What. A. Year. Looking back at this day in 2013, it’s amazing to see how much can happen in just 365 days. In January 2014 I started my first work term at Microsoft, and since then I have had some incredible experiences and had the opportunity to meet and work with superstars from across the globe. For me, 2014 was a rollercoaster year of emotional, personal and professional growth. In the highest of highs I flew around North America for various projects including hosting tech events and filming my first Microsoft Virtual Academy course, and through those opportunities I’ve learned a lot about people, professionalism and how we all fit in in this huge, booming tech world. On the other side of the rollercoaster, 2014 has been a very difficult year and I hope that we can put a lot of the big hurdles behind us in 2015. In the meantime, here are some of my favorite moments of 2014!
1. Starting at Microsoft
2. Giving my first conference demo as a Microsoft representative at the National Business and Technology Conference in Toronto
3. Flying on the inaugural customer-carrying flight of Air Canada’s Dreamliner (story)
4. Purchasing my Lenovo Yoga taptop and finally retiring my old MacBook Pro (details)
5. Summertime in Halifax (here, here and here)
6. This magical day in Italy wearing my Zafira gown, and the rest of the time in Italy, of course (story)
7. This Amazing Race-style adventure through Canada-England-France-Germany-Italy when my passport expired too early (what a story)
8. An amazing week in Seattle with top-notch Microsoft Student Partners from across the globe (story here)
9. Attending my first Grace Hopper Celebration, and partnering with Syncfusion to do so (story)
10. My first ever fashion week and all its grandeur (stories here and here)
11. Flying out to Vancouver to host the Kinect Hackathon at BCIT (full story)
12. Filming Hour of Code and CODExist with Channel 9 and Microsoft Virtual Academy! (full story)
A lot of people make New Year’s Resolutions, and I’ve never really had one that stuck. I think that, if you want to make a change you should make it when you think of it, because why wait to implement something that you know will have a positive effect on your life? So instead of telling you I’m going to take up meditation or drink 3L of water a day, this year my one resolution comes from something a former teammate told me. He said that no matter what’s going on in the day, he makes it a goal to make someone genuinely smile. And whether that’s through social media, over the phone, or through in-person interaction, I’d like to adopt that goal of positivity this new year.
Happy New Year, everyone! How time flies. I hope that you had a good year and that 2015 brings you new opportunities and happiness.