2025 In Review: My DIY Era

“Money is only a tool. It will take you wherever you wish, but it will not replace you as the driver. It will give you the means for the satisfaction of your desires, but it will not provide you with desires.” — Ayn Rand

Happy New Year to you, and it's wonderful to have you read this piece. 2025 was quite an interesting year for me. It was the year I got to really explore my hobbies a lot. The thing is, there are a lot of cool things on the internet, and it is a let down that no matter what, someone can't get to know all. However, I have been doubling down on being a sponge and absorbing as much information as possible.

As custom, I like to start my year in review articles by reviewing my expectations for that year from the previous year's review article.

1. Land a new role: I didn't land a new role. I sent some applications, landed some interviews, advanced to some stages, but nothing clicked. Hopefully, this year, my story will change. I think the problem is largely that most recruiters and people don't really understand my skill set and what I can do. It's usually people who are friends or have observed me in social spaces that realise the depth of my talent. In the end, it is a skill issue sha, and if you would put in the word for me, I would be really grateful.

2. Enter my DIY era properly: I think the title of this article gives a hint already, but if you need confirmation, this was achieved to the fullest. I got a home lab server in February, and it has been so fun having one. Currently, I have at least 17 services running on it.

3. Make enough money to fund my side projects: The thing about money is that you can never make enough of it. But I was lucky enough to stumble upon a sizable amount of money, which allowed me to try things I found interesting.

4. Travel to more cities in Nigeria: This year, I moved around Nigeria a good number of times, but I only got to visit a new city, which was Kaduna, once. I hoped to chain the trip with a trip to Jos, but it didn't work out due to scheduling.

Friendship

This year was a good year for me, friendship-wise. I got to see all my close friends and group members. I got to party with them, shared bread with them, and bantered with them online, too. It always gives me joy to see the amount of growth in my circle. Seeing folks around putting in the work daily to be better at their craft, while supporting their family, in this crazy inflation-heavy country. It is no easy feat, and I commend you all for it. I am also happy knowing my friends have my back, just as I have for them, and I do not take it for granted. This year I have also realised some people are geared towards always taking and do not have it in mind to give, even in the "little way" they can. I do not think such friendships are sustainable. I have subconsciously shifted away from such individuals.

Relationship

Lol, I do not know here to start when it comes to this for real. My love life and relations with women are very complicated. I do not even know how that happens; it just happens. I am a strong advocate of always being honest with anyone, especially when it comes to romantic context and what both parties want. If you are a no-label person, then you should be with a no-label person, and so on, you get the gist. People think I speak or follow many women. Well, I am the guy to see a stunning woman, say "Women are too beautiful" in my head and go about my day like nothing happened.

You see, a woman is a lot to handle, talk more of multiples. However, the problem is history; people I have been involved with have a pattern of sticking around. I wouldn't say I am a coward to call it all off, because it's not like a contract was enabled. But I had already made up my mind earlier (2025 Q4) to keep boundaries with people from the past in that light. If this hurts, I am sorry. I have spoken with a female friend about how best to handle this, and she suggested I ghost. I do not know how to ghost, but I do know how to keep boundaries.

Life can be cruel to me when it comes to relationship things. I no know if dem use situationships swear for me. It's really hard to meet someone whom I really, really like and keeps me fascinated. Most times when I do and realise how I feel, the person is pretty much in a distant city from me. There's this woman who perfectly matches me. She gets me and my modus operandi. But distance is a bitch, though. I hope for ease.

Finance

2025 was much better than 2024. I had a lot of crazy down years when it comes to finances, the prior year. In 2025, the secret was luck. I got an Airdrop from a project in the DeSci ecosystem. It was part of the ecosystem's share for folks who had contributed to the ecosystem, and it had a couple of requirements, and I was fortunate to get eligible. It was a good 5-figure drop, and it served as my runway for 2025. It wasn't life-changing money, but it was good money. When I saw that token in my wallet, I wanted to keep it and not swap most. A friend advised me it is better to take my profit and squeeze face. I am glad I listened to him because, as it stands, the tokens are worth <95% of its TGE price. As it stands, the current crypto market doesn't reward believers, so best to take profit when you can.

