Looking Back at 2021

Going into a two year-plus pandemic I wanted to stay extremely busy, so immersed myself in a lot of different groups and projects. I put myself out there and was able to get over a fear of public speaking.

I had goals for 2020 set, before everything went south and we all locked ourselves away for a year. I accomplished more than what I had planned and some things I did at the drop of a hat with no preparing or planning.

I had been a member of the W3C and would just sit in meeting and not say an awful lot. Just a hello and introduction to who I was.

I felt a huge amount of imposter syndrome sitting in meetings with folks from Microsoft, Oracle, Google, etc. There I was, just some random nobody who was trying to keep busy.

As time went on and I got more comfortable with meetings and talking with people who were just like me. Human beings. I was able to open up and contribute what I could and interact more. About two (maybe more) weeks ago, I was finally approved for the title of Invited Expert, which was something I had on my list of goals.

Strike one goal off the list and mark it accomplished.

Some other accomplishments:

• Spoke at a few virtual conferences.
  • BarCamp Philly (the first I ever spoke at)
  • #a11yTOConf
  • Web Directions AAA
• I spoke at ConnectTech in Atlanta. (First live talk ever)
• Wrote articles for Smashing Magazine and CSS-Tricks
• Appeared on a bunch of terrific podcasts and livestreams.
• Started a podcast.
  • Producing audio and video versions.
• Moved from Maine to Arizona.
• Underwent two surgeries.
• Was named Smashing Magazine's Person of the Week
• Celebrated leveling up to Level 50 on my level up day (birthday).
• Worked at an amazing company, with some amazing people at Knowbility.
• Moved on to my current role as Accessibility Engineer at WebstaurantStore
• Started a podcast about accessibility and code with Homer Gaines.

2022 is going to be a busy year, so I best get back to getting to it. I pat myself on the back for what I accomplished and for whatever you did in 2021, give yourself a pat on the back as well. You deserve the kudos.

Photo by Marc-Olivier Jodoin on Unsplash