Setting your goals for 2025: Getting into FAANG + Giveaway

Hey nerds, it's been a while.

I hope you had a good new year celebration, took some time off to recover, talk to your friends and family, and spend some quality time with your loved ones.

You've probably have set your goals for 2025. Did you write them down? Are they achievable? Something you can be consistent on? Yes? Good, I believe in you.

Let me update you on some things, and give you some advice I have learned (the hard way) last year.

The break in 2024

I had a good year where I took time off from tech and working to recover from my horrible burnout experience. It tried getting back to work a few times, but noticed the quality of work and my energy lacking.

So I talked to my doctor and he told me that I really need to prioritise recovering: gym, walks, nature, stress management, etc. Because if I didn't, i might risk the chance of this affecting me for years to come. I did not want that.

The year off gave me some time to think (and work a little on non tech projects, which are blooming nicely). It gave me the time to realise what I like doing, what I want to do, and how I can do it.

The Plan

To keep it short, I'm getting back into coding again, with the goal of getting into a FAANG company (referrals secured for 3 FAANG companies ez gg) documenting that on Youtube and this blog / newsletter.

A small twist, I will also focus on AI, as I can tell it's at a point where tech SWE jobs were in 2014-2018. Crazy funding, work opportunities and salaries etc. It's almost like Web3, but that's for another time. Which gives me time until June-ish, because in case I get rejected, I can try again in 6 months, giving me two applications a year.

Currently I'm following a project based roadmap from two friends (both AI SWE at Google and Microsoft, one is ex Tiktok) and I will document it on my Youtube.

Other priorities would be my fitness and health, spending more time outside, less brain rot consumption, more reading and being more present in the moment. I hope yours are too. While the grind is amazing and I love it, life goes by and we are spending much of it at our homes, in front of our computers, in a virtual world that does not matter.

That's one of the reasons I love Barcelona and living there is the outside life, and I cannot wait to get back there this year. I can explore and walk for hours in the city, eat good food, enjoy a coffee, go for a swim in the morning, tan on the beach, go to meetups, hackathons, explore nearby coastal cities, go for incredible hikes, enjoy city wide views on top of Bunkers or Tibidabo.... it's all just perfect.

But for us to enjoy these things, we have to also put the work into it.

Which brings me back to 2025, and how I want to move back and enjoy my life again.

Setting the goals for your 2025

The way I do it is by taking a pen and a notebook, putting aside 30 minutes, phone on DND, and writing down what I want to do, all of it, then using the process of elimination, leaving 3-5 most important things for this year in each category: health, career / business, relationships, self improvement.

Most importantly what I have learned from all the things I have tried and done and failed: consistency, even if small, daily, will win the long term game.

Thinking long term for this year is where it's at:

• Youtube subs / views? I will only look at them strategically at the end of the year.
• Twitter followers? Same.
• Newsletter growth? Same. Etc

I want to stop thinking short term, because that does not give me the opportunity to get the results that come from the long term game, the patience, and the consistent investment into our life. I hope you do too.

What's your plan for 2025?

I would love to update you on my non tech projects very soon, but for now I have to keep quiet about them ;)

Let me know how you are getting on this year, what your goals are, and feel free to write me back. Thank you for sticking with me for all this while, I will have an episode on the burnout, why I quit devrel and the Twitter account suspension following next week.

Most importantly, know that there are still plenty of opportunities in tech, and that if you network properly, you can get to where you want and need. Don't be discouraged by the current market. Put your work online, share your opinions and connect with individuals that can help you get where you want to be. Most importantly, make friends, because that's where the real power comes from.

Cough kingdom hearts cringe quotes be like "mY FriEndS ArE My POwEr"

The giveaway

To help you get on with your goals, and one of my main focus being fitness in 2025, I would love to give away my Mi Band 4 that I have not used (since I got an Apple Watch) This could help you stay active and be mindful about your fitness journey more.

You don't have to do anything, I'll pick a random subscribers and either send it to you by post, or send you the money equivalent!

Don't worry if you don't win this one, I plan on doing another giveaway very soon.

Thank you for sticking with me, and let's make 2025 our best year yet!

See you next week!

PS: if you want me to cover any topics like networking, getting a remote job, hosting events / Twitter spaces etc, let me know!

If you came from X / socials and haven't subbed, you can do so here <3

Day in the life: I'm just chilling today though

Tweet of the week:

how it started:

how it's going: