2024 was one of the most eventful years of my life. I started my first full-time job out of college, moved to a new city, traveled to multiple countries, and reconnected with old friends while making new ones. The year brought some of my highest highs and lowest lows, but it's one I'll remember for a long time.

I've wanted to write a yearly reflection for a while, and this year, I'm finally doing it.

Reflecting on 2024

At the start of the year, I packed my bags and moved from Toronto to New York City to start a new role at Check. I had been following Check since my junior year of college (shoutout to Amar for taking the first call with me in 2022) and was incredibly excited to join the team as a software engineer. Living in NYC had also been a long-term goal of mine, so crossing the border in early January felt like a dream come true.

The early months of 2024 were rough, to say the least. While I was learning a lot at work and enjoyed collaborating with great people, life outside of work felt lonely. I didn't know many people and struggled to fill my free time. Having lived in Toronto for 22 years, adjusting to a new home and being away from my parents was harder than I expected.

But as the year progressed, things started to look up. I built new friendships both in and out of work, traveled with friends and family, moved to a part of NYC I really like, and (hopefully) became a sharper engineer and business thinker.

At Check, I had the opportunity to help build and scale our Embedded Setup product over the past year. I'm also incredibly fortunate to have a manager who consistently pushes me to be a better leader and engineer and has been invested in my growth since day one. Check rewards engineers for shipping fast, thinking like product owners, and being strong communicators—I've grown in all these areas and am grateful to have experienced this environment early in my career.

A major theme of 2024 was strengthening relationships—maintaining old friendships, reconnecting with people from my past, and making new friends. I've been lucky to build great friendships with colleagues at Check and meet new people through mutual friends. It's also been special to stay close with friends from Toronto and reconnect with high school buddies I had drifted from during college.

Travels

One of the biggest highlights of the year was traveling. Some standout moments:

• Reuniting with college friends in the UK. Staying connected post-graduation was something I worried about, but visiting friends after almost a year felt like picking up right where we left off.

• Exploring Palermo with my parents. Moving away has made time with my parents more special. Traveling with them to Italy was incredible, and I hope to make it a yearly tradition.
  

• Visiting Japan. Japan is truly a special place—if you haven't been, I highly recommend it.
  

• Returning to India after five years. I grew up visiting India every summer, so seeing my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins again was amazing. It was also cool to witness how much the infrastructure has improved in Punjab over the past five years.

  

Challenges

Despite the highlights, the year had its struggles:

• Loneliness. The early months in NYC were tough. I initially did a poor job of reaching out to old friends and meeting new people—partly because of the transition, partly because of a fear of rejection.
• Anxiety & self-doubt. I spent a lot of time second-guessing myself—whether it was how I came across in social situations, whether I said the right thing in meetings, or whether I was learning the "right" things.

Running & Consistency

In October, I ran my first half-marathon—a goal I'd had since early 2022 but kept pushing off. I finally committed last May and started training. Shoutout to Richard for encouraging me and inviting me to run with him almost every day when I visited Toronto last summer.

One of my biggest takeaways from 2024 was the importance of consistency. Whether it was pushing through a tough project at work, making a habit of reaching out to friends, going on a run after a long day, calling my parents, or even just cleaning my room regularly, consistency gave me a sense of control that I often lacked in college.

Looking Ahead to 2025

For the first time in a while, I feel like I'm enjoying the daily grind and working toward a long-term purpose. A few things I'm excited about this year:

• Exploring vertical AI & AI-enabled services. I've become fascinated by how AI is transforming traditional service businesses and new business models emerging from AI rollups and vertical AI agents. My goal is to dive deeper into this space.
• Playing basketball again. I grew up playing competitively but stopped in high school. I recently started playing pickup again and want to keep it up 1–2 times a week.
• Running. Training for a half-marathon was one of my favorite experiences last year. I've signed up for another half in May and hope to run my first full marathon in the fall.
• Learning from people I admire in technology. Last year, I found myself hesitating to reach out to people I look up to—whether due to self-doubt or feeling like I needed to have everything figured out as a full-time engineer. This year, I want to push past that hesitation and have more conversations with those whose work and insights I respect.