2022

The Year I Accidentally Set Things in Motion

At the beginning of 2022 I had no master plan. The pandemic was loosening its grip on life. I needed to get out of where I was and start moving again. I didn't yet know what would come next. What I did know was that I needed new experiences, and to explore new directions that I could not find by staying put. Little did I know that it would be the year I would set out on a path that would define the years to come and also witness a pivotal moment in technology history: a public unveiling that would reshape how we work as developers.

December 2022

The planet is not enough, let's go galactic!

Looking back now, 2022 became an important year for me. I traveled, learned, and tested ideas. I did not know it at the time, but many of the things I tried that year laid the groundwork for what came later.

Leaving Without Knowing What Comes Next

At the start of the year I left my web developer job at a sports data broker. It was a job I was completely unsuited for. The world was still constrained by pandemic measures, and leaving a stable position did not feel particularly brave or clever.

It was simply necessary. I needed to find my place again and to figure out what kind of work and environment I actually wanted.

In Portland I went to the Apple Store, which was fortified due to the protests around Black Lives Matter.

Portland and the First Big Jump

Literally the first thing I did after leaving was to fly from Vienna to Portland via Vancouver to attend DrupalCon 2022 from April 25 to 28. This was the first DrupalCon held in person again. It happened at a time when mask mandates were slowly being lifted, but not everywhere and not consistently. Even though the overall atmosphere was cautious there was some hope in the air as well.

DrupalCon was held at the Oregon Convention Center.

I went to quite a few sessions at DrupalCon 2022, covering a range of topics from the latest in Drupal development to community building and project management.

Beside the sessions, there was also the exhibition hall with various booths showcasing companies, products and services related to Drupal and web development.

At DrupalCon I reconnected with the Drupal community and started learning more seriously about Drupal itself. I also met up with a former coworker, Matthew S., and reconnected with him. At the time, this was simply nice and familiar. I did not know that a year and a half later Matthew would help me get a job at the company he was working for, even though he unfortunately left just as I joined.

The attendees of DrupalCon 2022

And here's little ole me in the crowd

There was an arcade corner at DrupalCon 2022 with arcade cabinets and pinball machines

Portland left a strong impression on me beyond the conference. I had the great fortune to visit the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Portland Art Museum. As luck would have it, I wandered into the Art Museum on one of its free admission days.

Completely by chance, I went to the Frida Kahlo exhibition at the Portland Art Museum, and it was completely free of charge on that day

I also discovered Powell's City of Books in the Pearl District, an independent bookstore so full of interesting books that I spent hours there. What a splendid place! At one point I nearly felt guilty because this time came at the expense of sightseeing. In hindsight, this was probably the better use of my time.

I had no idea what kind of a great treat Powell's City of Books would be

I really liked Portland. It felt relaxed, walkable, and full of places that invited curiosity rather than rushing you along. The only thing that was genuinely terrible was Denny's. On certain days it was the only food option close to the convention center, and that is all I am willing to say about it. I prefer not to think about it.

There were so many interesting books that I spent hours there.

One evening during DrupalCon we had the afterparty at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). It was sponsored by Acquia. We had good drinks, solid snacks, and the chance to wander around exhibits after hours. It was an unusual but fitting setting for a tech conference and one of those moments where the social side of a community really came through.

The afterparty at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry was a highlight of DrupalCon 2022 for me. It was a great opportunity to socialize with other attendees in a relaxed setting.

On the recommendation of one of the founders of the CodeFactory Vienna (whose coding bootcamp I attended), I went to Voodoo Doughnut and enjoyed one of their creations.

I couldn't resist trying one of their famous donuts.

The trip ended up being very expensive, but it was important. Not only did I reconnect with a lot of folks, but I also confirmed something important for myself. I wanted to work as a web developer, and I wanted to do so in a community.

When I was in downtown Portland, I came across a small orchestra playing to commemorate Black Lives Matter.

Back Home, Forward Online

I flew home to a world that was opening up again, but still carefully and unevenly.

While browsing Reddit, I came across a hackathon that caught my eye. It was called CraftHack and was organized both in person and remotely, with the physical event taking place in Budapest from May 6 to 8. Going to Budapest on a whim felt like too much at the time, so I decided to join remotely. The remote part of the event was held over Slack and Facebook video stream.

