2024 in Review: Challenges, Achievements, and the Journey to Better Health in 2025

Reflecting on 2024, it's safe to say that the year turned out differently than I expected. After several challenging past few years - losing my father-in-law to multiple myeloma in 2020 (the same year we welcomed our daughter Lauren during COVID), losing my father to pancreatic cancer in 2021, and spending 2022 closing my dad's business and helping my mom relocate, I was ready for normalcy. Just when it seemed the dust had settled, my mother faced her own battle with ovarian cancer. Thankfully, after surgery and multiple rounds of chemotherapy, she's doing much better today.

I was looking forward to starting 2024 with the past few years behind me and was excited for a year focused on personal development, health, and quality time with friends and family. There are many things I am thankful for this past year and achievements I am proud of. However, I had some unexpected short-term personal health setbacks that I hope are now in the past in 2025. I have renewed optimism for 2025, focusing on health, family, and personal growth. In this post, I'll share some accomplishments, challenges, and what I look forward to in the year ahead.

2024 Accomplishments

While 2024 had a few setbacks, it was still a great year, and I have many things to be thankful for and accomplishments to be proud of.

Professional Accomplishments

• I was accepted into the AWS Community Builders program for the first time. This is a great program for connecting with other builders who are enthusiastic about cloud development. I've been able to network and learn a lot from others while in the program. There's a chance I might not get accepted into this program again in 2025, as I wasn't as active blogging this past year as I had hoped, but I encourage any builders to apply. It has been a great experience, and I am still hoping there's a chance I get accepted into the program for a second year.

• I presented at AWS Community Day 2024 in Columbus, Ohio, delivering a talk on "Serverless Website Analytics." I discovered this event through the Community Builder program, and it marked my first time speaking at a public tech conference. This was an incredible experience that allowed me to share knowledge with fellow tech enthusiasts while pushing me out of my comfort zone a bit as a presenter.

• I've played a key role in designing, building, and deploying an innovative application that enables police officers to collaborate on reports that must be completed following incidents. The project has been particularly rewarding as we've successfully brought the product to market, securing our first production customers in 2024 with plans for rapid expansion in 2025. A recent publication in Police1 highlighted our Report Writing application, showcasing its impact on modernizing police reporting. The application leverages a robust AWS technology stack, including DynamoDB, Serverless, API Gateway, OpenSearch, Cognito, SNS, and SQS. This has become the most fulfilling project of my career, second only to my work on Space Situational Awareness Systems for satellites during my time at Lockheed Martin.

• I've learned more about AI and ML and how to integrate them into applications. I've started studying for the AWS Machine Learning Specialty Certification, which I'd like to complete in 2025. I still have a lot to learn, but I am bullish on AI/ML and looking forward to seeing how it can improve user experiences and change the way we've done things in the past.

• I expanded my Infrastructure as Code (IaC) skills. While I had previous experience with Serverless Framework, Terraform, and SAM, this past year, I needed to build some new components and gained experience with AWS CDK. Once you are familiar with one IaC provider and the differences between declarative and imperative IaC patterns, picking up new approaches becomes easier. This is especially true in the AWS space where SAM and CDK ultimately transpile into CloudFormation.

• While I'm primarily comfortable programming in C# and TypeScript/JavaScript, I've significantly expanded my Python expertise this year through writing support and DevOps scripts. Large Language Models have been helpful in this transition, allowing me translate familiar programming concepts - like array iteration - into Python syntax.

Personal Accomplishments

• My son's interest in piano has sparked a great family activity. After purchasing a keyboard and subscribing to the Simply Piano app for his lessons, my wife and I found ourselves drawn back to playing, too. It's been fun watching him learn while we rediscover our own piano skills, turning what started as our son's hobby into a shared family experience. If you're at all interested in learning to play Piano, I can strongly recommend this app.

• After years of dedicated effort, my wife and I finally paid off my MBA student loans. Eliminating debt is such a freeing experience.

• I'm grateful we can provide our son and daughter with a wide range of enrichment activities. Watching them explore swimming, gymnastics, skiing, and chess has been rewarding.

2024 Challenges

Early in 2024, I started experiencing occasional knee pain while walking. This quickly progressed to more frequent pain and occasional buckling. By summer, it was clear that surgery was necessary. I had a "defect" in my left knee where a section of cartilage was missing, leading to bone-on-bone wear. To address this, I underwent microfracture surgery, where small holes are drilled in the knee to encourage clot formation and stimulate new cartilage growth. The recovery was challenging. I had to remain non-weight-bearing for ten weeks and needed lots of physical therapy. Additionally, my knee issues were a bit of a mental setback with everything I've dealt with over the past few years. Complicating things further, I developed a blood clot (DVT) after the surgery, adding another layer to my recovery journey.

