’s madness, I can’t believe I did that!

This year I wrote 70+ blogs.  Less, but by no means less quality.  I’ve been more strategic about the blogs I have written and thought more about making them valuable.  This decision was driven by the things I learnt in [Dom Kent’s “How To Write Blog Posts That Get 500,000 Views” course](https://gumroad.com/a/96883827/khHYb).  

## Social Media

Social media has become a confusing medium.  Over the years it's been at the center of me meeting new people within the IT community, opening up opportunities for me and been a centre of fun.  But lately it's become an all consuming medium. A medium with lots of positives and also one with negatives. 

I have accounts on:

* [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/sazlean/)
* [Twitter](https://www.twitter.com/techielass)
* [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/_techielass)
* [Mastadon](https://mastodon.social/@techielass)
* [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/techielass)

And I've started to find myself spending less and less time on these platforms with all the negativity around them, and especially Twitter. 

I hope in 2023 things are much more positive and we can all get back to being the amazing community that I found a number of years ago. 

### **2022 has been a year of challenges, changes and adventures, here’s to whatever 2023 brings!**