So not only is the end of 2019 quickly approaching, but so is the end of a decade. The 2010s are drawing to a close. An entire decade is over, and we’re just about to enter the 2020s. What an amazing time to be alive.
I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on the past year. Quite a lot happened and I would be remiss if I didn’t reflect on the growth and exciting events that happened to me in 2019.
I’ve also made a video talking about my 2019 in case you want to see this post in video form:
2019 Most Watched Videos
Last year I was used to getting between 300-500 views per video. If a video cracked more than 500 views I was ecstatic. It meant people were actually watching what I was creating.
This year could not have been more different. This year I regularly had videos cross over 1000 views, a fact I am still not quite used to.
Getting so many people watching my videos is such a wonderful progression for my YouTube channel. It’s so encouraging and helps me keep going.
I went through all the videos I made in 2019 and sorted them by most viewed. Here’s that list:
- Why I Love useReducer (11943)
- Async React Hooks (5710)
- How to useContext with useReducer (4754)
- Testing React Hooks (4586)
- A Svelte Chat with Rich Harris! (4347)
- TypeScript and React (3768)
- Playing with Svelte 3 (3215)
- Getting Dapper with Sapper (3089)
- Level Up useReducer with Immer (2975)
- What’s New with React Dev Tools 4 (2579)
- Overview of React Concurrent Mode (2499)
- What are TypeScript Generics? (2411)
- My Visual Studio Code Extensions, 2019 Edition (1908)
- What is React Ink? (1846)
- What is TypeScript? (1624)
- CSS in JS: My favorite (1459)
- How to use the GitHub Package Registry (1423)
- Playing with Framer Motion (1412)
- What is CodeSandbox? (1220)
- Setting Up TypeScript w/ Babel (1215)
Other 2019 Milestones
Some really exciting things happened in 2019!
I spoke at a conference, React Alicante 2019! It was really fun getting to present to people in person. Getting to share my ideas in real time was a lot of fun. I love feeling the audience listen while I talk, and adjusting how I present to make it the most entertaining and informational.
I was also a guest on FreeCodeCamp’s Podcast where I got to talk about myself for an hour straight. It was fun sharing my history: how I got my start in the industry, what my progression looked like, how I got to be who I am today. If you’re curious about that backstory then that is definitely the best place to start.
And also…if you’re reading these words…I started blogging again! 2018 was a very light year for blog posts but I was able to actually get myself back into the writer’s seat and put some “ink to papper” so to speak. I hope to keep that up going into 2020.
The Future
I have quite a few projects I want to take on in 2019 (like I don’t have enough, wth Harry).
The first one has already begun: I started a newsletter!. This is the direct result of ending the podcast I created but it has nearly the same format and content. Want to stay up to date on the latest JavaScript news? Subscribe!
A big project I want to take on next year is create a full-fledged course. Probably it’ll be to teach React but there’s no certainty about the topic. However I do want to make a full length course that lets me dive deep into a subject and teach it as well as possible. Stay tuned as that project progresses!
I also want to do more for my Patreon patrons, make that even more of a valuable membership. I recently started a Discord server for my Patrons, such that if you become a Patron you get to talk to me in real time! It’s so real you can practically touch me!
Here’s to next year and the next decade! Happy New Year!