Overview of 2023

Intro

I'm Peter and this is the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more whether you are beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!

Welcome

Welcome to episode twelve with an Overview of 2023. 2023 was a year for me attending or speaking at the most events in a year than ever before and the launch of RoguePlanetoid.com.

January

January 2023 saw the launch of RoguePlanetoid.com which was my new personal website and saw the very first article published to the website which was another review of the year except it was about 2022 including all the things I'd done that year including some of the talks I'd attended. In January 2023 there was also a chance to attend DDD North for the first time in a couple of years and spoke there about using Modern .NET and WPF which was my first big in-person event since lockdown here in the United Kingdom. Back in 2022 I had also revived Comentsys which included launching a website for it featuring my websites such as RoguePlanetoid.com at comentsys.com or you can check out the link in the show notes.

February

February 2023 saw the launch of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast which started with an Overview of 2022 and Content Creation with AI. It was great to finally launch a podcast of my own after working on Scottish Murders a few times to write some early stories and even appeared on a Halloween Ghost Hunt special. February 2023 also saw the announcement and launch of Bing Chat powered by AI, now known as Copilot, which is something I've used on a regular basis since then. In February 2023 I posted the last of a set of fifty tutorials for Windows App SDK which I had started posting the previous month which brought the total to fifty and look forward to adding more in 2024. You can check out the Windows App SDK tutorials along with workshops on topics such as Blazor and more, tutorialr.com or check out the link in the show notes.

March

March 2023 marked the release of the second episode of this podcast about Windows App SDK along with the launch of a new developer community event, Dev Community North East, I was there doing a small talk along with some others. I really enjoyed that experience and was one of the first times I barely looked at my notes after the first speaker blew everyone away with their talk about DurHack, a hackathon that was coming up later in the year and something I wanted to be involved with. Their amazing talk also meant the rest of us had to step up our own and that has since made me strive to be a better speaker myself. There were also a couple of events in March 2023 and February 2023 where I attended my first DevOps North East and Azure User Group events so it was great to add some new events to go to and of course wrote my usual articles about them. In March 2023 Microsoft also showed off more AI innovations with Microsoft 365 Copilot showing off a whole new way to work powered by AI and was amazing to see how much this will improve the experience in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and in other Microsoft 365 applications. In March 2023 I did my first full talk of the year for NEBytes when I talked about Microsoft and AI covering Microsoft Bing and Microsoft Designer. Someone also reached out to me about including resources from my digital coffee table book about Zune, Zunepedia, for their The Entire History of the Zune video, it was amazing to see many of the assets I had done in motion which was something I had wanted to see myself, I was also pleased that even after a couple of years Zunepedia was still being used in new ways and if you haven't had the chance to read through it then visit zunepedia.com or want to check out the video then you can from the links in the show notes.

April

April 2023 was when I released the third episode of this podcast about Microsoft & AI along with it being the 50th anniversary of Tubular Bells. Mike Oldfield's music was the first music I ever really liked when I was young as had struggled to find anything I liked listening to but when I discovered his music, I realised I had found the music I was looking for and the 50th Anniversary was a great way to acknowledge that, although it also marked the announcement that Mike Oldfield had retired, he'll never know the impact his music had on me to inspire and uplift and great for listening to when coding or just to enjoy when relaxing. April 2023 also saw Microsoft celebrate their own anniversary with their 48th birthday, Microsoft is another thing that had a major impact on me when I started coding it was using BASIC based on work by Microsoft, which led to GW-BASIC, Visual Basic, VB.NET and then to C# which I use today plus their hardware from Zune to Windows Phone that didn't do as well as it should have to Surface and Xbox which faired a lot better and are still around to this day. April 2023 also saw me return to MakerSpace for the first time in years, now in their new home of Gateshead which is also my hometown. It was amazing to see the new space and catch up with everyone there and look forward to going back there again when I can in 2024. It was also great to see my .NET Standard Spotify Library package reach over 10,000 downloads and many more since which allows developers to take advantage of the Spotify API using the Spotify for Developers platform, if you're interested you can get the package via Nuget at nuget.org/packages/Spotify.NetStandard or check out the link in the show notes.