I could remember going out to swim some days after seeing the money, and the thought in my head was literally that "They don't know I am..." meme. As always, I see money as a tool, and I pretty much use it to sort things, especially family-wise. The country has gotten bad inflation-wise, and I have had to support more actively at home. I even had to clear some family debt. I got myself some gadgets too, because it doesn't make sense not to also prioritise oneself. I did get some side income here and there, but nothing stable and predictable. As it stands, I have pretty much burnt out 99 of my runway. I do not regret my decisions. However, please help my life, so I can feed my wife and 4 kids.

Career

My career this year has been more about learning deeply. I have been a Delegate at Scroll since November 2024. Work as a delegate is more part-time and not full-time, so I usually have a couple of hours to myself in a week to pursue side interests. This year, I have been diving deep into Governance and exploring the different mechanisms possible. The most interesting recent thing is the Co-Creation Sprint we had at Scroll, to define the tone and pace for the DAO come 2026. The highlight of this year was going to Devconnect and connecting with amazing folks from the Ethereum community. I enjoyed that trip so much. Travelling is fun, but travelling with a friend is more fun.

This year, I explored and learnt a lot of things, networking and infra-wise, thanks to my investment in the home lab server and my curiosity. I did a lot of tinkering, learnt a lot and also wrote a lot of technical articles about it. I think a career in DevOps/Cloud/SRE has been calling me, but I have been stalling. I think I will pick up the call. Looking to see how I can learn and get to work on infra-related matters at a blockchain company. If you know anyone hiring, kindly put in a word for me.

Ls

1. Didn't get a job offer I was hoping for.

Ws

1. I survived.
2. I spoke at Devconnect in Argentina.
3. I spoke at 8 events.
4. Organised DevFest Enugu together with the team members and volunteers.
5. I made a custom datalogger for my inverter.
6. I started putting out some video content.
7. I have built quite a few personal side projects.
8. I hosted a DeSci Africa meetup

Gadgets Acquired

1. ASUS ROG Ally X
2. DJI Mini 4 Pro
3. Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 Classic (I lost the previous one to water damage ironically)
4. Samsung Buds 3 Pro
5. HP 290 SSF (home lab)

Personal Top 5 Albums of the Year

1. Nasty C  - Free
2. Dave  -  The Boy Who Played Harp
3. Giveon - Beloved
4. The Cavemen - Cavy In The City
5. Show Dem Camp - Afrika Magik

My expectations for next year

1. Land a new role.
2. Gain clarity in my career.

Conclusion

This year was truly my DIY era. I explored my interests, I broke things, I learnt, and I became better. In all of it, I discovered I was happy doing it all, and life really starts to make more sense when you chase your passions. Of course, I do realise I was able to do it because I had good money, but the truth is, a good number of people could still have it, and have different priorities. My bookshelf is bigger than last year. I finished the 5th Dune book. I plan to finish 6th this new year. I took my fitness seriously this year. This was the first time I went to the gym consistently for more than a month. I look forward to continuing to work on toning my body.

I am currently working on a fun side project that solves a serious problem I have observed in the renewable energy sector. The goal is to launch the MVP in January and see how people react to it. The plan is to have it as a free tool, since I am self-hosting 80% of the components for it. I do not know what the future would be for it, though. I demoed a prototype of it to a friend who came over this holiday, and he was very impressed with it. It's fun and also a learning curve for me so far, so exactly what I like.

I am, however, looking to explore new opportunities this new year. I need to work on something exciting that keeps my hands very full. The truth is, I am an ambitious generalist. And it is tough, especially in a world that is skewed towards specialists. Hopefully, I get to join an early-stage startup, where my value would be understood. I wish you a truckload of luck this new year. Thanks for reading.