---
title: "Ringing in the New Year by seeing out the old"
url: "http://andrewbolster.info/2011/12/ringing-in-the-new-year-by-seeing-out-the-old/"
date: "2011-12-31T17:15:38Z"
tags: ["Academia","Belfast","C/C++","Career","Cybersecurity","Education","EeePC","Hackerspace","Hacking","Opinion","Personal","PhD","QUB","Rant","Travel","Work-Life Balance"]
categories: ["Commentary"]
---

2011 has been a great year for me;

- Graduated with a 1st MEng in Electronics & Software Engineering @QUB,
- Got Job offer to a [major financial house](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=sorgan%20mtanley), which I turned down,
- Got Job offer to a [C|EH](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_Ethical_Hacker) company in England, which I turned down,
- Got [DELNI](http://www.delni.gov.uk/) Funded PhD offer (x4) from CSIT/ECIT, which I turned down,
- Got selected to be one of the two UK projects within a Joint UK/FR Defence PhD Programme, which I accepted,
- Saw fantastic growth in [QUESTS](http://quests.society.qub.ac.uk/) and the [Hacker^H^H^H^H^H^HMakerspace](//2011/04/why-belfast-needs-a-hackerspace/), including the beginning of a [Major project](http://quests.society.qub.ac.uk/index.php/2011/heliests-eeecs-funding-request-submitted/), which we got [EEECS](http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/eeecs/) Funding for and are also hoping to get [QAF](http://www.qub.ac.uk/home/Alumni/SupportQueens/DonatingtoQueens/QueensAnnualFund/) funding for QUESTS in general,
- We are on track to get a actual space for the Makerspace circa Summer 2012,
- Had the fantastic experience of living and working in Zurich for the summer with [IAESTE](http://www.iaesteni.org.uk/) / [Pc Engines Gmbh](http://pcengines.ch/), which gave me the opportunity to visit all over Europe, which was great for my confidence and self-belief, and also gave me a great many new friends all over the world,
- Started (re-)learning French,
- Came second in the UK Nationals of the [IET’s Present Around the World](http://conferences.theiet.org/ambition/present-world/index.cfm) Competition in Liverpool for my talk on Privacy in the Modern world (I keep meaning to screen-cast this but keep forgetting…)
- Had a great time making an [interesting](http://so.wouldu.me) site with Matt Campbell, Alastair McKinley, and the Sisk Brothers (was live for a few days over the summer, and we didn’t want to pay for it so let it die; may go back to it this year!)
- Was asked to speak at the [QUB EEECS RS](http://www.qub.ac.uk/schools/eeecs/Research/ResearchSociety/) Colloquium, representing Digital Communications within QUB/ECIT.
- Travelled over 6,000 Miles, visiting at least 12 cities in 7 countries.
- Lost a phone and a bike,
- Went on 12 ‘dates’, 5 of which were worth while, 3 of which I’m still in touch with,
- Taught at least 5 first years that C++ isn’t magic, it’s just poorly taught,
- Sat on 5 committees, only one of which made me feel productive,
- Had a pretty awesome time.

Going forward, I’m not going to make a load of promises I won’t keep. Thanks to all my friends, family, colleagues, competitors, enemies, bureaucrats, pencil-pushers, and random-folk who made my year what it was.

I plan on only two things;  [KISS](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle), and…

[![](/uploads/2011/12/tumblr_lvbbgb3iQ41qm70hpo4_400-257x300.jpg)](/uploads/2011/12/tumblr_lvbbgb3iQ41qm70hpo4_400.jpg)