After months of physical therapy and rehab, I'm finally starting to feel more like myself. I can walk unaided, go up and down stairs, and slowly reintroduce activities I used to enjoy. However, I've been advised to take it easy over the next year to give the new cartilage the best chance to grow and heal. This means avoiding running, jumping, or any activities that put unnecessary pressure on my knee. I am thankful that orthopedic surgeons were able to help me with this issue and that I should get back to "normal" with time.

Lessons Learned from 2024

While 2024 didn't go as planned, this setback with my knee has reinforced my resilience and ability to face life's challenges head-on. Overcoming adversity has strengthened my confidence and deepened my appreciation for good health. It has also made me more empathetic toward those living with long-term health challenges. For instance, navigating daily life on crutches opened my eyes to how non-ADA-friendly many buildings are—a perspective I hadn't fully appreciated before.

Looking ahead to 2025

As I leave 2024 behind, I’m optimistic that my health setbacks are mostly in the rearview mirror and that 2025 will be a great year. I will continue to focus on rehabilitating my knee and improving my overall health. While I’m in a much better place than earlier this year, I still have work to do to return to where I want to be.

Exploring AI and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning (AI/ML) are transformative technologies already reshaping industries and lives. They will continue revolutionizing how we work, solve problems, and improve our quality of life in ways we can’t yet imagine. I’m already witnessing the impact of large language models (LLMs) on software engineering, and I want to deepen my knowledge in this space. We all need to grow our competencies in this area. This is especially true for software builders.

One area that particularly excites me is the concept of AI Agents, also known as agentic software or agentic AI. These agents can be aware of backend infrastructure, perform intelligent actions on behalf of users, and even collaborate with other agents without requiring extensive user interfaces. My first exposure to building agents was at the AWS re:Invent 2024 conference, where I attended sessions and workshops on this topic to learn more. I was surprised by how approachable building AI agents is, even if you aren't an ML or data science expert. The possibilities are endless, and I’m eager to experiment with building an agentic agent in 2025 and share my experiences on this blog.

Specifically, I’d like to create an agent to assist L1/L2 support teams by improving efficiency and reducing the need for escalation to engineering teams. Watching the evolution of AI over the next year will be fascinating, and I’m thrilled to be part of this journey.

Personal Goals

My son turns 8 this January, and it’s starting to hit me that in just 10 years, he’ll be 18. Time flies, and it’s a reminder to cherish the moments we have with loved ones. While professional and learning goals are important, I also want to make plenty of time for family and friends in 2025. Being well-rounded is essential for overall health and quality of life, and I aim to achieve a healthy balance between work, health, relationships, and personal growth.

• Recovery and fitness
  • Fully rehabilitate my knee to regain the ability to run, ski, play with my kids, jog, and work out regularly.
• Blog more frequently
  • I plan to blog more often throughout the year, sharing posts on AI/ML (especially agentic AI), serverless development, and cloud software engineering and design.
• Certifications
  • I'd like to complete my AWS Machine Learning certification this year. I’ve made good progress using AWS Skill Builder, but I must finish studying and pass the exam.
• Programming languages
  • This year, I would like to become more familiar with a new programming language. I keep debating between Rust and Python. Python excites me because it integrates well with various AI/ML workflows, scripting, and interacting with cloud services. On the other hand, Rust excites me because of its safety, performance, and low energy usage. Benjamen Pyle has several great blog posts outlining Rust's power and performance. Thanks to LLMs, learning or coding a new language is much easier if you are strong in at least one other language.
• Public speaking
  • I’d love to improve my public speaking skills and, if the opportunity arises, present at a tech event like AWS Community Day. I am ok at presenting, but not great. I firmly believe practice is the best way to improve at anything, including presenting.
• Scaling a product
  • Being part of a team rapidly increasing the number of production tenants is both exciting and an opportunity for growth and learning. I am thankful to have this experience in 2025 and will surely learn much from it. Everything I learn from this experience will shape future projects and initiatives.
• A new hobby
  • As I mentioned earlier in my post, my son is learning the piano. I took lessons as a child but haven't played in years. Spending a few sessions on Simply Pain is fun, stimulating, and a great hobby. I'd like to continue this hobby in 2025.
• Balance
  • Continue striving for the right balance between work, health, family, friends, and professional development. I don't believe it is possible to achieve a perfect balance, but being cognizant of where you are spending time, your priorities..and whether these are in alignment helps.

Closing Thoughts

I am looking forward to 2025 and hope you are, too. 2024 was a good year, but I’m looking forward to starting 2025 with a renewed focus on better health and well-being. The year ahead holds so much potential, and I’m excited about what’s in store. I anticipate AI will remain the defining technical theme of 2025, continuing to transform how we work and live in remarkable ways. It’s thrilling to witness and be part of this technological evolution.

Professionally, I’m eager to take on the challenge of significantly expanding the customer base for a new product, which promises to be both exciting and rewarding. As I look ahead to the opportunities and growth 2025 will bring, I hope you’re as excited for the journey as I am.