2023 Retrospective

This post has been translated from Korean to English by Gemini CLI.

My 2023 can be described as a “New Future” born from monotony.

As a fourth-year student, I made many attempts, prepared for employment, and even participated in Woowahan Tech Course. While others might not see much significance, I am proud to have definitely progressed more than last year.

First Half

Daechunggyo

Initially, I focused intensively on Daechunggyo (a youth education program for university students) that I had previously participated in. It was partly for financial reasons and partly because I found caring for children quite suitable for my aptitude. So, I worked part-time 3-4 days a week.

Even now, I sometimes regret not having studied more about my major and career during that time. However, I definitely don’t regret the opportunity to care for children and to become friends with teachers from other universities and departments.

Han-eum

Even while working part-time, I wanted to participate in computer science-related competitions and external activities, so I applied for Han-eum. To be frank, Han-eum was not a very beneficial activity.

I participated with two junior colleagues, and our mentor was someone who had worked with my junior colleagues last year.

What I had hoped for was to receive professional advice and to approach web development and actual functionalities in depth.

However, our mentor was not someone who had a career in web development, and furthermore, the latest trend in Han-eum was not web development but hardware integration, so we couldn’t pursue a web-based project.

The project topic was a smart vest utilizing IoT to prevent crowd crush incidents like the Itaewon tragedy.

Initially, I was enthusiastic, and I wrote all the code for Socket communication and Arduino, but ultimately, the hardware part didn’t work. (Wrong hardware selection -> library linking errors + a very closed Arduino module manufacturing company: they wouldn’t provide information even when asked, and there was no example code.)

(The disastrous actual result)

Looking back, I felt like I wasted time and was mentally exhausted, so I gave up, but ultimately, I feel like I shirked responsibility and failed to complete the project successfully.

No matter how much you dislike or find a task impossible, you will eventually face situations where you have to complete it. I promise myself that if such an opportunity or situation arises again, I will definitely see it through. ⭐️

Second Half

In the second half, I finished my part-time job and fully immersed myself in job preparation. What I felt during job preparation was a significant lack.

1. Coding test preparation
2. Interview preparation
3. Resume preparation

Coding Test

I prepared for coding tests by solving problems on Baekjoon and LeetCode. I reached Gold 3 on Baekjoon. Although I still feel my skills are infinitely lacking, I think this year I generally grasped the approaches to basic algorithms. Next year, I want to delve deeper into Gold and Platinum problems.

I will explain in more detail below why I solved LeetCode problems.

Interview Preparation

Like this, I studied by organizing each topic in Obsidian. These contents were not uploaded to the blog but saved only in my GitHub TIL or personal Obsidian.

Ultimately, it was a simple, shallow copy of others’ content for my interview preparation, so I didn’t want to upload it to my blog as if I had written it myself.

Next year, while others’ content is undoubtedly excellent, I want to add my own learning to it and confidently write it on my blog.

Resume Preparation

https://www.notion.so/ef563411f4dd47eab8a4c1d47b75597c

Preparing my resume felt the most daunting. Lack of skills to showcase & absence of projects completed from start to finish, etc. It was a total mess.

So, I undertook various additional activities.

Wanted Onboarding

https://www.wanted.co.kr/events/pre_ob_be_6

I started onboarding because, as mentioned above, I wanted to complete a project from start to finish + I simply wanted to fill my resume.

And

I was very impressed by this content and applied.

However, the instructor’s focus was not on this content but on teaching the most basic parts of data structures and algorithms.

(This is why I ended up solving LeetCode problems ㅠ.ㅠ)

Putting aside that disappointment, I decided to complete the project with new teammates until the end.

Ultimately, it seems that free courses and easily formed teams don’t last long. I, too, was looking forward to the Nest Framework, but my teammates included someone new to Nest + someone who had used basic Node for 3 years and then taken a break, totaling 3 people.

Due to these points, and one person completing their employment and only doing their assigned work rather than participating enthusiastically, the project fizzled out.

Because of these points, I sought new activities.

Woowahan Tech Course ⭐️⭐️

After experiencing the onboarding mentioned above, I thought I wanted to do one more activity. And then, a friend suggested we do Woowahan Tech Course together.

However, initially, I had no intention of doing Woowahan Tech Course. I found Nest & TypeScript languages very interesting, and I wanted to get a job in that area, so I wasn’t very interested in Woowahan Tech Course, which teaches Java.

However, ultimately, large corporations consider Java & Spring as their core, and Woowahan Tech Course is one of the top bootcamps, so I deliberated. In the end, I decided that if I had to learn Java, I would learn it from the best, and I applied.

From the very beginning of writing my resume, I faced many difficulties.

I finished my resume the day before, but when I looked at it, I didn’t like it, so I stayed up all night until 9 AM on the submission day to write and submit it.

I had only learned the basics of Java until my second year, and I felt the linguistic alienation that came with using it for the first time & the difference in code quality compared to others.

In the reflections I wrote at the end of each week, I truly refined them by writing at least 1900 characters to fully express the feelings I experienced during that week.

In the last 4th week, I wasn’t even confident that my solution method was correct.

I will omit the intermediate contents after that, as they are detailed in other Woowahan Tech Course retrospectives! 🫡

I passed Woowahan Tech Course. ✌️✌️

When I was preparing for employment,

I always felt anxious and doubtful, thinking, “I still lack knowledge and have nothing to appeal to others, what should I do?”

That’s why I worked really hard at Woowahan Tech Course, and I think I was rewarded for that effort. Even now, for the first round, I cannot confidently say, “This is why I passed!” or the criteria for passing. Perhaps it was simply a stroke of luck.

And, not wanting to miss this accidental luck, I worked very earnestly and diligently for a week. I think I will prepare to master Java completely and study for 10 months towards a new leap forward.

Conclusion

I think it was a truly happy year, as I was able to conclude it meaningfully. Especially, I am even happier because I met a girlfriend who helps me well and makes me happy.

Next year’s events, like this year’s, cannot be predicted, but I hope to become a better person based on this year’s memories and experiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qGmuDEyZ4Q

I want to be a developer who, even if slow, steadily moves forward towards a new hope (New Future).

To all those preparing for employment as developers, fighting!