My 2022 Year in Review
Who I was this past year and who I aspire to become in the next
Looking Back Summary
This year I was desperately looking for niche skills, frameworks, and more that differentiate me as I continue to grow. It was quite difficult for me to narrow down which industry I wanted to commit my skills toward. With further introspection, healthcare was the one that kept making the most sense — specifically the digital health space. After joining Tendo at the end of October, I really felt like I found what I was searching for in my career at this stage. Working alongside driven and brilliant people for a shared mission has been a truly energizing experience.
Other than career-wise, my life has flourished this year. From getting married to moving to New York City, it’s been a big year of a lot of pieces I’ve been working towards coming together. My wife recently mentioned how balanced our life is these days (definitely after the wedding) with respect to ourselves, our commitment to each other, and our work.
Notable achievements:
- Got married to my best friend, with all our family and friends around
- Joined an early-stage startup in a space that I’m deeply passionate about
- Moved to a city I’ve always wanted to live in
- Completed a Duathlon in Central Park
- Contributing my skills for causes (healthcare and climate change) at a far more involved level.
Things I could have done better:
- Schedule my days more effectively to balance hobbies
- Be intentional about incorporating photography & writing into my weekly routine
- Contribute to communities I’m involved in more consistently
Honoring my Values
My values are altruism, astuteness, and adaptability. All things I do and aspire to do revolve around at least one of these characteristics. Here’s how I evaluate myself on each.
Altruism: Being a person with high reciprocity
This year was honestly quite a selfish year. Between planning a cross-country move to getting married, it was difficult to budget for things that weren’t directly connected to my wife or me. We felt we needed to take the time to invest in our lives, families, and futures so this value was exercised more locally this year.
Outside of this, I made a special focus to connect with peers and mentors to establish a stronger network. From regular calls to catch up to cold outreach to build a new relationship, I’ve had to find a new way of connecting with people in a remote-first world. This has led to more friendships and deeper connections which have been immensely valuable.
Astuteness: Being a person with high competence
Although I’m proud of a lot of the work I’ve been able to complete this year, my time since joining Tendo has been one of the best learning journeys. Being one of two Data Scientists has made me expand my skillsets far broader than my comfort zone while learning a lot of the skills that I was looking to acquire. In a few short months, I’ve learned a ton about building digital products and MLOps/DevOps while being in the trenches with my team.
Mastering the depths of my craft, expanding my skillset to DevOps, and evolving into a full-stack Data Scientist has been one of my most rewarding journies. A lot of the reading that I’ve done this year has been from an applied lens instead of a theoretical one and I’ve loved that approach to growing my skillset.
Adaptability: Being a person who is always learning
I’ve found myself doing a lot more than reading this year. I spent more time writing code and building products than reading about best practices or product design. It’s an odd shift for me since I do enjoy reading, and often times I’m sure things can be done far better, but it has been a refreshing challenge to learn by doing. I’d like more balance of reading/writing/building, but I do find I learn best by being more hands-on.
More specifically, I’ve found myself learning a lot more about health informatics, healthcare as a system, healthcare products, all things in the healthcare data world, and more. This specialization has also been unique to what I’m used to (a more general and broad sweep of learning instead of a deep dive) but this is the specialization I was ultimately looking for.
Looking Forward to 2023
In the new year, I want to find a better harmony between work and life. Although I care a lot about bettering my craft and building products in spaces I’m passionate about, I also am passionate about photography, writing, fitness, reading, and more. Making sure I have adequate time and energy outside of work and family/friends for my hobbies is something I’d like to be more deliberate about. Dealing with the sacrifice of some of my interests and passions is something I’m still grappling with but it seems to be an inevitability.
I thrive in uncertainty and dynamism so continuing my commitment to my health/fitness and photography/writing is something that I hope to continue alongside growing my career. Being at a startup has been as energizing as I’d wanted; it’s been a blast to learn about how startups operate and evolve especially as I’d love to delve down this path for one of my own one day.
I appreciate those who stuck around with my flakiness on this platform this year, it’s been an insane year and it was tough for me to find my voice amidst the chaos. Building this out more consistently in the new year is a large goal of mine so stay tuned for a lot more content on Data, ML, AI, startups, and more! As always, I’d love to hear from you and hear about what you’d like to read more about (or feedback on my writing of how it can be more effective).
Happy holidays all, see you in 2023.
