Year in Review: 2024
2024 recap
Work things
I don't like putting work things first, but it feels like it makes more sense given the year I had.
From 2023's recap:
Last year I focused on surviving all the change and doing the best for my team that I could. This year I hope to be able to proactively develop further.
2024 saw a very unsurprising outcome -- a third round of layoffs. This time, my role was impacted. I had been preparing for the possibility ever since layoffs started to ripple through the industry. I saw so many talented people laid off in the first two rounds -- and then in the third, alongside me.
Despite another round not being an unexpected outcome, the experience was still surreal. Knowing it was a possibility I had braced myself, emotionally, and practically. Through a combination of planning and privilege, I had prepared; Because of that, I wouldn't say I was stressed, but I was uncomfortable. It was jarring.
After doing all the things I felt I should do while everything was still fresh in my brain (writing Linkedin recommendations, updating my personal notes and resume, etc) I planned to take a month-long sabbatical before beginning a full-time job search, but it ended up being three months. I would describe myself as a risk-averse person. I probably would never have taken a self-initiated sabbatical.
During my reset I did still have some opportune conversations with warm leads, and spent some time warming up my code-brain (I didn't do much coding during my two years as a manager).
Happily, I ended up accepting the offer for my next role in October. I feel very lucky to have found my Next Thing™ pretty quickly after beginning to search full-time. The element of luck cannot be understated in the current market. There are certainly things you can do to improve your luck, but there are lots of extremely qualified and amazing people on the market, and at the end of the day, it's a numbers game. I ended up deciding to go back to an individual contributor role, and I'm very happy with that choice! I plan to write a post around that (my experience with the engineer/manager pendulum) at some point.
Job search notes
A smattering of notes and takeaways from my job search, in case anyone finds it helpful. YMMV.
- I focused on quality over quantity. The quality of the opportunity and potential match was more important than volume application numbers.
- I focused on referrals. Referrals are always important, but from what I've seen in the online communities I've been a part of, they are paramount right now.
- I prioritized nurturing my network. Reached out to old colleagues and folks in my network to reconnect. Had good conversations with people that those folks connected me to. This didn't always lead to an interview process, but kept the door open.
- I prioritized requesting and giving recommendations. I don't know how much anyone really looks at recommendations on LinkedIn, but their main value to me is as words of affirmation. I have a framed tweet in my office (ha, I know) that says “Imposter syndrome: I am surrounded by beings of impossible, cosmic intelligence. Also imposter syndrome: I, an incompetent, have tricked them all.” It helps me so much to see myself through the eyes of people I greatly respect.
- I focused on communication and connection. It's a tough time, and there are so many qualified candidates out there. As much as possible, I made an effort to look into my interviewers before interviews (in fact, several processes shared my interviewer's LinkedIn ahead of time) to familiarize with them and find bits of commonality. It helped me connect with them better, and to look at them as people, instead of only as an intimidating interviewer. And I do think it helps differentiate from other candidates in the pool.
- I leveraged ChatGPT in thoughtful ways. I used it mostly as a starting point. For example, sometimes I'll give it a couple bullet points of what I'm trying to say, and ask it to formulate it into a paragraph, or whatever I'm trying to do. I didn't have it generate things wholesale for me, but I used it as a drafting buddy.
- I used all resources available. Some I participated in more actively, some I gained more passive value from. Some examples are Leopard.FYI and Rand's Leadership Slack.
TL;DR I ended the year in a great place! In the most non-religious way possible, I feel blessed to be able to say that.
Life things
We're gonna bullet point this.
- I got married to my partner of nearly seven years.
- We celebrated lots of other family milestones (weddings, engagements, college graduations, etc).
- I got to go to matches at two major tennis tournaments (Indian Wells and the US Open).
- I decided not to build the house after all.
- I continued playing the weekly tennis clinic, and off and on played the local tennis ladder.
- I went on a road trip with my Dad featuring stops at Joshua Tree and White Sands National Park.
- I attended LeadDev NYC and co-hosted a table talk.
- I picked back up knitting and sewing.
Looking ahead to 2025
- Picking back up Spanish lessons when the next round begins.
- Figuring out how to have enough energy for creative pursuits (knitting, sewing, etc) while having a job. It was so amazing to get that back during my reset, and I don't want to get busy and lose it again.
- Making more time for friends. Flirting with the idea of starting a monthly craft salon, and restarting a weekly standing "girls night" that had gone by the wayside.
- Digging into a new product space, and getting back in the swing of my IC brain.
Cover image: By Crazy nana on Unsplash