Kyle Nazario

2024 has ended, and what a year. I moved across the country, blogged more than ever and even published two new apps. There was a lot to be proud of, and more to look forward to.

Coding

I continued working at Bitovi, because I like the company so much. Bitovians are smart, funny, engaged and friendly. The internal company culture is everything you could ask for. Everybody is laser-focused providing clients the absolute best possible software development and coaching.

Consultancies get a bad rap sometimes, but Bitovi is an exception. Everyone here really, truly cares about helping clients as much as possible. ¹ I would not have stayed for almost four years if it were otherwise.

I spent the first half of the year working with Moody’s on figuring out a scalable way for their frontend teams to handle a complex microservice backend. We ended up using the backend-for-frontend pattern to collect and process data for the UI. Moody’s has been rolling out that architecture to their different internal frontend apps for the last year, and it’s already paying dividends.

Designing a major piece of technical architecture to be used across a Fortune 500 company was one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. I’m proud of what Bitovi and Moody’s accomplished, and excited to see the benefits.

In my personal time, I published two browser extensions. Replies for Hacker News counts unread replies to your comments and posts. Incogmeeto hides your view of yourself whenever you join a Google Meet in Safari. Neither has been especially popular, but I like that they exist so I can use them.

Media

Video games

This year, I went crazy for From Software games (which are secretly comedies). I played:

• Elden Ring
• Final Fantasy VII Remake
• Persona 3 Reload
• Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
• Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree
• Dark Souls (twice)
• Dark Souls II
• Dark Souls III
• UFO 50
• Baldur’s Gate III

Not a lot of games, but then again I spent all of May traveling and moving, and the games are very long. I’m currently 130 hours deep into Baldur’s Gate and still not done. Play Baldur’s Gate, people. One of the greatest RPGs ever made.

Movies

I wrote up my top 10 films of the year not two weeks ago and it’s already changed. See my Letterboxd for an up-to-date ranking that includes Nosferatu and Anora.

Books

This year, I read:

• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: A lightly fictionalized account of a Florida reform school. An affecting account of one of the most evil places in America.
• Paper of Wreckage by Susan Mulcahy and Frank DiGiacomo: The complete history of the right-wing tabloid The New York Post. A fascinating account of, as the subtitle says, the “rogues, renegades, wiseguys, wankers and relentless reporters who redefined American media.”
• There Are No Accidents by Jessie Singer: A searing investigation that comprehensively proves every “accident” is predictable and preventable. Few books have permanently changed how I see the world, but this one did.
• Play Nice by Jason Schreier: A thorough history of Blizzard Entertainment, makers of Overwatch and World of Warcraft. A fascinating look at the ways success can debilitate a company.
• The Mormon People by Matthew Bowman: Figured I should learn about the Church of Latter-day Saints after moving to Utah. Super interesting!

Currently working on The Nvidia Way by Tae Kim. So far I’ve learned Jensen Huang is more driven than I will ever be.

Personal interests

This year, I set a goal to publish a blog post every week. I didn’t quite reach that goal. There were drop-offs in May during the move, and in late summer when I just could not summon the motivation. But, I still managed to publish 43 posts in 2024. Missing only nine weeks ain’t bad.

For this year, I plan to resume one of my favorite hobbies: skiing. Utah has several world-class ski resorts mere hours away, and I plan to take advantage.

For next year

I’d love to run a full marathon, health permitting. We’ll see!