31. December 2019
A lot happened. Many things changed. Ten years ago, I was not married, I did not have kids. I grew up to become a responsible father and husband. And I took on areas of responsibilities I never thought of, both privately and professionally.
Today, 31. December 2019, marks the end of a decade, before a new decade begins. It doesn’t feel like it, even when the past years will be remembered as the 10s. And we’re entering the twenties now.
At the beginning of the decade, I only earned my MBA. Back then, I worked for one of the most amazing companies I could imagine up till today. At that company, I was given an assignment, not only abroad but on a different continent. After having traveled Europe and the entire Middle East in the years before, I had an opportunity to visit all countries South East Asia from Singapore in this decade.
During that time, cloud computing did merely exist, it was a newly coined term. And people were excited by what Apple shaped in form of the iPhone. Social Media was still new and innocent, people were excited by the opportunity to exchange with friends, family but also to meet total strangers on the Internet.
Since then, I did not only have the opportunity to take on responsibility for one of the most popular smart lighting products, also did I have the opportunity to transition to a role I wanted to grow into.
In this role today I work for one of the largest European software vendor, proudly contributing to a product in the hottest Enterprise Software space.
A new decade
I had the opportunity to see it all grow and develop, into technology that shapes both society and business. And I had an opportunity to exchange ideas in that space with the brightest minds in the industry. And to build a network of friends and colleagues that are among the best and most motivated.
We’ll see more development in technology and society. Social media has seen it’s peak. Consumers are sceptical of being tracked. Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are exciting technologies. Society will benefit from these, but it will require policy and products that use them right. Awareness for the correct use of technology will increase and sustainability will become more important.
31. December 2019 does mark the end of a decade. It does not mark the end of anything else. It’s a random day that marks a rather arbitrary ten years timeframe. I’m thankful for the past decade and excited for the next.