As the end of the year approaches, it’s a time for reflection and setting new goals for the year ahead. Here at Web Services, we asked our team members to share their new year’s resolutions, what they’re looking forward to in the upcoming year, and some of the big work projects they’re excited about.
I’m really proud of the work the team has done this past year. It was a year of planning and preparing, and in 2023 I’m looking forward to launching the new events calendar, new intranet, and cuTheme (v2). I’m also looking forward to further collaborations with the web developers in Student Services as we work to create an even better user experience. Personally, I’m looking forward to travelling to Costa Rica in February for my first vacation down south in years.
— Mary Kathryn Roberts, Manager
My New Year’s resolution is to quit smoking! Looking forward to the launch of the new cuTheme, and our first Raven Design System (RDS) project in production.
— Mike Corkum, Senior Web Developer
New Year’s Resolution: get back to healthier eating habits, reducing portion sizes, and just try and be healthier in general. In the new year I am looking forward to several things on a personal level. My mom is planning a trip to Ottawa for March Break, it’s been nearly four years since we last saw her. We’re also hoping to travel out east and do some more work on our house in Cape Breton and chill at the beach, always some great family fun. And the tech geek in me has to mention the Playstation VR2. I’ve been looking forward to getting one and am looking forward to seeing how it does in the marketplace first. On the professional side, in the new year I am entering my 15th year at Carleton, I started on Jan 5, 2009, before Web Services even existed. Given how often people move around, I am proud to have been at Carleton as long as I have. As I enter my 15th year I am excited to be back with Web Services and to be working on a few very specific projects. WordPress and cuTheme powered by RDS are two projects that I am extremely active on and they make me the most excited. I took a long break from WordPress so it’s exciting to discover all the new stuff all over again. And I gotta give a shout out to this team. It’s the people in Web Services that make coming to work each and every day amazing. You won’t find a better team than this one.
— Troy Chaplin, Senior Web Developer
With 2022 coming to an end year, I thought about what my resolution for the New Year would be. As with most people, I want to go to the gym, although for most people it becomes a hassle and they give up, I love going to the gym! Can’t wait to get back in and catch up with my last PRs and get back into gear. With work, I am quite happy with how RDS is going, I look forward to delivering the new Intranet, Researcher’s Profiles, and a stable version of RDS. I have usually stuck to my resolutions, and I can’t wait for the next year! Happy Holidays everyone!
— Niranjith Perumal, Senior Web Developer
The coming year is going to be a really exciting one, with many projects I have been working on planned for release. I’m currently working on the Events Calendar, Intranet, cuTheme (v2), RDS, and a few others. I am really excited to work with the latest web technology stack of Tailwind UI, React, Next.JS, Docker, and Laravel, and seeing its impact on various development process, build time, and website performance. The introduction of Agile has improved so many of our processes. I feel more organised and productive. Now we have clear workflows for our new projects which will shorten the development time and increase productivity. Next year will be full of deployments, releases, process transformations and, of course, watching their impact on the community.
— Ishdeep Singh, Web Developer
I am looking forward to enhance my React and PHP skills in the upcoming year, and the big work projects I am excited about are RDS, Tailwind UI, and Events Calendar.
— Kevin Zhou, Web Developer
My New Year’s resolution is to spend more time working on my physical fitness. I’m very excited to join our team and I’m excited every day to learn as much as I can from others. I’m currently working on the Events Calendar project and am very excited to see how it looks in a few months.
— Mounika Vojjala, Web Developer
I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions (too much pressure!) but I often start the year by thinking of things I’d like to accomplish in the coming year. If I don’t accomplish that thing, then I can work on it next year. This year I think I’d like to try regular meditation for general wellbeing and stress management. In 2023, I’m excited for our new Web Services communications plan, which will help us think more strategically about the way we communicate. The launch of Carleton’s new Digital Strategy in January will also be an important moment for the university, in that it represents a new way of thinking about digital that will benefit the entire Carleton community. And of course the next phase of cuTheme, rolling out in 2023, will give Carleton web managers new, easy-to-use tools that will help them quickly build and maintain web pages and posts. Lots of amazing things are in store for 2023!
— Chris Cline, Communications Advisor
I don’t really have any New Year’s resolutions. But what I’ve been doing recently instead is picking three words to use as inspiration and help guide what I want to do in the year. The idea came from Chris Brogan, a blogger I follow. I am not totally decided but some contenders are Dance, Shine, Create, Embrace. This year I am really looking forward to practicing karate with a great group of women that I’ve become close to. Four of us started a weekly group to share ideas, train, and drink coffee (or whatever!) – can’t wait to see where it leads. At work, I am excited about creating online training and workshops – things around our new theme, web content strategy, and other topics like Writing for the Web.
— Charlotte Bradley, Web Coordinator
I am not very good at New Year’s resolutions–especially ones about healthy living–because my birthday is on January 3rd, so I usually break all my resolutions then. I think my main resolution would be to try to work on more constructive projects in my spare time. In terms of work I am very excited to complete the Co-ordinated Accessibility Strategy (CAS) project I worked on throughout 2022. Working with the CAS team is one of my favourite collaborations in my 15 years at Carleton–such a great team of people from the Paul Menton Centre and the Accessibility Institute. Aside from work projects, I am looking forward to some travel plans–Puerto Rico and Italy/France/Croatia.
— Andrew Riddles, Web Architect
We hope that these resolutions and goals inspire you as you set your own for the new year. Thank you for your continued support and partnership. We look forward to continuing to grow and succeed together in the year ahead.
We wish you a happy holiday season and a prosperous new year!