🎉 Happy Birthday to Me! 🎂

“I’m not getting older, I’m just incrementing.” – me, at 26, still in beta.

First of all, I’d like to give myself a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
This post might be a few days late, but it’s still my birthday week, and I’m here to unwind and give myself a pat on the back for all the highs and lows I’ve survived.

My career path has never been a walk in the park. Freelancing is the ultimate “do‑it‑yourself” challenge compared to a regular, rank‑and‑file job. Still, I’m grateful for the hustle. Tech trends never take a break, so I’ve been chasing the latest—full‑stack in college, blockchain right after graduation, AI just when the world started yelling “next big thing,” and now DevOps and homelab setups. Each new frontier felt like jumping in a cold pool, but I’ve learned, succeeded, and kept my curiosity afloat.

Sometimes I wish I could pick one IT track and stick with it forever—stable life, no hair loss, no constant learning. I’m now a jack‑of‑all‑trades, master‑of‑none, and I’m still navigating it solo. Moving from Bicol to Laguna added another layer of “lost‑in‑the‑middle” feeling, because I thought the worse electricity and internet in Bicol would make it hard to progress, but the truth was—with less local job offers, it is the perfect go signal to go outside of my safe zone. Still, I keep hopeful that my career and visibility will improve, my reach will grow, and the loneliness will shrink to a nice, manageable level.

I’m not a people‑person (introvert, bless my soul), but I want to share my tech know‑how with everyone—because knowledge is better when it’s not hoarded in a dark corner of my mind.

Where to go next?

For now, I’m treating myself to a little self‑care.
This isn’t a sponsored ad—just a personal upgrade: an off‑brand keyboard and case combo for my iPad.
It may not be the flashiest gear, but it’s a serious productivity booster—think of it as a “keyboard‑to‑the‑future” that won’t break the bank.

What’s the deal with the iPad accessories?

I love the iPad: it’s small, portable, and can fit in my backpack, purse, or even my pocket (sometimes). My daily driver is the iPhone—great for everything from calls to selfies, but its tiny screen means I can’t really do anything more than scroll social media without eye‑strain.
That’s why the keyboard and case combo feel like a secret weapon. With a physical keyboard, I can type faster than a coffee‑shop barista in a rush, and the case keeps the iPad from slipping out of my lap during those “in‑the‑moment” coding sessions.

Why not a MacBook?

MacBooks are fab—lightweight, sleek, battery‑hungry, and great for on‑the‑go power. I still own a MacBook Pro M1, but I’ve grown a bit weary of it. I want to break out of the “conventional” and challenge myself a touch more. Plus, with AI making coding accessible on almost any device.

So here’s the challenge: let’s see how far an iPad can take me alone.
I’m honestly shifting my focus a bit: less pure‑code, more engineering‑mindset. I want to:

• Level up my engineering skills beyond just writing code
• Venture into the wild—travel, meet people, collaborate in person
• Use the iPad as a “backup console” that lets me get my hands dirty without the fear of “I don’t have my laptop with me” kind of excuse.

A quick tour of my new gear

DevOps & Homelab
Over the past few years I’ve built my own homelab, unsubscribed from every streaming service, and started hosting my own media streaming, projects, and even a local LLM. Everyone’s pinging ChatGPT, but if I ever use it, I’ll be the kind of coder who says, “I’m just another disposable employee—I’m a full stack engineer that goes home right after my daily AI credits runs empty.”

New IDE
At first glance, my new IDE is just “VS Code in a browser.” Nothing special. But on paper it’s a game‑changer for a freelancer, a software engineer, and a DevOps enthusiast like me.
With it I can:

• Run multiple repository at once without the dreaded “dependency hell” nightmare
• Skip the “I need a $4,000 MacBook” sigh
• Debug on a Windows laptop without the hassle of extra hardware

The best part? I can sprint straight to a coffee shop, fire up the IDE on my iPad, and develop—no compromises, no buffering, just pure code‑flow.

That’s the long story of my iPad accessories. I’ll keep sharing more about my new IDE once I’ve nailed it, so stay tuned!

What’s the plan for next year?

In the coming year, I’ll:

• Launch more personal projects under my own brand, using the aldrickb.app platform to keep them growing.
• Once they hit that sweet spot of users and a little revenue (yes, I’ll brag about that later), I’ll scale them to a more powerful platform for unstoppable reach.
• Keep blogging on aldrickb.com—because every developer’s worst fear is writing documentation, and I’m determined to get better at the non‑coding parts of life starting with blogging.
• Try vlogging—I’ve watched plenty of devs get their big break from the camera. Speaking isn’t my strongest suit yet, but my past public engagements give me a foundation, and I’m ready to give it a shot.
• Travel—once my DevOps and homelab skills are at the level where a tablet is a full‑blown remote console, I’ll meet peers in person, share ideas, and grow my network.

Thank you & good luck to me

So here I am, writing on a digital stone that may or may not be read.
I’m still hopeful that someday my career, visibility, and reach will improve—so I won’t feel lonely and will be able to share my tech love with the world.

Cheers to the next chapter, to more coding (but not all of it), and to making every line of code count.

Happy birthday to me—here’s to another year of learning, laughing, and building something great!