Top 20 for 2020

It has been a very challenging year. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things. We've been fortunate that Celine and I still have our jobs and that we continue working from home. There has been some losses and gains that are actually losses but I always look on the bright side of things. Here are 20 of my personal highlights for 2020.

Tigcal Apps and Projects

* In June, we released Sweldong Pinoy for Self-Employed Individuals. Now, self-employed users can choose "Self-Employed Individual" in the employment type and the app will compute the contributions for SSS, PhilHealth, and Pag-IBIG Fund, tax, and other contributions, and your net pay.

sweldongpinoy.com updated with computations for Self-Employed

* We have updated Budget Pinoy for Everyone. Users can now choose their employment type and the app will update the deductions and asking rate based on their selection.

budgetpinoy.com on mobile browser with the employment type drop-down<

* The new Thirteenth Month was released in time for the holiday season. Users can now input their salaries from January to December to compute their thirteenth month pay. If they have the same salary for the year, they can select "My salary is the same for the whole year" and provide the salary, starting/ending week/month.

You can now provide your salaries per month or select My salary is the same for the whole year

* Contributions for SSS and PhilHealth will be increasing for 2021. Sweldong Pinoy and Budget Pinoy were updated to use the new contribution rates for 2021. In the initial release, we added a dropdown so you can choose the current (2020) or upcoming (2021) rates.

Sweldong Pinoy for 2021

* A new update to the Google Chrome Extension for Google Developer Group (GDG) Philippines (version 3.1) was released. This includes adding events tab to display events from the Meetup Page, updating GDG logo, updating links, and removing blog and video tabs.

* I spent some time updating the Android app. The new version has 100% Kotlin and Dark Theme. I also used Retrofit, Coroutines, and ViewModel to fetch the events from the Meetup API. Other changes include the Dark Theme and updates to chapter links.

Tech Writing

* I continued working on the Android writing gig I started year. I was assigned two more chapters and worked on revisions and other feedback.

* I started writing technical stuff again and published three new posts on Medium. Two of them, Opting in Existing Apps to Google Play App Signing and Managing Android Studio with the Toolbox App were accepted on the ProAndroidDev publication.

* The Opting in Existing Apps to Google Play App Signing post also got featured in Medium's Android Development page

Continuous Learning

* I have created a Google Developer (google.dev) Profile this year. With the profile, developers can learn about Google technologies through various pathways. A pathway contains an ordered collection of videos, codelabs, and articles about a specific topic. Finishing pathways can sometimes give you a badge. Since June, I have earned 28 badges.

* I've been learning some French using the Duolingo app for a while. I'm already on a 1290-day streak and 740 crowns.

* I discovered French in Action. It was old but it teaches French in a very different way so I watched all 52 episodes.

* I registered and joined Kotlin Heroes: Episode 4 on May 29. Kotlin Heroes is a programming competition from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin) and CodeForces. I solved 2 of the 9 problems.

* Kotlin Heroes 5: ICPC Round was held on November 12. I joined again and managed to solve 3 of the 10 problems this time. Kotlin Heroes is a programming competition from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin) and CodeForces.

* I have been listening on some podcasts like Developer Tea, Soft Skills Engineering, and Android Backstage. For these three, I have already listened to more than half of their episodes. There are also some other podcasts I listen to but I only choose the episodes that sounds relevant to me.

* Last January, I joined the Flutter Clock Challenge. Flutter Clock is a skills-based contest offered by Google, including participation by the Flutter, Google Assistant, and Lenovo teams that challenges you to use Flutter to build a clock face application. I am not that familiar with Flutter but I spent a few hours making a very simple clock.

My certificate of participation

Personal

* GDG Philippines invited me as the speaker for their Android 11 Meetup. The event, streamed live on YouTube and Facebook, was the first time for me to do an online talk.

* I was hoping to run more this year but I have not been able to do that. However, I ran at least once a month, with a minimum of 10 kilometers per run.

* I received a new badge on Github called Arctic Code Vault Contributor. Some of the repositories I contributed to have been included in the 2020 Github Archive Program.

* Doing nothing during the early days of staying at homw was tiring! I was watching a few clips from Just for Laughs and discovered their official channel. I set a goal of watching all of their best gags. After accomplishing that, I became motivated to work on my personal projects again.

To 2021 and beyond!

I'm looking forward to next year! It's going to be a great year.