May

May 2023 was the release of fourth episode of this podcast about Spotify for Developers and in keeping with the music theme also saw the unexpected comeback of Zune, or at least the website for it at zune.net, which unfortunately is no longer available again, but was relaunched then to help celebrate the release of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. where Zune features a few times throughout the film. It was great to see Microsoft encourage STEM skills through the newly relaunched website for Zune including how to create a music player with Make Code Arcade and about 3D printing a Zune in space along with a great video from Scott Hanselman about getting a Zune working in 2023! May 2023 saw the release of a new workshop I created as part of a learning at work week, Blazor Emoji Bingo, which was great not only to do for work but also to share more widely. Later in May 2023 I also went along to the Late Shows around Newcastle, Gateshead and Ouseburn. The Late Shows was really great and I started from the Biscuit Factory and ended at Hotel Du Vin along with starting at MakerSpace on the second day and ending at the Assembly House, it was great to see everything those two days and take plenty of photos and post them on rogueplanetoid.com! May 2023 also saw the biggest developer event of the year with Microsoft Build, now in person and online but I attended online, although there was still plenty to learn and be inspired from! May 2023 was also a chance to start posting some classic content from my original website with the CESPage 25th Anniversary which included the very first tutorials I ever created, you can check out that original website at cespage.com or check out the link in the show notes.

June

June 2023 started with episode five of this podcast about the previous month's Microsoft Build along with attending a very different event when I went along with my wife to CrimeCon UK in London helping represent Scottish Murders. This was the very first event I wrote about from beginning to end covering every session, it was an epic undertaking but was well worth covering the event along with speaking to many of the people there at the stand we had as part of podcasters row. June 2023 also saw a brand-new set of events here in the North East with TechNExt and although many events were during the day so was unable to attend, I was able to attend a couple of the evening events and wrote about them in full at rogueplanetoid.com and found them really interesting and informative. It was also only halfway through 2023 and I had already been to more events than the previous year along with meeting more people I had not seen or spoken to before and hope to continue both in 2024!

July

July 2023 featured episode six of this podcast about Blazor along with seeing me return to Thinking Digital for the first time in many years. It was amazing to go along to the Startup Competition and the Thinking Digital Conference itself both of which I wrote about in detail on rogueplanetoid.com, both days of Thinking Digital were informative and inspiring. In July 2023 I completed adding the articles that I had originally posted to LinkedIn to rogueplanetoid.com and had an opportunity to speak to the Windows for Developers Team about a brand-new feature they were workshopping. It was a fantastic opportunity to speak directly to Microsoft about something they were considering, although I can't say what it was, I'm hopeful it will be part of the experience in Windows for developers in the future. July 2023 was when I was honoured to have been invited to appear on the Smart Cherrys Thoughts Podcast, as they had interviewed many others I knew of and looked up to in the tech community, so it was fantastic to appear alongside those people. Sai from Smart Cherrys Thoughts did an amazing job interviewing me and asked fantastic questions and I really enjoyed the whole experience of doing it, which was all in one take from start to end, so if you want to check out my appearance on Smart Cherrys Thoughts then check out the link in the show notes.

August

August 2023 was when I released the seventh episode of this podcast which was about Good and Bad Developers along with attending a brand-new event for me, Scottish Summit, which was in Manchester rather than Scotland as it was on tour. I'd only been to Manchester a couple of times in the past and not for many years, so it was a fantastic opportunity to see the investment there in places like the BBC and ITV along with the amazing tram system and venue of UA92. Although Scottish Summit was more IT pro than developer focused it was a great opportunity to see and learn things from that perspective including how to improve way talks are structured which I have put into practice since. In August 2023 I was also nominated for my very first award as a Community Rising Star for the Microsoft Technology UK Community and Partner Awards, although I didn't get shortlisted in the end, it did feel good to see my name alongside many other amazing people in the community for their efforts in 2023.

September

September 2023 was when I released a special episode of this podcast celebrating the second anniversary of my digital coffee table book about Zune, Zunepedia along with attending yet another new event for me but one I had intended to go to for some time which was Silicon Summer. I saw and spoke to many new people I'd never seen before at Silicon Summer along with finding out back when I was a Windows Phone developer, I'd assumed I was the only one in the North East of England. However, it turned out there were a few of us back then I just never knew about the others in my area. I wish I'd known I wasn't as alone back then as I thought as a Windows Phone developer locally, but it was great to know that now and look back as being part of something that was a bit bigger locally than I knew at the time!

