My 2022: Setting my Pace!

2022 was a great year for my career and personal growth. I had my most "first times," and memorable moments were made. Here is a sneak peek into my 2022:

Career Growth

Technical Writing

I started getting money from writing articles in February 2022. It's something I had not planned for at all. A friend of mine, who we used to co-manage a developer community, Meta Developer Circles, referred me to Hackmamba as a Technical writer.

I remember sleeping at a friend's place that night I had the interview with William (Hackmamba CEO) because I had no power or WiFi at home. It is still the best interview I have ever done. Not too technical, but I could express and present my technical writing skills.

As soon as I started writing for Hackmamba, I got invitations from Cloud Academy, where I got a contract to write Technical articles on Cloud Technologies and General programming languages. In addition, some companies or individuals would pay for me to write about their tools and technologies on my blogging platforms.

My first Technical article was a guide on how to use GitHub CLI. I published it in 2020.

https://dev.to/chrisachinga/using-github-s-cli-on-ubuntu-commands-3a89

Freelancing as a Web Developer

This was my greatest failure in 2022. I thought I had great plans and a well-structured way of freelancing, but I ruined relationships with my clients.

I am not good at communication, which partly led to my failure in the field, something I learned the hard way. I could easily get clients (referrals), but I blindly gave a lower budget, promised quicker deliveries, and sometimes worked without a mutual agreement/contract.

Personally, I don't believe in excuses. Whether intended or not, I had a perfect opportunity to build a great career and ruined it because I could not speak my mind and give a clear perspective on how a client's project was to be built.

By the end of 2022, I had taken a short Udemy Course on freelancing and tried to make things work for me. as of now(Jan 2023), I have completed 2 projects from two clients, and I have a strong great professional relationship with a potential of great and bigger projects.

Working at Swahilipot Hub

Swahilipot Hub was where I got the chance to grow my career and soft skills. I officially joined the management team in February after a few months of volunteering and interning at the Hub.

My tasks were not limited to Software Development alone but also engaging the community and helping manage and run programs that build and promote Tech skills for a better course in the Kenya Coast. I have never been happier working with a diverse community and Swahilipot.

Building A Tech Community

While it is not my nature to interact with people, I found myself creating and running a community of developers on the Kenyan Coast with the help of a few friends.

Together we organized Hackathons, Tech meetups and are on a mission to make Mombasa's tech space vibrant.

https://twitter.com/OnlyDevs_Ke/status/1606515169768751105

Personal Growth

I won't write much about my personal growth here, but here are some highlights:

1. Spoke at a lot of public tech events

2. Booked my first domestic flights

3. Bought my first iPhone

4. Found the most loving partner

5. Moved out of my parent's house

6. Became financially independent

7. Traveled places

8. Almost bought a MacBook M2

9. Interviewed with big Tech companies

The next Phase

In 2023, I'm taking big risks and making bolder moves, see you at the end!