feat: add 2025 retro article

Author: TechWatching

content/1.posts/76.2025-retro.md

@@ -0,0 +1,182 @@
+---
+title: A Year of Diverse Content Creation - Dev Retro 2025
+description: 2025 retrospective and plans for 2026
+date: 2026-01-02T00:00:00.000Z
+image:
+  src: /images/review_1.jpg
+badge:
+  label: Essay
+tags:
+  - thoughts
+  - learning
+  - retro
+---
+
+It's time to write my annual retrospective and make some plans for 2026.
+
+## Plans For 2025 Versus Reality
+
+Like I did last year, here are the goals I set for 2025 and what actually happened.
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Organize 4 meetups for `MTG:Bordeaux`
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ✅ We we organized 4 `MTG:Bordeaux` meetups, including one that was a little special, our first “VS Code Dev Days Bordeaux”. All meetups were live-streamed on YouTube and the replays are available on our [YouTube playlist](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5Kprdw8GhxdySCoOw9_l5QfqW5a5W69p&si=LZi0OC5rQqwWwd_t).
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Create a website for `MTG:Bordeaux`
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  🟧 This one is funny: I created a website for `MTG:Bordeaux` using GitHub Spec Kit, and I even gave a talk about building it live with my friend Xavier Noya. But we never published it, something we will probably do in 2026.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Create a talk (for a meetup or developer conference) about devcontainers
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ❌ This one didn't happen, even though I did experiment with devcontainers and am convinced of their usefulness. But other topics took priority and I attended or watched talks about devcontainers that were better than what I could have prepared. Maybe I'll create one at some point if I find a unique angle that has something fresh to offer. Combining Aspire and devcontainers could be interesting for instance.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Present at least 2 different talks at developer conferences
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  🟧 I was less successful with the call for papers this year so I only gave one talk at a developer conference. It was a talk with Engin Diri from Pulumi, very nice to give a talk together. I also gave a talk at a meetup, and participated in 2 podcast episodes.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Create 4 YouTube videos about a developer tool or technology
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ✅ I published 6 YouTube videos on my [channel](https://www.youtube.com/@techwatching/videos) in 2025, so I exceeded this goal.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Obtain the official Vue.js certification
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ❌ 2025 was the year of AI coding assistants, and I spent a lot of time experimenting with them instead of studying for the Vue.js certification. This is no longer one of my priorities right now.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Reach 2k followers on LinkedIn and 1k on Bluesky
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ❌ I now have 1.4k followers on LinkedIn and 730 on Bluesky, so even though my audience grew, I didn't reach my goals. I could have by accepting every connection request or posting more controversial content, but I prefer to grow my audience organically and stay true to myself. Since last September I've been posting more regularly on LinkedIn so reaching 2k is probably a goal I could keep for 2026.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Migrate my [personal website](https://techwatching.dev/) to Nuxt Content v3 and finalize the public speaking section
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ✅ I did it just in time, as I deployed this upgrade the 31st of December 😃. And there is now a dedicated [public speaking section](https://techwatching.dev/speaking).
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Improve the [*Pulumi Azure Workshop*](https://github.com/TechWatching/pulumi-azure-workshop) with a section about using existing infrastructure
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ❌ I did not take the time to add this section, maybe in 2026 if I give this workshop again.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Develop a 1-day Pulumi training course
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ❌ I did not create the training course, as I am not sure there is a demand for it right now. It could also take the form of a series of shorter videos instead of a full-day course.
+  :::
+::
+
+::tabs
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-calendar-check-bold" label="Goal"}
+  Build a small application using Dapr and running in Azure Container Apps
+  :::
+
+  :::div{icon="i-ph-target-bold" label="Reality"}
+  ❌ Still on my to-do list, but I didn't find the time to do it in 2025.
+  :::
+::
+
+Lots of goals I did not achieved this year, yet I feel I have been pretty busy so what did I do in 2025?
+
+## Diversifying My Content Creation: Blog, YouTube, LinkedIn, Podcasts
+
+I had a productive beginning of the year on my blog with several articles about Aspire, .NET and Nuxt.
