Bo Peng About Blog Contact

Computer Science 2018, University of Waterloo

2017 Year in Review

2017 was an incredible year for me. In this blog post, I will provide a recap of my 2017 year, and set new goals for 2018.

Class picture

2017: New year, new same me.


2017 Recap

  • I was on 21 one-way flights, equivalent to my previous lifetime total.
  • I transferred from SE to CS. I will now graduate in August 2018, so I will begin job hunting in January or February. (Hello full-time friends who can help me out! 😄)
  • Made significant strength and aesthetics progress, including a 405lb deadlift PR!
  • Secured a co-op offer at LinkedIn, and the opportunity to return to my favourite place in the world: New York City. 🗽
  • Had a great time at CUSEC 2017 in Montreal.
  • An awesome internship at Axon. The summer weather in Seattle is spectacular.
  • Rode along with police officers across the US and watched them use lackluster software solutions.
  • Flew to Hollywood and learned about how the industry works there.
  • Went on the best trip of my life to date. Spent a week rafting and camping along the Colorado River, and then hiked out of the Grand Canyon.
  • Discovered how amazing the Bose QC 35 Wireless Headphones were – they literally changed my life.
  • Finally stopped procrastinating and kicked off the Canada new grad offer survey. I will publish a blog post describing the results on January 5th.
  • Turned 21 a few weeks ago, finally legal in America!

Oh man, what an incredible year it’s been. These were just a few of many memories that I loved about 2017.

Back in February, I wrote a blog post about the iceberg illusion. I was very proud of writing that post because it was the first time I openly discussed struggles that I was facing. In 2018, I wish to write more about challenging moments, so that my blog can be more relatable and personal.

2018 Goals

A year ago, I had set several goals for my 2017 year. Though I’m pleased that I achieved most of them, I also realized that some of these goals didn’t really matter that much to me. For example, one goal that I described was “significantly reduce my use of plastic water bottles”.

For 2018, I’m setting goals that are much simpler and more meaningful to me.

  • Be happy and healthy.
  • Be brave and vulnerable.
  • Maintain & develop great relationships.
  • Graduate.
  • Get full-time job offer(s).
  • Join the 1000lb club for squat/bench/deadlift total.

I’m feeling quite bullish about 2018. I can’t wait for the new people and experiences 2018 will bring to my life!