Developer of the Year 2015 net Award

Last Friday, I gave my first keynote in the UK at Generate Conf. That same day, the net awards were announced. On Saturday, I came back home with an award: the Developer of the Year award. This is a short thank you post to everyone involved.

A few months ago, many fellow designers and developers nominated me for two net awards: Outstanding Contribution and Developer of the Year.

Last Friday, the winners of the different categories were announced, and I’m thrilled to have won the Developer of the Year award.

I can’t even begin to explain how happy and humbled that makes me. To be recognized and appreciated by your fellow colleagues is a great privilege, and a badge I wear with pride.

I haven’t gotten a chance to say thanks to each and every one who congratulated me over Twitter after the award announcements—the feedback was so overwhelming (and fast!) that I just couldn’t keep up, so I thought I’d wait till I’m back home to write a thank you post instead.

So: thank you! Thank you to every one who nominated me and deemed me worthy of this title, and thank you to every one who voted and supported me. Two and a half years ago, when I started working in this field, I didn’t expect to be here today. I had different plans, most of which were unclear, and I never thought when I wrote my first blog post (on a really ugly blog design :P) that I’d end up shifting my overall path and doing all the writing and speaking that I am doing today. I am thankful to God and grateful for each and every step and opportunity I got along the way, and for all your wonderful support.

And now, since I’m really bad at coming up with proper ‘speeches’, I’ll keep it short and end with a huge Thank You one more time. You are awesome! ^_^

–S