A year ago, I didn’t think of myself as someone who writes. By the end of 2025, I had written, completed, reviewed, and judged alongside developers from around the world.

Learning Through Participation

I discovered Dev.to by accident and started posting purely out of curiosity. Reading posts from community ranging from deep technical breakdowns to thoughtful, creative storytelling slowly changed how I approach both writing and development. It pushed me to explain ideas more clearly and think more deeply about why things work.

Participating in Dev challenges was my turning point. They were competitive, but never isolating. Every submission I read or wrote exposed me to new tools, architectures, and perspectives. That diversity pushed me to think more carefully about how I communicate my own work.

Seeing the Other Side as a Judge

Later, volunteering as a judge gave me an entirely different lens. Reviewing submissions required evaluating clarity, technical decisions, and problem-solving depth. In many ways, I learned more by judging than by building especially how differently developers think when faced with the same constraints.

Looking Ahead

What stayed consistent throughout 2025 was the community: supportive, curious and generous with knowledge. It helped me grow not just as a writer, but as a developer who thinks more clearly.

As 2026 begins, I’m grateful for that growth and excited to keep building writing and learning alongside this community.