2023 Year In Review

I’ve been working at the company for a year now. 2023 flew by quickly. Here’s a short review of the year.

...Actually, I’m writing this review in the distant future rather than at the end of 2023, so I’ll just briefly mention what I remember.

Spent a Year at the Company

I joined the company on January 2nd and worked as a full-time employee for the whole year. To be honest, it felt more like a year of training than actual work. The first two months were spent in group-level new employee training (which was held remotely due to COVID—something I was very satisfied with), followed by four months of job-specific training with fellow new hires. After that, I was assigned to a team and learned the job through mentoring.

At the end of the training, there was an exam, and I received an award for my high score. I got a certificate and a small prize—but the real bonus was unexpected: I could freely choose my team! I only found out after applying that the award recipients were given priority in selecting their teams, thanks to the consideration of the director (a VP). After much thought, I applied to a team that manages equipment-related IT systems, and I’ve been satisfied ever since—the people are great and the team atmosphere is wonderful.

The training period was quite long, and looking back, I do have some regrets like, “If only I had done it this way, I could’ve understood things faster.” But then again, quickly gaining job knowledge and doing more work doesn’t necessarily mean greater happiness, so I was fairly content with how I spent the time.

Proposal and Wedding Preparation

I proposed—and we’re getting married next year! At the time, I had been dating my girlfriend for four years, and she had once casually said:

“I want to be proposed to with fireworks going off!”

Then on another day, she said this:

“I want to wake up early in the morning,
with sunlight streaming in, in a quiet place,
and be proposed to in a private, About Time-like way.”

As the one planning the surprise proposal, I wanted to fulfill both of these wishes—but it wasn’t easy. Fireworks usually happen at night, right? I’m sure she didn’t expect both at once, but I still wanted to do both.

After thinking it over, I came up with a good idea. Around that time, she had asked me to make a stock memo app for her. I decided to hide fireworks in the app and show it to her in the morning. The project code is here.

The app was based on Apple’s Notes design and implemented purely with JavaScript, without using libraries like React. Oh, and I used fireworks-js for the fireworks screen.

The app allows users to add stock symbols and share quantities, as well as write simple memos. On the main screen, when you press the edit button, a “?” button appears in the top left corner. Clicking it takes you to the fireworks screen.

On the big day, just as she wanted, I showed her the app in the early morning, saying I’d finished the app she had asked for—Surprise! While fireworks exploded on the screen, I pulled out the ring and flowers I had hidden and proposed. I even used an iPad to show the screen in large format… And the result, thankfully, was a YES!

Trip to Mongolia

In August, I traveled to Mongolia with my girlfriend and two of her friends—four of us in total. As a homebody, I had to make a big decision for a trip that involved over 7 hours of car travel each day... But I got to fully enjoy some surreal nature. From endless horizons where all you see is sky, me, and earth (our car broke down here, but we calmly played Tichu), to vast grasslands and deserts—this was the most immersive nature experience of my life. If you prefer nature over city travel, I highly recommend it.

On a side note, we brought suits and dresses and even took wedding photos with help from a friend.

SW Maestro Experience Essay Contest

SW Maestro held a testimonial essay contest for graduates. Thankfully, I won first place and received a 500,000 KRW prize. You can read the original post here. It got a staggering 17,000 views—far more than other posts.

And I did an interview too... My YouTube debut. The video is below (a bit cringey though):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3GOkd7ftFw

Closing

If I write too much, it’s tiring for both the writer and the reader, so I’ll keep it short. It was a joyful 2023.