I had the idea to write a post about my 2024 career recap before I get on a plane in the morning to go back to Georgia to spend the Christmas holiday with various family members. So here it is!
My 2024 Career Recap: Month-By-Month
January
After spending the previous month working the night shift in the Ohio data centers, I travel back to Tennessee to take a small break before getting back on the road to travel to other data centers. I spend two weeks in cold and snowy Northern Virginia (specifically Data Center Alley) to help deploy new hardware and wonder how people live in snowy areas. After my stint there, I travel back to Tennessee to work for a few days before traveling to Mountain View, CA for a training seminar. Here’s some pictures from that trip:
February
I spent a good bit of the month back at in Tennessee and offered my expertise on a new machine the site got after deploying it at other sites.The big news I got was I was chosen to travel down to the data center in Chile to help out with a deployment there.
March
Well, my trip to Chile turned out to be a trip to Belgium instead to help out the data center there. Before I went there I traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for the first time to help out at that data center. Then I went to Ohio for the umpteenth time to do some work there for about a week and a half. I traveled from there to New York city for my Employee Resource Group (ERG) conference. Then I went back to Tennessee to pack up for my trip to Belgium!
April & May
I spent six weeks in Belgium to help the team there deploy a new machine I had extensive knowledge of. It was my first time overseas and I loved my time over there. Here are three of the many pictures I took during my time over there:
I did run into some trouble with the language because I can’t speak or understand French. Some citizens knew English. I tried my best to pick up some bits of language, but French is hard! However, Google Translate did help out. In addition to the difference in language, being six hours ahead of Eastern Time made it difficult to stay in contact with my family.
I spent some time after work learning Java using a class on Udemy as I got the idea from my mentor to try to transfer into a Developer Relations role.
I traveled back to the US in mid-May and took some well-deserved time off. It was a working vacation because I had to move out of my apartment since my lease was up. I brought my Tennessee peeps back some Belgian chocolate and other goodies, which made them happy!
June
Well, I didn’t get enough of Belgium because I traveled back to help the team there for another two weeks. Then I came back to the US in mid-June to find a new apartment in Nashville because I wanted to live in the big city! Finally, I made the decision to transfer off my team and stop traveling. Thus, I waited for a position to open up at Tennessee so I could work full-time there. Finally, I continued learning Java.
July
I applied for and got the role at the Tennessee data center! My new role was to work on the Network Projects team. The team’s role is to build out and/or upgrade the network so the machines can communicate with each other and the world. I spent the rest of the month transferring my duties to other coworkers on my team.
August to September
I officially started on the Network Projects team on August 1st and spent the months taking so many training classes and working on the data center floor. I stop learning Java and switch back to refreshing my Python skills.
October
I traveled to Nebraska again to facilitate a class and train other Data Center Technicians on how to fix Google’s ML machines.
November
After a lengthy delay the tasks for the Network Projects team arrived! I finally got to put all that training to use.
December
I continued to work various Network Projects tasks until the Christmas break. I dabbled learning the C programming language as I continued to improve my Python skills.
And that’s all for my 2024 career recap. See y’all in 2025!