2012 Accomplishments
One of my 2012 goals was to launch one new quality blog post each month and I’ve made it! Since I started in 2009, I read specialty articles where I kept myself updated with industry news to improve my skills. Because English is not my native language, researching and writing takes a lot of time. Even though the process of blogging is time consuming, sharing tips and tricks with the web design community has many rewards, both personally and professionally.
Featured completed projects in 2012
The websites that took the most time and effort are highlighted below
Madyson’s Marshmallows
Madyson’s Marshmallows’ website took 90 hours to build. Additionally, my design partner spent extra time on the design aspects of the visual interface.
Lemonstand is an e-commerce online solution helping businesses to become online merchants. Working with Lemonstand and developing this project taught me how to become proficient with integrating this application into websites. I know that if I were to engage in this type of project again, it would take me much less time, due to my newly acquired knowledge.
Brooklyn Workshop
Overall, here are some Skills I have learned and improved this year.
- My jQuery and CSS3 skills have improved and I developed good knowledge of new animation effects and jQuery plugins that can help me build highly interactive websites.
- Reading WordPress specialty blogs helped me discover better techniques and useful plugins so I can provide better service to my clients.
- While working on a website for a small cinema chain I discovered more about Ticketsoft api and how to integrate it with WordPress.
- I also now offer Ruby On Rails services using a partner specializing in this programming language. We already completed a project with difficult requirements for a large start-up.
New year resolutions for 2013
- My first goal is to refresh my website design portfolio and make it responsive. This is beneficial because it will be easier to view on different resolutions, especially mobile devices.
- While I am often occupied with client projects, there is also room for getting new clients and projects. I plan to focus more on marketing and advertising efforts.
- I also plan to keep going to the gym regularly and keep exercising so I can maintain a healthy lifestyle.
- Work and Travel. I absolutely love to travel and I don’t think I take advantage of my freelancing freedom enough, as I could virtually work from anywhere as long as I have a laptop and Internet.
Conclusion
I feel very blessed to do something I love; and that clients get satisfaction. My work lifestyle grants me many freedoms, like flexibility and creativity, resulting in a very comfortable virtual world.