I was ready for another adventure: the online version of the CraftHack 2022 Hackathon

There were three challenges. I chose the mobility challenge sponsored by Tier. They were looking for a proposal for something called Tier Tours. I did not find any partners and ended up working on my proposal alone. This taught me how hackathons actually worked. How to frame a problem, how to submit a project, and how results were evaluated. I did not place highly, but I was happy that I had produced a concrete concept and a short video.

Here's the short video I made as my solution for the Tier Tours challenge (direct link to Youtube).

The hand-drawn sketches with my concept are below. The Tier Guided Tours feature provides users with the option to book guided tours across town with their friends and a tour guide. It offers infos about the tour, instructions, and map routes.

During the tour, users can get turn-by-turn navigation when a user's phone is secured in the charging tray on the Tier escooter (btw, the charging tray was a unique feature of Tier scooeters back then).

Users can contact the tour guide and get warnings if they or their friends have left the route by mistake.

These are the screens I designed for the Tier Guided Tours app.

And if you are interested in a more detailed description, then please find the hand-drawn sketches of my concept with expalantions.

Only later would I realize how important this first attempt was. The following year I would attend CraftHack in person, find a team, and ultimately win the grand prize, including a ticket to the Junction X Super Hackathon in Finland.

Here's my article on CraftHack 2023 where our team won the grand prize. And here is my article about Junction X 2023.

These smart folks were among the winners of CraftHack 2022

But at least I received a certificate of participation

Thessaloniki Mon Amour

After that, I spent some weeks in Sofia, Bulgaria, where I have a second home. With time on my hands, I started looking at travel options in and around Bulgaria. I found reasonably priced bus connections to nearby cities, and Thessaloniki stood out.

The beautiful waterfront of Thessaloniki

I had some ancestral connection to the city through my father's side of the family, something I may write more about in the future. Beyond that, my research showed Thessaloniki to be historically rich and culturally fascinating. I also noticed that the company Matthew worked for had recently opened a digital innovation center there.

The medieval fortification above Thessaloniki called Heptapyrgion

I decided to visit. I took an Ardatur bus from Sofia to Thessaloniki. The journey took five hours. At the Bulgarian Greek border, everyone had to get out for passport control. Only three years later, this would no longer be necessary after Bulgaria joined the Schengen region.

Here I am in Thessaloniki standing on Aristotelous Square with a statue of the philosopher Aristotle

Due to the waning pandemic measures, accommodation prices were extremely reasonable. I rented an Airbnb right next to Aristotelous Square. Once in town, I visited the Heptapyrgion, the White Tower, the Museum of Byzantine Culture, and the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

The iconic White Tower of Thessaloniki

I loved the city. It has a long waterfront, an active nightlife, and a wonderful ease. Tourist ships decorated as an ancient galley, a pirate ship, and even a Hawaiian tiki boat with cocktail bars moved along the coast. In the past I had imagined moving to Fuerteventura to enjoy warmth and the sea, but it always felt a bit too remote. Thessaloniki felt different. I could imagine living there.

A cocktail ship decorated as a pirate boat waiting at the waterfront of Thessaloniki for tourists like me who want to drink cocktails on board

The idea formed that I could apply for a web developer position at the innovation center. When I took the bus back to Sofia, it was only an idea. I could not have imagined that a year and a half later I would actually move to Thessaloniki and start working there.

In 2024 I was actially hired to work on Drupal projects. That particular detail later changed, but the role in Thessaloniki remained firmly in web development.

And they even prepare a great fry-up in this town!

Berlin, Choices, and Saying No

In June I traveled to Berlin for the WeAreDevelopers World Congress 2022. It was a massive conference, dense with talks, and full of companies held on June 14 and 15. I wanted to get a sense of the current developments in software crafting and see how my chances looked like in the job market.

WeAreDevelopers opens its doors for three days of talks, workshops and company presentations.

One of the companies I spoke with was the German development bank KfW. They used hackathons as part of their recruitment process and invited me to participate. I could not follow the invitation because I had already made other plans.

WeAreDevelopers was a truly overwhelming experience. I loved it!

I had the privilege of attending many workshops and talks at WeAreDevelopers 2022.

So many companies at this conference were looking to hire new developers.

