Year in review, 2022
Tags: review, recap, travel, career
Published: 2022-12-31 10:51:10

Year 2022 was full of many events that I decided to gather in one place.

I think this text will provide you with a lot of value, whether professionally or even travel-wise (inspiration for trips). After reading it, you will certainly get to know me better.

However, I must admit that I am also writing this summary for myself, to possibly come back here in the future and reminisce.

I divided the summary into:

- [Career](#career)
- [Failures](#failures)
- [Presentations and publications](#presentations-and-publications)
- [Travels](#travels)
- [Books](#books)
- [Other](#other)

## Career

While working for TT PSC, after more than 3 years, I ended my project cooperation with the US client PTC and moved on to another project in the PMI organization as Master Solutions Architect. Such a bit of a promotion, and a bit of a change of environment, new challenges and other problems. Standard.

### It was much more interesting on the private front

In June, I responded to the Call for Papers for members of the AWS Community Builders program and sent my presentation proposals for the re:Invent 2022 conference. In mid-September, I received an extremely nice email:

> Congratulations on becoming a re:Invent speaker!

The joy was endless 😀 It is an incredible honor because I was the first non-formally affiliated with AWS speaker from Poland at the re:Invent conference! It also meant that I would fly to Las Vegas, which was not so obvious before. At that time, I was only at re:Invent 2019 once, but I really wanted to be there again in 2022. Being chosen as a speaker meant a ticket to the conference, literally and figuratively 😉. Fortunately for me, [TT PSC](https://ttpsc.com/) agreed to sponsor the trip. My goal and dream was now within reach.

All I had to do was prepare the presentation. The deadline for submitting finished materials was set for October 17th. I remember well the last two weeks of sitting on the speech every day. Luckily, hard work paid off, and the presentation was completed on time.

### Dreams come true!

> Will you be our Hero?

I couldn't believe it when I saw this titled email in my inbox. Although I had been dreaming for a long time to be among the prestigious group of AWS Heroes, on that November evening I was completely surprised because I didn't think it would happen this year.

![AWS Heroes](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/ws5l0hm2rbl7o38a5dad.png)

On November 15, 2022, the information was officially announced, and **I became the first Polish** [AWS Serverless Hero](https://aws.amazon.com/developer/community/heroes/pawel-zubkiewicz/). **At the end of 2022, there were 253 AWS Heroes in total, and in the serverless category only 42.** This is a really small group and an incredible honor to be one of them.

### re:Invent
So, as a brand-new _hero_, I went to Las Vegas and gave my presentation _COM314 Automated testing for serverless applications_. I rehearsed the speech itself a dozen times while still in Poland and then in the hotel room to deliver it as well as I could. The work paid off.

I remember that during the presentation, the connection to the display went down three times and ended up with me switching to a different laptop. However, these failures did not deter either me or the audience. **97** people stayed until the very end, and then a large group of listeners besieged me with additional questions. Unfortunately, my speech was not recorded.

![After re:Invent presentation](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/a0zw5qtv5o5j5eii4pnz.png)

Professionally, I ended the year in December by bringing [AWS User Group Wrocław](https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/?heroEntityKey=urn%3Ali%3Aautocomplete%3A62006023&keywords=awsugwro&origin=SWITCH_SEARCH_VERTICAL&position=0&searchId=20a7ae12-b5f9-41c8-a357-f1643fadea37&sid=%40.C) back to life, along with a phenomenal group of friends. At our first meeting, we discussed the conference and the news announced at re:Invent.

## Failures

Successes do not necessarily mean the absence of failures. They are naturally incorporated into everything we do, so there is no point in hiding them.

So, what sucked in 2022?

