2024 is over, and 2025 has already begun. Looking back at 2024, it’s time for a summary.
Career Status
The three years from 2021 to 2024 have proven that “choosing the right path is more important than working hard.” I find myself back in a situation similar to my early years after graduation: three years spent with zero economic gain or professional promotion. In fact, income has decreased in real terms, and benefits have been steadily cut.
The objective reason is that the company’s business is struggling. My future path there is already clear, and I’ll have to deal with it as it comes.
Personal Growth & Contributions
Despite the poor environment, I’ve managed to maintain some personal growth.
Open Source
- Alfred Workflows: I didn’t add many new workflows this year as the collection is quite mature. It currently features 56 workflows with over 642 stars. I also built an official website for it. This project remains my most rewarding; beyond efficiency gains, its community impact has earned me a JetBrains All Products License and a free 1Password Team License.
- Whisper Web: A project built entirely using Cursor to convert voice recordings to text. Since iPhones don’t yet have a built-in “audio-to-Chinese-text” feature, this tool remains very useful.
- click-to-component (PR): Added support for JetBrains IDEs to solve a personal pain point.
- inshellisense (PR): Contributed a minor PR to this Microsoft project.
- repo-discussion-count-action: Developed this GitHub Action to help track discussion counts for my Alfred workflow repository.
Blogging
- I published 113 posts this year. Maintaining a writing habit is one of the few things I’ve stayed consistent with.
Gadgets & Tools
- Apple Watch S10 (Macau Edition)
- Caixin Global Subscription (primarily used on iPhone).
For a full list of my “tools of the year,” check this post.
Travel
Due to decreased income and ongoing mortgage payments, I didn’t travel extensively. I visited a few cities, mostly for weddings:
- March: Wuhan & Xianning (for a wedding).
- August: Shenyang, Liaoning.
- October: Henan (for a wedding).
- November: Langfang, Hebei.
Housing
Beijing’s housing market has seen a massive decline. There’s nothing to do but keep paying the mortgage. After two years of frugal living, the remaining balance is small, and I expect to pay it off in 2025. Once the debt is cleared, I plan to save while also traveling more. If the current apartment feels too small, I might rent a larger place and lease this one out as a financial safety net.
Finances
- Monetization: I started experimenting with blog monetization. Google AdSense currently brings in about $1/month.
- Medium: I’ve mirrored some articles to Medium, which also earns roughly $1/month. Between server/domain costs and the Medium membership fee, the blog is still technically operating at a loss.
Investments: My domestic stock portfolio saw some recovery this year but remains in the red. I’ve started exploring US stocks, but without significant spare capital, I haven’t seen substantial gains yet. Once my domestic holdings recover, I plan to shift my focus entirely to the US market.
2025 Goals
I hope to improve my work situation and break out of this cycle where effort doesn’t yield results.
Final Words
Looking back, I’ve become the person I used to dislike: old and broke. It’s time to work hard on changing that.
