- Land a good job offer - ✓ Yes, I landed a great job offer
- Double my current financial portfolio - ✗ 1.80x; close but not quite
- Find my niche and find some clarity in my 5 year horizon - Still working on it
- Keep learning: finish the Coursera ML class and take a class on CNNs - ✗ No, but learned other things
- Start a cool project - it should help me further my education and/or generate side income - ✗ No
1) Land a good job offer
I landed a great job offer under a great team, under the same company. Work can be busy and stressful at times, but the work is more challenging and interesting compared to my previous role. It is also a better work environment. I don't see myself working here forever, but it is a good experience that I think opens up a lot of opportunities. It's one of the best positions you can have as an M.E. in my company, under that org. The pay isn't bad either.
Happy that I knocked the ball out of the park on this one. The journey here was a roller coaster. It involved:
Being rescinded an offer in Japan by the same company (crazy manager)
Getting an offer at a competing company
Being kicked out early from my internship because of said offer
Working at competing company for ~1 month before coming back to my current company
Glad that I pushed through those stressful months and that I always saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Also thankful for the support of friends and coworkers.
2) Double my current financial portfolio
I diversified with more individual stocks, where I've made +20% gains (S&P 500 is +13% for the same duration). I've also increased my annualized base comp by 28% and have been granted decent RSUs.
Both my investment and work gains have contributed to the +80%, but I didn't double my worth. It is a very optimistic year-on-year target, but +100% is what I needed to hit my 10 year target.
With my current trajectory I need to revise my 10 year target, get lucky with investment, or think outside the box on other income potential. Here are the facts:
I live well below my means but there is always more I can cut out
Need to deep-dive to see where I can eliminate more spending
There is low chance for increasing my base compensation past 10%/yr
RSUs and bonuses are an unknown - just extrapolate as a flat line
I want to work on a side-project that has high-risk, high-reward, but minimal base cost
3) Find my niche and find some clarity in my 5 year horizon
I can't say that I have a clear 5 year path, so this is still up in the air. However, I've started to find more clarity in my current role and what niches I can fill within the team. I still need to tackle what is going to happen with my long distance relationship, geographically where I want to end up, and certain timelines related to employment and relationships. I'm focused on my job now that I've settled in, but it is good to explore what I can do with my time outside work. I am not actively exploring other jobs as I'd like to be in my current one for a few more years, but I want to develop myself outside work and am always on the lookout for once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.
4) Keep learning: finish the Coursera ML class and take a class on CNNs
I didn't finish the Coursera course and I did not take a class on CNNs. However, I did get a Certified Vision Professional - Basic certification, and am waiting on results for the advanced one. My work-related goal for education is becoming a 6 sigma green, then black belt. I would put this in my resolution, but I want to leave this one as a work-goal.
5) Start a cool project
I never started a cool project. I'm continuing to support the startup I am involved in, but no cool projects of my own. I will leave this one on my resolution.
What have I been doing with my spare time?
- Got back into airsofting over the weekends. It's a lot of fun. Now I actually have money to sink into this hobby, but I've found it's fun even without spending a whole lot.
- Still reconnecting with old friends. This is a resolution from when I was 20, but I think I am doing a better job of it now than then. I've kept in touch with my college friends and I'm reconnecting with high school friends now that we are all back in the bay.
- Investing. I don't day trade by I keep a watch on the economy. I think I have a hedge in technology so my investments are focused in that area.
- Exercise. I got back into running, and I try to run every day - although my schedule breaks when I travel for work, which I do a lot of. I also try to attend Orange Theory at least once a week when I am back home.
- Travel.
- 4 times to Japan in 2017 (twice for work, twice for fun)
- Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nara
- New Orleans with family and girlfriend during Thanksgiving
- Great experience, lots of fun
- LA to catch up with friends
- Also went to Arizona and shot an automatic gun and went ATVing
- Add another +50% to my current financial portfolio
- Optional: identify risks and ways to protect my finances from lawsuits, etc
- Exercise - any of the following:
- Run a 6 minute mile
- Participate in a 5K (bonus: 10K)
- Build full-body aesthetics (subjective)
- Keep learning. This one is open ended
- Relearn Japanese: read Japanese books, watch Japanese shows, go on Japanese forums
- Spend time on hobbies
- Don't be afraid to spend some money too. Buy a new gaming computer, buy a new airsoft gun, anything
- Travel to somewhere new
- Start a cool project
- Keep seeing my girlfriend. Do more fun things together. Travel together.
- Keep a look out on opportunities, professional and otherwise, for my brother.
- Reconnect with old friends. This one doesn't need to be a resolution.
- Keep an open mind
- Stay curious
- Don't be a wage slave
- Act like an adult but think like a child at times
- Always question if an action I see or do is moral
- Always think about the larger impact of my and other's actions
- Do what I want to do. Don't follow the common trajectory
- Improve my memory skills. This is unquantifiable so I can't make it a resolution.
