2022, That’s a Wrap!

A few days ago, I sat down for a few days to reflect on my year 2022. I started by reviewing all the good things that happened, whether in my personal or professional life.

I decided to share some of the things I wrote in my journal about 2022, mostly related to my professional life.

Apache Camel PMC Nomination

2022 started for me with great recognition for my work around Apache Camel, as I was nominated in January 2022 as a PMC member of the Apache Camel project. That was something totally unexpected for me. I still can’t believe I’m living my dream of being part of Red Hat and getting paid to contribute to such an awesome project, being part of such a prestigious Open Source Foundation. I am so lucky, honored and grateful to be part of the Apache Camel community and to grow with these amazing contributors. And as you can imagine, contributing the whole year to the project is the biggest achievement of the year.

I’ve learned a lot this year, and I’m so excited for all the good things we’re going to accomplish this year, starting with Camel 4.

F2F with the Fuse Team

2022 is the year we started seeing each other again in real life. I finally had the opportunity to meet my team for the first time. Spending time with my amazing, talented, smart and kind teammates was just magical. I’m so lucky to be part of this team and to grow personally and professionally among this great group of people.

Communities

I had the honor of meeting so many wonderful and friendly people, around conferences, from different communities, such as the Java community. 2022 I realized that there is hope in this world, so many nice people who give so much to communities, without even asking. I can never thank everyone. If you crossed my path in 2022, you are probably one of them, and you have probably had a positive impact on my life, and thank you for being you.

I joined the CFP committees of 2 major conferences Devoxx France and Devoxx Morocco. Reviewing many proposals can be exhausting, but I only feel joy. I hope to contribute in some way to keep them great and long lasting.

Public speaking

2022 is the year I started speaking at IRL conferences and events. I was so stressed at first but my confidence never stopped growing. I love sharing my knowledge and talking about Apache Camel. A big thank you to all the organizers of conferences, events that gave me my chance or even invited me. I am so grateful for these opportunities.

I had the chance to give a workshop on Apache Camel with Alexandre Gallice, and it was a blessing to spend 3 hours with a small group of people and have the opportunity to share more about the awesome integration capabilities of Apache Camel, and discuss real user issues and collect constructive feedback. I have really enjoyed giving labs and hope to have more opportunities to do labs in the future.

I also liked to give a little closing keynote for the Red Hat DevNation France day.

As an Open source contributor, I was invited to speak on the radio, which I had never considered. I enjoyed the experience and hope to one day be legit to speak on a tech podcast.

By the way, you can watch some of the recordings.

Personal life

I was lucky and blessed to be interviewed by one of my favorite book authors for their upcoming book. I sat in a Parisian cafe for a few hours chatting with one of my most inspiring people and enjoying the moment. It felt a bit like being in a movie. And I hope I can see some of my stories in the book one day.

Working from home is great but I started having back pain. Last year, I started walking daily. I have one sports session a week with a coach and I bought a sit-stand desk. My health has since improved. I have lazy days, but the most important thing is to stay active almost every day.

I have visited many cities where I have never been, whether for conferences or with family: London, Dublin, Bucharest, Montpellier, Grenoble, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Biarritz…

End

Small note for the end, I do not have a perfect life and I also had difficult moments this year, especially on a personal level. Sitting down for a moment of gratitude is important to me, and motivates me to do many more things in 2023.

I end my post with the craziest photo of the year from the Quarkus World Tour at Devoxx UK.