October

October 2023 saw the release of the ninth episode of this podcast about .NET 8 along with my first talk for Dev Hub North here in the North East, Blazor a trail with .NET 8. I spoke about the new features coming to .NET and C# along with joining another great talk about building efficient and effective systems in AWS but with many concepts that would apply to other cloud services such as Microsoft Azure. October 2023 also saw me travel down to London which was originally just for the Microsoft Build AI Day but just before travelling found out there was Microsoft Envision - The Tour London there too. I was able to catch the end of that event where Satya Nadella spoke, which I'd not seem him do so in person since back before he was CEO of Microsoft and Steven Bartlett host of the Diary of a CEO Podcast who gave some amazing insights and was pleased was able to see both speak, despite missing the rest of the day that alone was worth it! Microsoft Build AI day itself was also amazing and was able to get to the front row in every session which made for some great photos and articles on rogueplanetoid.com. October 2023 also saw a brand-new event in Newcastle upon Tyne, Haystack Live held at the Tyneside Theatre, there were some amazing speakers there all without notes and hopefully an event I'll be able to speak at in the future. In October 2023 I appeared on another podcast, The Modern .NET Show with Jamie Taylor, talking about Windows App SDK. It was an amazing experience and Jamie was a great interviewer and had a lot of fun talking about Windows App SDK along with some of my journey as a developer, so if you want to listen to my appearance on The Modern .NET Show then check out the link in the show notes.

November

November 2023 was when I released the tenth episode of this podcast about Developers & AI covering the previous month's Microsoft Build AI Day event, along with an amazing event I was able to be part of, DurHack which was a hackathon held at Durham University. DurHack was an amazing experience not only to see what was created by the students but also to be part of the event from setting a challenge as the company I work for was one of the sponsors, to uniquely from all the sponsors I stayed for the entire event where I helped inspire and motivate people along with showing some .NET and Blazor. DurHack was something that I really enjoyed being part of and I think many there didn't expect me to be there for the whole thing, but it was a personal challenge, although admit it took me a while to recover and would have managed better in my younger days but was great to see how confident and motivated everyone was there. November 2023 would also see another event where I could help inspire the next generation of developers when I attended a Tech Talent Expo in Sunderland here in the North East. I was able to do a talk to three groups of school and college students about my journey as a developer and was the first time I'd done a talk multiple times along with pitching it each time to those there and barely used my notes, so was close to my no-notes goal of delivering a talk that way. November 2023 also saw my last talk of the year in-person with the newly relaunched Qudos .NET Meetup Newcastle, formally HaintonDotNet which I had spoken at many times over the years. I talked about Windows App SDK along with joining other talks on .NET Identity and Blazor, it was great to see and learn from the other talks and also wandered around a lot more when I was doing my talk to further push my presentation skills along with my skills as a speaker.

December

December 2023 saw the release of another special episode of this podcast about the CESPage 25th Anniversary which celebrated the launch of my original website back in 1998. It was great to be able to talk about what got me started on my programming journey and my aim to share what I know which has in turn helped me grow as a developer and something I continue to do to this day. December 2023 also was when I attended my very first TEDx in Gateshead, which was something I'd been meaning to do for some time and my only regret now as not having done so sooner. TEDx was an amazing event throughout and can see it shaping my future in some way along with being able to write about the whole event on rogueplanetoid.com and even won a small LEGO set as a prize! December 2023 also saw another brand-new event which was The Podcast Growth Summit in London which was interesting from beginning to end and full of insights and information that will come in useful in the future. My final event of the year was Tech on the Tyne about consultancy which was informative and covered so many things about what it was like to be a consultant along with consultancy from a client's perspective.

Overview

2023 was an event-filled year with many brand-new events along with new events for me to attend that I had not previously attended. I also met many new people I'd never spoken to before and attended different kinds of events I'd not been to before. I learned from so many events to help me be a better speaker at the events I spoke at and saw so many amazing speakers throughout the year I was inspired by. My goal for 2023 was to do more for the community than ever before as a developer and a speaker which I think I achieved along with going to more events than ever before!

2024 will hopefully be a year where I will go to even more events and do even more for the community, I already have started with this episode of the RoguePlanetoid Podcast along with doing my first in-person talk of the year in January 2024. 2024 will feature new posts, articles, and episodes of this podcast on rogueplanetoid.com along with new Windows App SDK tutorials on tutorialr.com and adding refreshed versions of talks I've done before. I remember looking ahead to 2023 back in 2022 and thinking what I would achieve or do in the coming year and wasn't even close with the number of things I was able to do, much of which for the first time and hope that looking ahead to next year I will be equally as surprised about what will be to come in 2024!

Outro

Thanks for listening to the RoguePlanetoid Podcast where each episode you will find insights about Microsoft or related platforms and technology, along with so much more wherever you listen to your podcasts or at rogueplanetoid.com/podcasts for the RoguePlanetoid Podcast whether you are a beginner or an experienced professional or just interested in technology. Keep Current, Keep Coding!