+
+However, I didn't keep up the pace and shifted my focus to learning about AI coding assistants, particularly GitHub Copilot. AI coding assistants, AI agents, and MCP servers are having a significant impact on software development and are personally transforming the way I work. This field is evolving rapidly (even by IT standards) so I need to keep learning to stay up to date.
+
+To share what I learn, I diversified my content creation efforts and started making short YouTube videos about GitHub Copilot. While tools like Cursor and Claude Code generate a lot of buzz for their innovations, many people don't realize that GitHub Copilot has also evolved massively and now offers similar features along with access to a wide range of models. Videos felt like a natural way to demonstrate what's possible with AI through GitHub Copilot. I quickly discovered that creating videos (even short ones) requires significant effort and additional skills, making it harder to get started than I expected. However, it allows me to reach a different audience and share knowledge in a more visual format, so I plan to continue creating videos in 2026.
+
+![YouTube channel](/posts/images/76.retro_2025_1.png){.rounded-lg .mx-auto}
+
+I was already active on LinkedIn, but not in a consistent manner. Starting in September 2025, and following the example of people like [Manon Amalric](https://www.linkedin.com/in/manon-amalric/) (whom I thank for her helpful tips), I began posting every workday—sharing tips, resources, and thoughts about cloud, GitHub Copilot, and developer experience. Even if I plan most of my posts in advance, it's quite time-consuming to create all this content on LinkedIn but it's rewarding to see the engagement and discussions it generates. It's a bit random what resonates with people, it's not always the posts I spent the most time on that get the most engagement. Nevertheless, posting regularly greatly improved my content performance and is something I intend to continue doing in 2026.
+
+![LinkedIn content performance](/posts/images/76.retro_2025_2.png){.rounded-lg .mx-auto}
+
+For the first time, I participated in a podcast ["Dev dev dev .net"](https://devdevdev.net/) hosted by [Richard Clark](https://www.linkedin.com/in/c2i-richard-clark/) where I joined fellow IT professionals to discuss news and IT technologies, mostly in the Microsoft ecosystem. Thanks, Richard, for inviting me. I truly enjoyed being part of these two episodes and look forward to participating again in 2026.
+
+## Involvement in the local tech communities
+
+In 2025, I kept growing the meetup group `Microsoft Tech Group Bordeaux` I started with [Christian Bonnaud](https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-bonnaud/) and [Xavier Noya](https://www.linkedin.com/in/xavier-noya/) in 2024:
+- The [meetup group](https://www.meetup.com/mtg-bordeaux/) went from 183 to 364 members
+- 4 in-person meetups hosted but also live-streamed on [YouTube](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5Kprdw8GhxdySCoOw9_l5QfqW5a5W69p\&si=JRKRNpGnOCtJ6vq0)
+- 8 talks and 10 speakers
+- More than 30 attendees for each meeting
+- More that 950 views of the replays on [YouTube](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5Kprdw8GhxdySCoOw9_l5QfqW5a5W69p\&si=JRKRNpGnOCtJ6vq0)
+- 367 followers on the [LinkedIn page of MTG\:Bordeaux](https://www.linkedin.com/company/mtg-bordeaux)
+
+During this year, I was also involved in the creation of ["La grappe numérique"](https://www.lagrappenumerique.fr/) which is the gathering of Bordeaux's digital communities. The goal is to create synergies between the different communities, share resources, solve common challenges, and organize joint events. We organized our launch event in September with attendees from more than 30 different communities and the announcement of the [shared website](https://www.lagrappenumerique.fr/) which lists all the tech communities in Bordeaux and their upcoming events. We were also present on a dedicated community booth at the BDX I/O developer conference in November.  
+
+## What's Next For 2026?
+
+For 2026, I'll revisit some of the goals I didn't achieve last year while also tackling new ones:
+
+- Organize 4 meetups for `MTG:Bordeaux`
+- Create a website for `MTG:Bordeaux`
+- Be a speaker at 2 developer conferences
+- Attend MVP Summit in Seattle
+- Reach 2k followers on LinkedIn and 1k on Bluesky
+- Keep posting regularly on LinkedIn and reach 350k total views
+- Create a series of YouTube videos about GitHub Copilot (at least 5 videos)
+- Write at least 12 articles on my blog
+- Add aditional prompts, instructions and agents to my [Copilot Goodies](https://github.com/TechWatching/copilot-goodies) open source GitHub repository
+- Create a tool to manage easily the GitHub repositories I starred
+- Build a small application using Dapr and running in Azure Container Apps
+
+On a personal level, I also have important projects for 2026 so I hope to find a good balance between work, content creation, and personal life.
+If some of my tech 2026 goals are not achieved but my personal life goes well and I keep learning and sharing, I will consider it a successful year anyway.
+
+## To Conclude
+
+Enjoy 2026 and keep learning.