2008 : The good, bad and ugly

I am so glad 2008 is finally coming to an end. It was indeed a roller coaster ride for me from the beginning. Lots of ups and downs.

The highlights of 2008 were speaking at conferences, giving presentations locally, wrote 68 articles for Javalobby, the three part SoapUI article was #1, #2 and #8 at Architecture Zone and SOA Zone. I also had the opportunity to learn and use many tools.

Now coming to the bad. I always wanted to learn Maven; I even tried to use it a few times. I first tried to use Maven was when I reviewed the book “Java Power Tools”. It was a simple project, and everything seemed to work fine. However, I failed miserably when I tried using Maven for a few other examples. Instead of persevering through my problems I gave up.I started out wanting to become an expert on Maven; I ended up being just another Novice.

Up until my spell of laziness, I read about 2-3 books a month. Starting in about October, I began to lose interest in reading and reviewing books. But I do hope to reverse this trend in the next year.

I never knew that there would be something worse waiting for me in 2008. I used to feel so bad whenever I heard on TV that a company was closing its operations and all the employees were laid off. I felt so bad for them, had no idea that it was going to happen to me also.

When I heard that the company I was working was closing its operations and we were given just 3 days notice, I was devastated, shocked and stunned. I just can't even write how I felt in those few days. My world had turned upside down. I had planned a trip to India to visit my parents and had collected 80 hours of vacation. Lost all of them, the company had no policy of paying for unused vacation. Hah, they tell me at the end. It was just bad.

However, I am sure I had done some good karma, I was able to find another job in just 3 days. Thanks to one of my Friends who referred me.

Now that I have gone through the worst, I am sure I will be able to cope better next time if the same happens.

Anyway, what an incredible year 2008 was. Life is full of surprises; good, bad and ugly, and if and only if we could predict the future........