Kotlin Heroes 5

Last May, I joined Kotlin Heroes: Episode 4. Kotlin Heroes is a programming competition from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin) and CodeForces. The challenge is to use Kotlin in solving as many problems in two and a half hours.

The next edition of Kotlin Heroes, Kotlin Heroes 5: ICPC Round, was held on November 12. I registered again for this round. My goal was to solve at least two problems like my previous result. I solved 3 of the 10 problems.

Android 11 Meetup with GDG Philippines

Google launched the Android 11 Beta with pages, videos, and other resources on June 10. They also announced the 11 Weeks of Android. Each week focuses on a specific topic and they will release more content relevant to it. Global developer communities will also host Android 11 Meetups to help developers learn and prepare for the new Android version.

GDG Philippines has invited me to be their speaker for their Android 11 meetup. I've done Android talks and workshops with them before. However, this time it is going be online, which will be the first time for me. I prepared a presentation about Android 11 and other relevant updates for Android developers.

The event was streamed live on YouTube and Facebook. I was a bit nervous because it has been years since the last time I gave a talk but it has been a great experience for me. It feels good to help out GDG Philippines and the Android developer community.

You can check the slides on Speakerdeck. If you need more information about Android 11, you can check out https://developer.android.com/preview.

Kotlin Heroes 4

Kotlin Heroes is a programming competition from JetBrains (creator of Kotlin) and CodeForces. The challenge is to use Kotlin in solving as many problems in two and a half hours.

Kotlin Heroes: Episode 4 was on May 29. I have seen the past editions before but I did not participate yet. This time though, I decided to register just to try it and to learn more. There's a prize for the Top 3 ($512, $256, and $128) and T-shirts for the Top 50 participants. I know it's hard for me to win. My goal is to finish half of the problems. I have done the 5 problems of Practice 4 but it took me a lot of hours to solve them. Also, the ones in the Practice Rounds are easier. 

On the day itself, I woke up earlier than usual and prepared the laptop and pieces of paper. I was only able to successfully solve 2 of the 9 problems. My solution to the third problem was not yet good and I ran out of time. It was still a good experience for me. Hopefully, I can do more next time.

Jomar at Home

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of things. No more haircuts, no more dental appointments, no mass, no more weekend events, no dine-ins, no movies at cinemas, physical/social distancing... life is different now.

Work

Celine and I were fortunate our employers weren't affected much and we can continue working from home. I was usually at home once a week but the additional four days were different.

Run

One of my plans for 2020 is to run at least 10 kilometers once a month, like what I did from April to December last year.  I was able to run six times in the first quarter before the declaration of state of emergency. In April and May, I only did one runs each. Hopefully by June, I can do more. 

I was supposed to participate in the Vancouver Sun Run but the organizers cancelled the event. 

Nothing

During the early days of our stay at home, I was doing nothing. I am watching random YouTube videos, reading news, various articles and blog posts, and wasting time on social media. Doing nothing is tiring!

Just for Laughs

Some of the stuff I was watching were clips from Just for Laughs. One day, I discovered the official Channel and watched videos from there instead. I saw there is a playlist of the best gags and made it a goal to watch all of them. After accomplishing that, I became motivated to go back to development of my personal apps and projects.

If you're interested, here is the playlist I watched:

This only includes the first 200. To see more, check the playlist

#AndroidDev

I've been keeping myself updated with what's new in Android app development, especially Android 11. I am reading up, watching videos, and taking courses on Android and Kotlin. Recently, I am on Caster.io's Kotlin Programming Language course.

I also made some updates to the Tigcal Apps, Tigcal Utils, and my other Android apps.

Sweldong Pinoy

I made small changes in Sweldong Pinoy, Budget Pinoy, and Thirteenth Month. One is the Share button on web versions of the app. It's a minor task but I procrastinated on it for a while now. I have started coding for upcoming features.

Writing

In January and February, I am writing for the project which began late last year. After initial submission, I haven't written anything new at all. Now, I am back again! I created a post on Medium and made this blog post. I am on my way to finishing another tech article.

Other Projects

As I spent time on my Android apps, I suddenly found some time for my Chrome Extensions, Assistant Apps, and other projects.

Flutter Clock Challenge

Earlier this month, I joined the Flutter Clock Challenge. Flutter Clock is a skills-based contest offered by Google, including participation by the Flutter, Google Assistant, and Lenovo teams that challenges you to use Flutter to build a clock face application.

My certificate of participation

I am not that familiar with Flutter but I spent a few hours making a very simple clock.

My Flutter Clock