- broken ribs on a bike (if at least there was an impressive jump, unfortunately there wasn't 🤦🏻)
- poor adoption of [CloudPouch](https://cloudpouch.dev/)
- lack of customers for AWS cloud cost consulting

It might seem that in these times savings are a priority and everything that allows for significant reduction of unnecessary IT costs should sell like hotcakes (not to mention ecology). Nothing could be further from the truth. We devoted the last half year to the Polish market, and the results are far from satisfactory.

## Presentations and publications

Year in a Nutshell

1. Article: [AWS Step Functions - Refactor to native integrations with AWS API](https://dev.to/aws-builders/aws-step-functions-refactor-to-native-integrations-with-aws-api-2028)
1. Presentation: conference 4Developers - April 5, 2022 - Cost optimization in the AWS cloud (in Polish)
1. Article: [4 ways of executing Lambda function via HTTP endpoint - a comparison](https://dev.to/aws-builders/4-ways-of-executing-lambda-function-via-http-endpoint-a-comparison-560b)
1. Article: [Simple Serverless Scheduler](https://dev.to/aws-builders/simple-serverless-scheduler-25c7)
1. Presentation: conference Cloud Summit 2022 - May 19, 2022 - Cost optimization in the AWS cloud (in Polish)
1. Presentation: conference AWS Community Day Warsaw 2022 - October 14, 2022 - Industrialization and other mechanisms of public cloud evolution (in Polish)
1. Article: [Reduce AWS costs: How I've saved $18,890 monthly on EBS drives?](https://dev.to/aws-builders/reduce-aws-cost-how-ive-saved-18890-monthly-on-ebs-drives-528a)
1. Article: [Add types to your JavaScript Lambda functions](https://dev.to/aws-builders/add-types-to-your-javascript-lambda-functions-3pgn)
1. Article: Serverless pre:Invent announcements (in Polish)
1. Presentation: conference AWS re:Invent - November 30, 2022 - COM314 Automated testing for serverless applications
1. Resurrection and co-organization of the [AWS User Group Wrocław](https://www.meetup.com/pl-PL/aws-ug-wroclaw/)
1. Presentation: Lighting talk - December 12, 2022 - re:Invent from a participant's perspective

It is also worth mentioning the (nearly) regular weekly dispatch of the largest AWS and serverless newsletter in Poland.

## Travels
The first year after the pandemic, in which covid restrictions disappeared completely, was very generous to me in terms of travel.

It started with Portugal, specifically the beautiful, green, and mountainous Madeira in February.
![Madeira](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/qy6tyvqtl484huys4sfd.png)

Then my wife and I did a road trip from home through the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Austria.
![Roadtrip](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rxeobsi8blqlua3wah5p.png)

In May, we visited Italy. Our base was Pisa, from which we went to see Siena, Florence, and the sea to visit the charming villages called Cinque Terre.
![Italy Cinque Terre](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/4505b9vzr32b5p5epc69.png)
![Italy](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/saa7r5qzv79xf82vmnwp.png)

The next trip was in June, after a few days in Istanbul we began a journey through Turkey. We visited the east of the country, Cappadocia (that's where you fly hot air balloons 😉).
![Turkey](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/qk1bfwjfxo939whm4sn9.png)

At the end of August and beginning of September, we made a quick trip to the Baltic countries (Latvia and Estonia) and Finland on one trip.
![Finland](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/tp4cy79zk0uf0q0i93gt.png)


In October, there was a city break in Barcelona - a birthday present for my wife.
![Barcelona](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9umzyv94acfsj0kpdhi6.png)


We ended the year of travels with a winter trip to Cyprus. When Poland turned gray in November, we were swimming in the sea under the palm trees. 🏝
![Cyprus](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/b4m873t3sywp4h5p25c7.png)

All of the above trips were organized by my wife ❤️, who is a master of travel planning. Of course, except for her present (Barcelona), which I planned. I also went to a conference in Las Vegas in November, which I mentioned earlier.
![Las Vegas](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/vbonor4f50bil15djk16.png)

The year 2022 was full of travel, but only a few countries were new to me: Latvia, Estonia, Finland, and Cyprus. However, I managed to reach the level of **40** visited countries in the world.

