Back to the blog

After several months without writing here, this weekend I felt like dusting off the blog. I didn’t have anything in mind, although I didn’t want to add my opinion to the umpteenth debate about Agile&Software Development, or about whether we’re cabinetmakers or engineers, or write a recap of Codemotion or any of the events I’ve been to over the last few months.

In fact, just thinking about doing that right now makes me feel so lazy that I lose all desire to dust off the blog.

What I really felt like doing was pulling the repository, starting to write, and using this post as an excuse for a bit of reflection, thinking about the year behind me and leaving some notes here for my future self.

And I especially feel like doing it because I have no idea how to describe this year for me, and lately I find it quite useful to make everything explicit. On the one hand I could describe it as a crappy year, but even so, all I can say is that today I feel happy, and I’ve been feeling that way for the last few months.

Personal change

After 14 years, the relationship with my partner came to an end. Luckily we’re civilized people, and I think we’ve managed to approach it the way it should be done, thinking about our two kids, their well-being and their happiness.

I’d love to be able to say I’ve already rebuilt my life, but I don’t think I’ll be able to say I have a home again until the middle of next year. It’s a strange feeling to live on borrowed time, in a house that doesn’t feel like your home.

All in all, if I have to take stock, I think I can consider myself a happy person, so I guess I can’t complain ;)

Job change

At the end of 2016 I left Codesai to start working at PlainConcepts. I knew Plain from several events; it’s a very well-known company in the Microsoft development world and I know several people who worked there. September 2017 was my last month at Plain.

I’m currently working at AIDA, a company I helped for two years in its transformation to XP and which hired me as CTO. It’s great to join a company where most of us already know each other and know how we work.

In the two months I’ve been at AIDA I haven’t stopped. Right now we’re at an interesting point, with high hopes for the future and a lot of work ahead. And most importantly: I enjoy my job, I feel it’s worth something, and our way of working is in tune across every level of the company.

It’s a joy to work at a company where nobody questions the virtues of pair programming or automated testing. Or where, if any colleague sees that something doesn’t add up, they can say so openly without challenging the status quo looking like an act of rebellion or defiance of authority.

Today I feel very happy with my job and I think it’s going to bring me a lot more joy, along with big challenges.

Agile Spain

In the summer there were elections to renew the board of Agile Spain. Long story short, I ran and now I’m part of the board.

So far that has meant a lot of work getting up to speed, a lot of paperwork, and a lot of people who now seem to have forgotten my name, but I hope we can help organize cool events that help us build better software.

Events, lots of events

The other day, talking with Ronny and Miguel, I realized I barely even remembered taking part in the first edition of DeveloperOS. And I was one of the organizers! xD

I think this year is the one in which I’ve attended the most events, and it’s also the year I’ve given the most talks.

In the last 2 months alone I’ve attended 7 events, given a talk at 6 of them and helped organize 2. Granted, these have been the months with the highest density of events, but even so I think the average is more than one big event (one or two days) a month, and that’s without counting meetups.

Despite the fatigue, I have to admit I’ve had a good time at all of them. Some have given me more than others, but I’ve always had fun. At every event I’ve met amazing people and I’ve come away with very interesting conversations, and not only about technology. Also, going to so many events has let me finally meet in person people I’d only known online, and meet plenty of others I’d never even heard of.

What’s more, this year something happened to me that had never happened before: I’ve already been confirmed as a speaker at the 2018 event in Pamplona!!

For next year

While I’m at it, what kind of crappy post would this be if I didn’t make a statement of intentions for next year!

These are my intentions for next year:

  • Not change jobs.
  • Go to fewer events.
  • Not submit talks to any C4P.
  • Submit a workshop to some C4P.
  • Release an online TDD course.
  • Go to a concert with my kids.
  • Move to Madrid by summer at the latest.
  • Travel, both with my kids and without them.
  • Raise awareness in universities and vocational schools about good code and good practices.
  • Talk less about software in my social life ;)
  • A bunch of other things I’m sure I won’t do.

So that’s where things stand. Next year, every now and then, I hope I remember this post and see how I’m doing. I hope I don’t have to give myself a slap on the back of the head for not following through ;)