My 2024 Retrospective: Lessons from a Year of Transition
When a year ends, I like to take a moment to reflect on what I’ve achieved, learned, and experienced across work, projects, personal growth, and finances.
This is my open and honest retrospective of 2024, sharing the highlights and lessons learned.
Before going through the highlights, one crucial point is that this year's most significant change was using OKRs for professional and personal growth. By defining clear objectives and reviewing them monthly, I ensured I was working towards what I needed to focus on, something I had previously struggled with. This approach was a significant reason why 2024 felt different and more structured.
Professionally
Highlights:
- Secured a new engineering role at American Express.
- Began my MBA at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, starting with Microeconomics and Statistics.
Notes:
This year brought the most change professionally. After seven years at Intel, I transitioned to a new role at American Express, returning to Florida, a place my wife and I had long dreamed of returning to since our time living here.
We often discussed moving back, but it always seemed like a distant dream. It felt dependent on finding the right job, which was challenging given the type of roles we were interested in, or achieving financial independence, which, to be honest, was an even better way to come back. When I decided to explore new opportunities in December 2023, I didn’t anticipate it would lead me back to Florida so quickly. We have only been here for seven months, and already, we feel this was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made.
The job search felt transformative. I approached interviewing with a new level of intensity, treating it as if there were no other option and fully committing to the process. That mindset, combined with Intel’s challenges, sharpened my focus in ways I hadn’t experienced before. Ultimately, the transition to Amex marked a significant milestone, giving me a renewed sense of purpose and achievement in my career.
On another note, I started my MBA program, a decision that surprised even me. I’ve been skeptical of MBAs, believing business skills are best learned by running a business and figuring things out as you go. Over the past eight years, I’ve done just that, pursuing opportunities, some successful and others less so, but all immensely educational.
However, reflecting on my journey, I recognized gaps in my knowledge that formal education could fill. As Steve Jobs said, "You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward." This MBA feels like one of those dots, a step toward new ideas, better tools, and broader opportunities, whether in corporate growth or entrepreneurship.
Projects
Highlights:
- Concluded Pulpo podcast after 20 episodes.
- Built my first app in two years (still undecided about launching it).
- Developed a platform for Hispanic entrepreneurs, set to launch in January.
- Published eight blog posts.
- Made 188 contributions on GitHub.
Notes:
This year’s projects reflected a small-bet mentality: build, test, validate, and pivot. Nothing new, but it’s an approach that’s proven effective in entrepreneurship. Among the projects:
Pulpo Podcast: My wife, cousin, his wife, and I launched a podcast and community for Hispanic professionals. We committed to releasing 20 episodes, a milestone only 1% of podcasts achieve. While proud of hitting our goal, we chose not to continue due to time constraints between work, new jobs, traveling, and our move to Florida. Ironically, they also moved to Florida a few months after us!
Content Creation: I aimed to focus on blogging and rebuilding my website but paused content creation during my Amex interviews. Landing the job left me feeling disconnected from content creation, so I shifted my energy toward building and making things.
Newsletter AI Reader: Partnering with a close friend, we developed a tool to summarize newsletters. While the prototype works, we’re uncertain about its business viability. For now, it’s on hold as we focus on other projects.
Entrepreneurship Platform: This project for Hispanic entrepreneurs is set to launch soon. It reminded me how unpredictable timelines can be and how planning is literally guessing no matter how much time you put into it. Building the platform and creating AI tools took more time than anticipated. This was a clear reminder to reduce scope, improve requirements, and find creative validation methods.
Personally
Highlights:
- Returned to playing tennis and jogging.
- Picked up new hobbies: chess, sim racing, and learning Italian.
- Achieved a 60-day Duolingo streak in Italian.
- Finished six books and started five more.
Notes:
This was one of my toughest years mentally, starting with a ruptured Achilles tendon in December 2023. Being immobilized and dependent on others was challenging for someone who deeply values physical activity. After a long recovery, by October 2024, I started playing tennis and jogging again. My next goal is to play soccer.
On the reading side, I adopted a more spontaneous approach, picking books that interested me at the moment. While this increased my enjoyment, it also left five books unfinished. I plan to find a middle ground and choose books more selectively. The main idea is to take more time reading and summarizing them to deepen my understanding and reflection.
The most transformative change was rediscovering hobbies. Modding an old iPod, playing chess, and building a sim racing rig brought back my joy for activities outside work and projects. Pursuing hobbies gave me energy for other aspects of life. This year, I am making it a priority to focus more on hobbies, treating them as new projects or areas of improvement. I even added them as Objectives in my OKR list.
Conclusion
2024 was a year of growth, change, and reflection. I’ve learned that while financial independence is important, maintaining sanity and joy through loved ones and hobbies is equally vital. Perhaps that’s what they mean: "Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life."