Those plans involved something I had wanted to do for a long time. I was going to my very first demoparty. (My demoscene handle is Bala-Koala.)

A celebrity guests at WeAreDevelopers was John Romero from ID Software, one of the main developers of Doom. He did a book signing and issued a challenge to the audience. In a large lecture hall filled to the brim, two PCs stood on stage running Doom II. Anyone could step up and face him in a deathmatch.

John Romero held a book signing. On this photo you can't see the length of the line of people waiting to get their books signed.

No-one could defeat John Romero in a deathmatch in Doom II.

People tried. One after another. Romero did not lose a single match. Watching that unfold was both entertaining and oddly reassuring. Some people are still very, very good at the things they helped create.

Rapyd managed to get the legendary William Shatner as a testimonial (you can see him on the right side of the booth).

This is the main stage of WeAreDevelopers. An large number of presentations were held on it including one with GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke (not pictured here. LOL!)

One of the most significant moments of this year's congress was the keynote presentation delivered by GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. I did not know it at the time, but this event marked a watershed moment in technology history. It was one of the first public demonstrations of GitHub Copilot to the world. Dohmke used the presentation to unveil Copilot as an "AI pair programmer" designed to augment developers' capabilities rather than replace them. The centerpiece of his talk was a live coding demonstration in which he attempted to create a simple snake game using AI assistance, showcasing the tool's real-world potential.

Beyond the technical demonstration, Dohmke described a bold vision for the future of software development, predicting a massive transformation over the following five years driven by artificial intelligence. At the time I heard his message I did not know that only a few short years later I'd be working with AI in the area of marketing technology. AI fundamentally changed how we build software, but with GitHub Copilot as a partner working alongside me as a developers. It supported developers and did not replace human ingenuity and creativity.

After the congress I wanted to go to the Bud Spencer Museum... but it was closed that day. I guess you can't win all of the time!

Now this is my kind of museum in Berlin!

I absolutely adore Berlin!

Evoke and Finally Being There

Right after WeAreDevelopers, I went to Evoke 2022 in Cologne. This was the first Evoke held in person again. I had researched the demoscene for years and even written my master's thesis about its history, but I had never attended a demoparty myself. I jumped at the opportunity.

I cherished the experience so much that I wrote a separate article about it: Finding My People: A Little Demoparty Report of Evoke 2022.

While I was in Cologne for Evoke 2022, I also took the opportunity to visit the Cologne Cathedral.

Interestingly, declining the KfW hackathon in 2022 did not close the door. In 2023 I saw their announcement again. This time, the hackathon covered hotel, travel, and full board. I joined, found a great team, and we reached second place. I was also the oldest participant. That gave me an awkward perspective that I covered in my article about the KfW Hackathon 2023 here: Coding for a Cause: Our Hackathon Adventure at KfW Bank in July 2023.

Learning Again, Building Again

Sometime that summer, a YouTuber I liked named Tom Scott mentioned a British coding bootcamp called Boolean on his second, more casually produced channel. He offered a promo code, as was typical.

I did not plan to start working before November, and I had good experiences with bootcamps in the past. I enrolled in Boolean's frontend development course. It was held remotely and ran from July to the end of October. It was essentially full time. Mornings were spent practicing, self studying, or helping each other. Afternoons were dedicated to paired challenges.

It was really cool to learn more about frontend development in a structured way.

It was fun. I learned a lot and met people from very different backgrounds. Only later did I realize that I would start working in November at a company using exactly the frontend technologies Boolean had prepared me for.

So much to do and so little time!

The certificate is just a piece of paper... Actually, it's not even that because I received it as a PDF file. But the practical knowledge gained is invaluable. (Not sure why the letter "T" in "React" is capitalized though.)

As part of my training in 2022, I completed a course on cloud infrastructure and DevOps. I found it fascinating and gained a lot of respect for the complexity involved. At the same time, it made something very clear to me. I do not want to work in that area. There are many smart people who enjoy building and maintaining infrastructure. I want to build applications on top of it.

Out of curiosity and a desire to understand trends rather than hype, I also created a few NFTs and offered them on a marketplace. I did not make much money, but that was not the point. It was simply another hands on learning experience.

One of my first NFTs I created and posted on a marketplace.

