Introduction

Starting 2025, I started writing monthly logs of things I did each month. You can see them here.

I thought why not let AI write an insightful summarisation of the whole year by reading the logs. The generated output is down below. I used Cursor and composer-1 model to generate these.

Here it goes.

2025: A Year in Review

Looking back at 2025 through the lens of monthly logs reveals a fascinating journey of technical exploration, personal growth, and the natural ebb and flow of motivation. Here's what stands out:

The Technical Arc: From Surface to Depth

The year began with a bold exploration of Rust—learning the language through The Rust Book, building a terminal-based text editor (hecto), and starting work on MeowUI, a TUI project. This initial momentum was characteristic of the early months: high energy, new frontiers, and ambitious learning goals.

But something interesting happened as the year progressed. The focus shifted from learning new languages to understanding the fundamentals beneath the abstractions. By July, you were diving deep into DNS internals, building your own Redis implementation through Codecrafters, and exploring regex engine theory. This wasn't just learning—it was archaeological curiosity, peeling back layers to see how things actually work.

The transition from Rust → Elixir → Erlang tells a story of going deeper into a domain rather than broader. Starting with Elixir (which you already knew), then exploring its foundation (Erlang) shows a mature approach to learning: understanding the roots of what you're already using.

Building in Public, Building for Yourself

Your projects this year had a beautiful duality: they were both publicly visible and deeply personal. The Phoenix backend features—comments system, contact page, plant care reminders—weren't just technical exercises. They solved real problems in your life (remembering to water plants, connecting with readers) while showcasing your skills.

The comments feature was particularly interesting. You described it as "vibe coded" with AI assistance, which reflects a new era of development where AI accelerates implementation but doesn't replace understanding. Using Google's Perspective API for moderation showed thoughtful consideration of the human side of building products.

Creating a font from your handwriting and integrating it into your website is perhaps the most personal technical project. It's a perfect example of how technology can be deeply personal and expressive, not just functional.

The Reading Journey: Exploration and Abandonment

Your reading habits reveal something important about learning: it's okay to abandon books. You started many books this year—DDIA, Butter, Notes from Underground, The Castle, Microservices Patterns—and left many unfinished. But you also completed meaningful ones: "A Thousand Splendid Suns," "The Vegetarian," "Before the Coffee Gets Cold," "Blue Sisters."

The books that stuck were the ones that changed your perspective: Korean society through "The Vegetarian," war and resilience through "A Thousand Splendid Suns," grief and regret through "Before the Coffee Gets Cold." This suggests you're drawn to stories that expand your understanding of human experience, not just technical knowledge.

Career Transition: Growth Through Change

The job switch from Beatoven to Tractable in April was a significant milestone. You shipped features at Beatoven (Selective Recompose) and then moved to a new role, navigating onboarding and new challenges. The fact that you continued building personal projects alongside work shows a healthy balance between professional growth and personal exploration.

The September Dip: Acknowledging the Struggle

September's log was refreshingly honest: "Things have been not so interesting." You picked up Strudel, color grading, Kafka, and left them all. You acknowledged "the issue was/is something deeper" and chose not to force it. This self-awareness is valuable—recognizing when you're not in a creative flow and not forcing productivity is a form of wisdom.

The recovery in October (finishing "A Thousand Splendid Suns," exploring Erlang, watching Twin Peaks) shows that these dips are temporary. Sometimes the best thing you can do is wait for inspiration to return.

Patterns and Insights

1. Depth over Breadth: The shift from learning many things to understanding fundamentals deeply.

2. Personal Utility: Projects that solve your own problems (plants, contact, comments) tend to be more meaningful and sustainable.

3. The Power of Perspective: Books and experiences that change how you see the world stick with you longer than purely informational content.

4. Embracing Abandonment: Leaving projects and books unfinished isn't failure—it's curation. You're choosing what deserves your attention.

5. The Value of Fundamentals: Understanding DNS, Redis internals, regex engines—these deep dives compound over time and make you a better engineer.

6. Balance: Work, personal projects, reading, travel (Sikkim!), social connections (Christmas potluck), and rest all have their place.

Looking Forward

The year ended with you purchasing "Elixir Patterns" and continuing to explore Erlang. The trajectory suggests a deepening expertise in the Elixir/Erlang ecosystem rather than jumping to the next shiny thing. This is a sign of maturity in your learning journey.

The fact that you're logging your experiences monthly is itself valuable—it creates a record of growth, struggle, and discovery. These logs aren't just documentation; they're a form of meta-learning, helping you understand your own patterns and preferences.

2025 was a year of consolidation and depth. You didn't just learn new things—you learned how to learn, when to persist, and when to let go. That's the kind of growth that compounds.