📝 Looking Back on 2020H1

June is coming to an end soon… It’s the end of month, the end of quarter, and also the end of the first half. It’s time to look back on what I have done so far. About future plans, I’d like to leave it open.

Work

1 My work interest gradually shifted away from iOS. I have to admit that after a few years working as an iOS engineer, I started to like iOS a little less. As of now, I still don’t know how to use SwiftUI, I still truggle with making a certain UI work as expected.

To me, the world of iOS development is fairly small with some repetitive problems.

In the past six months, I have barely written any iOS code (Swift/Objective-C). Rather, I’ve been working on some projects that involve more of scripting languages (Ruby, Python…). Although those projects are still intricately tied to iOS, it doesn’t require much investment in keeping up-to-date with various project architectures and trendy technologies. I can find the right balance between iOS and non-iOS.

2 It’s easier for me to get stressed than before. I usually feel burned out. I wonder at times if the negative emotion is a side effect of COVID-19 when we’re isolated from others, or it actually comes from my work.

I realize that in order to maintain healthy habits, I need to “stop working” at the right time. For example, I often clock out at 6:30pm and work out then. If I work a bit longer (7pm or even later), I’ll feel tired that evening, even after the workout. Though I am fully aware of it, tackling it is a different matter. Sometimes, It’s hard to shut your brain off, keep yourself from thinking about it, put it in hibernation mode for temporary…

3 I like things to be organized. When it comes to work, although dealing with code smell is normal to any software engineer, it’s sometimes hard for me to embrace that truth. For instance, one day, I recognized a hack in the code which explained why certain things worked in certain ways. It freaked me out rather than filled me with joy that I knew something new :(. Then, that day I need to spend time calming me down instead of dealing with the code which is the source of my frustration. One of my co-workers describes that aspect of me as OCD. Hmmm… It’s not that extreme, it’s not OCD, but I do struggle with this matter.

4 You probably heard of the recent news about employees getting laid off as a consequence of COVID-19’s impact. My company is no exception. In fact, I’ve never thought of that scenario and I believe some of those impacted employees also held the same belief… I am fortunate to continue contributing to the company’s mission. But, apparently, I better be prepared for such a scenario as the health crisis and the recession are not yet over anytime soon.

Life

Health

5 It’s a good sign that my health has been improved lately. I work out more regularly, either running outdoor or doing indoor exercises. Having a good look is a side effect that I don’t expect much. Rather, I just want to build up a healthy habit. At first, it was a bit challenging to follow the schedule. But after a while, I gradually formed the habit and workout has been a part of my daily routine that I would have never thought I could have.

Reading

6 I have a resolution this year about reading books in English. I tried to pick up some books and then gave up quickly. Even though some are of my favorite genres (if written in Vietnamese) such as detective books, mind-blowing books… I find it difficult catching up on the author’s storylines because of improficiency in English.

Foreign Languages

7 I did not spend much time on improving my English in the first quarter. I have just resumed recently. I started to use Anki to learn and revise vocab. Overall, I find this app quite suitable for me… However, it takes me more effort to find new vocabs on my own and look them up again to find examples, and then input to Anki. To reduce this effort, I followed some English channels on Youtube and picked up new vocabs from those sources.

A funny thing is: I am a kind of person who dislikes apps that do not have a fancy look. I can spend the whole day fine-tuning colors and fonts for my IDE(s) and I won’t admit it’s a waste of time. And… Definitely, this Anki app fails to meet my aesthetic creteria. It just looks corny to me. But somehow, its needs-improvement appearance (in my view) does not bother me when I use it at all… I come to realize that its intuitiveness really matters here. Therefore, for those English learners who underestimate this app because of its UI, why don’t you give it a try first?

8 I haven’t started learning Chinese (Mandarin, to be exact). I’ve always made an excuse that I need to focus on English first. But I’ve just realized that I cannot just wait until my English takes a good shape, coz that day would probably be 10 years later. And it would be a waste when I am surrounded by Mandarin speaking environment and I could not benefit from it. Thus, this is one area of growth that I am going to kick off in the next half.

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Looking forward… Well, let the time answer it