While doing the bootcamp, I also took the opportunity to completely revamp this very website, marincomics.com. The first content I published were my master's thesis on the Atari ST demoscene and shorter university papers on early computer comics, Shatter on the Macintosh, and art created on Canada's Telidon system. I also republished a university project in which I upgraded an Atari STE and drew a four page comic on it.

The site had a modest but solid start. Over time it would turn into a long running blog where I documented my learning, my participation in demoparties and hackathons, and my experiments in web development. It became one of the most enjoyable projects I ever worked on.

A Job Fair and an Unexpected Detour

In the autumn I decided to visit Germany again and went to the Berliner Job Messe (the Berlin job fair). I love Berlin and cherish every opportunity to spend time there. The fair itself took place in a far corner of the city, housed in an old industrial hall on Lohmühleninsel, an island in the Spree river.

I listened in on several sessions and talked to some of the organizers and attendees. I came to realize quite quickly that I was not the right fit for many of the roles on offer.

In the end, it was not the right fit for me. Many of the jobs on offer were roles I did not want, such as accounting positions, or roles I could not realistically apply for because I am not a German national, including positions in the German military, local prisons, or the police. There were very few openings for web developers or designers.

The session on working in Denmark. While I am not really interested in moving there, I found it fascinating.

One thing did catch my attention though. There was an initiative promoting work opportunities in Denmark. They talked about the advantages of living and working there, the social system, and life in Copenhagen. They also explained the Danish concept of Hygge. It describes a focus on comfort, social closeness, and simple everyday well being. Not luxury or excitement, but creating a pleasant, calm atmosphere and enjoying ordinary moments with others.

The job fair was still fun to attend.

As it turned out, there was also a beautiful party happening right next door to the job fair. To this day I have no idea what it was actually about, but it had drinks, a Japanese themed stage, a woman dressed as a geisha, and plenty of Japanese trinkets. Whatever its purpose, it was lively and unexpectedly fun, and it ended up being one of the more memorable parts of the visit.

Now this was much cooler: the next door event that I never figured out what it was about.

I absolutely adore Berlin!

Drawing Comes Back

In 2022 I also bought a new iPad Pro with an M2 chip. I started drawing again using Procreate. Mostly strange figures, creatures, and rough comics. I used Procreate's screen recording feature and uploaded the results directly to YouTube.

The proud owner of a new iPad Pro with an M2 CPU

In a simple and playful way I got my drawing muscles moving again. I had loved drawing in the past but had largely stopped for several years. This was the beginning of picking it up seriously again in the years that followed.

Here are some of the timelapse videos I made of my drawings in 2022 and 2023: Timelapse Painting Videos 2022 and 2023

Ending Where I Started, but Not Really

In November I started working at a logistics communications startup as a web developer. I learned a lot, especially from its energetic founder and a whimsical Italian developer colleague. Ultimately, it became clear to me early on that I was not well suited for this job too. I would leave it in 2023. (In my defense, the company relieved most developers of their duties when leadership changed a few months after I left).

So in a way, 2022 started with a job I did not want and ended with a job I did not want. But everything in between mattered a lot.

In December, I joined two remote demoparties, Silly Venture WE 2022 and Zenta 2022 (that called itself "The once-in-lifetime post-christmas demoparty"). It was not the same as being there in person, but I could submit my graphics and connect with people. It was fun.

I could only see the beautiful stage at the Zenta 2022 demoparty throught the stream (photo by the organizers)

My graphics submission came in on third place at the Zenta 2022 demoparty (photo by the organizers)

Looking back, 2022 laid the foundations. Reconnecting with a former coworker. That later helped me move to Thessaloniki. A remote hackathon that led to many in person hackathons and even a win. A first demoparty that led to many more demoscene experiences and eventually to the Chaos Communication Congress years later. And a website relaunched from a clean slate that became a long term chronicle of all of this. But perhaps most significantly, 2022 was the year I witnessed the public debut of GitHub Copilot. This was an event that would prove to be the beginning of a profound transformation in how technology and human creativity combine.

None of this was obvious while it was happening. But movement, it turns out, is often enough to get things started. And sometimes, being in the right place at the right time means witnessing the future being born.

I guess I'll end this on a downer... In 2022, I also visited the memorial for the victims of the November 2020 attack in Vienna at its second anniversary.