Looking back at 2008

2008 was a good year. Once I got settled in, the last year at my current job has been very satisfying.

I lead the effort on three AJAX projects using the ExtJs Javascript library. Learnt a lot about code optimisation and performance in AJAX projects, object oriented JavaScript, JSON, stuff like the CTE in SQL Server 2005. The client's comment "..one of the fastest web applications I have used.." validated the hard work we put into the projects. I have begun to post my experience with AJAX in the A for Ajax posts in this blog. There are 3 posts on this subject already, more will follow.

There was another interesting project - a BI application where the data was being presented through web parts - where we got to investigate more asynchronous activities - like asynchronous loading of the web parts and asynchronous calls to the database. The technical demands of the project kept us on our toes, but the project was ultimately scuttled by bad client behaviour.

The last year has also been about earning the respect of my colleagues at my current job. I have always been blessed with very good colleague work throughout my career: they work hard, they take responsibilities willingly, they have a hunger for knowledge, are open to new ideas and ways of doing things, they create the magic in the end product.

A very interesting aspect was the diverse clientele I had to deal with - across Australia, Canada, Europe and the USA. All of them have been, and continue to be, very tough customers. And it was, and is, a pleasure working with all of them. I owe a lot to them: the tougher the customer, greater the satisfaction of winning them over with your work.

The end of 2008 and the beginning of this year has brought more learning opputunities - in XUL, XBL, JQuery, technically challenging ASP.NET projects - and another tough customer.

Looks like 2009 will be a good year too.