✨ Self-Reflection – Year 2025 Back to Basics – Rediscovering the Joy of Hands-On Coding & Delivering Real Impact

Source: Dev.to

As 2025 comes to a close, I look back with gratitude and pride. This was the year I consciously chose to go “Back to Basics” – rolling up my sleeves, writing code again, solving problems myself, and reconnecting with why I fell in love with technology in the first place.

Instead of always reaching for the newest framework or vendor solution, I asked myself:

“Can I build this myself? Can I make it simpler, faster, and cheaper?”

Most of the time, the answer was yes — and the results speak for themselves.

💡 Innovation doesn’t always mean complicated architecture; sometimes it’s just caring enough to fix things properly.

🚀 Key Results Delivered in 2025

Cost Avoidance Through In‑House Innovation

I repeatedly challenged the question:

“Do we really need to spend this money?”

By building working prototypes myself and demonstrating them to stakeholders, I convinced architecture and procurement teams that we could deliver equal or better solutions internally.

Outcome: Significant licensing costs avoided, while keeping full control and flexibility in our hands.

Dramatically Improved System Processing TAT

Targeted tuning and smart optimizations led to:

• Processing TAT improved by >40%

This enabled the business to onboard more partners and capture market opportunities faster.

Production Stability & Efficiency Gains Across the Board

I focused on resilience and operational excellence:

• Enhanced multiple SQL jobs
• Implemented permanent fixes for recurring incidents
• Continuous improvements to dashboards for better visibility
• Strengthened production discipline
• Faster incident detection and better runbooks
• Reduced operational toil through small but impactful automation
• Improved overall system performance and stability

Many of these initiatives started with a simple observation: “I noticed something and I couldn’t let it go.” That, for me, was the real win.

🌟 Values & Behaviors Demonstrated

• Ownership & Initiative – Fixed or proposed better ways for anything broken, slow, risky, or expensive without waiting for permission.
• Cost Consciousness & Pragmatism – Showed that a few hundred lines of clean, well‑tested code can replace expensive vendor tools.
• Customer‑First Mindset – Ensured every change answered: “How does this help the business grow or serve customers better?”
• Technical Craftsmanship – Returned to writing code, debugging at 2 a.m. when needed, testing thoroughly, documenting properly, and leaving systems better than found.
• Courage to Challenge the Status Quo – Pushed back on vendor recommendations with confidence and evidence when internal solutions were superior.

🧠 Innovation & Efficiency – The Real Story

Real innovation doesn’t always require GenAI, microservices, or pricey licenses. Sometimes it’s simply:

• Looking at legacy code with fresh eyes
• Asking “Why do we still do it this way?”
• Changing one configuration or rewriting one job
• Building a quick prototype

These actions saved hundreds of thousands in licensing—simple, effective, and impactful.

❤️ The Biggest Lesson of 2025

Going “Back to Basics” was the best professional decision I made. I rediscovered the pure joy of solving problems with code and learned that I don’t need to be the smartest person in the room—I just need to:

1. Care more
2. Dig deeper
3. Ship faster
4. Build with heart

In a world obsessed with the next shiny tool, there is real power in mastering the fundamentals: reading logs, understanding data flows, writing scripts, and delivering things that work today and cost less tomorrow.

🔭 Looking Ahead to 2026

With AI assistants now at everyone’s fingertips, the bar is higher than ever. I’ll carry the same mindset forward:

• Start simple
• Question assumptions
• Build it yourself first
• Only buy or complicate when truly necessary

Thank you to the stakeholders, managers, and team for trusting me, challenging me, and giving me space to innovate. 2025 reminded me why I chose this profession in the first place.

🙏 Special Thanks

To my amazing wife for inspiring me every day, and to my two daughters who give me strength and purpose. You are my constant motivation. ❤️

I end the year tired—but happy—and excited to code again tomorrow. Back to Basics worked in 2025. Let’s keep that spirit alive in 2026. 🚀