## Books

Lately, I am not a fan of reading. Of course, I'm only talking about books related to technology, business, marketing, or sales. But I rarely read for entertainment either. Reading is a veiled form of procrastination. To make matters worse, it reinforces the pattern of _"I have to know and predict everything before I start"_, which is impossible and effectively immobilizes you from the very start.

That's why I replace books with video trainings and mental masturbation with _recognition in battle_. Or at least I try to act that way 😉

Taking all this into account, the following completely short list of positions should not surprise you:

- [Product-Led Growth: How to Build a Product That Sells Itself](https://www.amazon.com/Product-Led-Growth-Build-Product-Itself-ebook/dp/B07P6288ZF) - a compendium of knowledge on product building. Don't let the name fool you, this book is equally about discovering the needs of your customers and fulfilling them as it is about marketing and sales itself. Reading it with [CloudPouch](https://cloudpouch.dev/) in mind, I have already made several decisions about changes in my application that have not yet been implemented (lack of time), but will certainly contribute to greater customer satisfaction and wider use of this tool.
- [Traction](https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer-ebook/dp/B00TY3ZOMS/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) - a highly recommended, popular book about the fact that in marketing everything depends on, and you need to try many ways to verify what will work for us. It doesn't blow your mind, but it is very concise.
- [The 48 Laws of Power](https://www.amazon.com/48-Laws-Power-Robert-Greene-ebook/dp/B0024CEZR6/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) - a definitely interesting position with patterns identified throughout history for those wanting to gain and maintain power. But even if you don't have such ambitions, you can treat this list as a cheet sheet and have fun analyzing the behavior of characters from various series such as Game of Thrones, Succession, or others and identifying which patterns they are using. 😉

## Other
- **Mastermind group** - another factor contributing to the abandonment of reading is a group of three people I regularly meet with and discuss all topics for almost two years now. Originally, we started with a plan to study Wardley's maps, but quite quickly we have moved beyond that and cover all topics that interest us. Of course, we didn't part with the maps, but rather treat them as a tool for a better understanding of the world around us and the changes taking place in it, rather than the goal itself. In other words, we get excited about driving a car, not the machine itself. These sessions give me more than any book could offer! They show different points of view, stimulate reflection, and challenge me with topics outside my bubble.
One of the really interesting topics I learned about through this group is the theory of psychopaths in companies. 🤯 I'm sure you haven't heard of it, even though the concept is over 10 years old. This is not the time or place for me to develop it here, so I'll leave you with just the [link](https://www.ribbonfarm.com/2009/10/07/the-gervais-principle-or-the-office-according-to-the-office/). It fits in perfectly with the 48 Laws of Power 🙂 ![Company hierarchy](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/v572qyi9690ja8ck83x6.png)
- Purchase of Sennheiser Momentum 3 headphones - all my life I used some crappy headphones, these are still not audiophile grade, but for me the difference is huge. The money spent is definitely worth it for good sound every day at home and when walking the dog. I'm writing about this because if someone had told me beforehand: _Dude, get yourself some good headphones_ I would have been able to enjoy this a long time ago... so if you haven't already, _get yourself some good headphones!_ 😃
- While we're on the subject of music, I enjoyed myself at concerts: Tool, Iron Maiden, Ed Sheeran, Machine Head, Martin Garrix.
- I also purchased a Scott Spark bike after waiting for over a year. It's a blast 💪😃 ![Scott Spark](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/1i2h4xvadfu4292tab8h.png)
- Since January, I've been learning Italian 🇮🇹. It brings me a lot of joy because I treat it as a hobby. It's also a nice reminder of how difficult the basics can be for someone who is just starting - it gives me food for thought in the context of my trainings and advocacy of serverless architecture.

That, in a nutshell, is what my 2022 looked like on paper and through the lens.