Dear developers,

this year there have been a lot of changes, and I guess the end of the year is a time for reflection. This year I have (once again) moved from Sweden to Germany for new opportunities. Every opportunity usually brings its challenges. Moving abroad is always a challenge, and I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t say that I miss Sweden every day. This blog and my YouTube channel have been one way for me to think of something else than home.

The three biggest things that I’ve done this year are getting married, moving abroad and starting a TwinCAT 3 course/tutorial on YouTube. That’s been enough to keep the brain busy for this year. While we’re at the topic of the TwinCAT 3 tutorial; the response to this has been much bigger than I would ever have imagined. As of writing this, my YouTube channel has grown to over 4300 subscribers and has had over 160.000 views. 4300 subscribers doesn’t sound like a lot, especially when you compare to many other YouTubers (pewdiepie!). But then, TwinCAT 3 is a very narrow subject compared to most other things that exist on YouTube! Taking this into consideration I think 4300 suddenly sounds OK’ish…I didn’t even think there were so many people around the world that even know what TwinCAT 3 is 😂 Then only around 10% of my viewers are subscribers, but I guess TwinCAT 3 developers don’t want to have YouTube accounts! 😄 I’m of course very happy about this response, that’s why I’ve decided to ramp up on this channel (more on this soon).

The crescent nebula, taken this year from a light polluted Munich

So, what’s happening in 2022? Well, one of the things that had to suffer this year is another great hobby of mine – astronomy. In 2022 I want to take more time to enjoy the night sky. Going out and watching the stars, alone or together with someone else, is probably the best way to relax the mind. The stars have always given me joy and that’s why I’m so happy whenever I get an opportunity where I can combine my programming skills with astronomy. I’ve recently joined Volkssternwarte München, and it seems the club and the people seem to be really fun. I will continue working with my YouTube channel. The number one priority on my YouTube channel is to finish the remaining parts of the TwinCAT 3 tutorial. The amount of hours I had to put into the tutorial (10 parts out of 18 finished) already makes it the biggest hobby project I’ve ever commited myself to, so I won’t be surprised if I have to spend a big chunk of 2022 to finish the remaining 8 parts of the series. I have ideas for a couple of other videos on the channel, again about TwinCAT 3 development which I think might be a little bit fun for everyone that is not a TwinCAT 3 beginner.

This whole year, literally 100% of my spare-time have gone into creating the TwinCAT 3 tutorial, working on this blog, answering all the e-mails I get and working on TcUnit. I want to continue making the automation industry more open and prone to adapting modern software development practices. Doing this in all my spare-time is not sustainable in the long run, so I’m planning on working less on my day-to-day job so that I can work more on this blog and on my YouTube channel. For this reason I have decided to create a Patreon account for anyone that wants to support me. All contributions will go straight to the creation of more PLC/TwinCAT 3 related content.

With that being said, I want to thank all my readers, and I hope to see you in the next year!