Reflections on 2024 and Exciting Plans for 2025
Looking back at what we accomplished in 2024, and plans for 2025
2024 went by quite fast. I’m deeply grateful to all of you who’ve been a part of this journey with me and supported my work. This is going to be a short post where I want to share some updates about how far we’ve come as a community this year, and outline some exciting plans for 2025.
A Retrospective of 2024
Posts and Videos
This year, I published 40 new posts. Some were deep and detailed articles, such as this one on the design and implementation of the CPython Virtual Machine which was over 5000 words, or 21 pages.
Many of these posts have gone viral on Hacker News, Reddit, Twitter, and the Fediverse as well, which has been incredibly encouraging to see.
I want to express my heartfelt thanks to each of you. Your support, engagement, and enthusiasm have been the driving force behind this community's growth. Every comment, share, and subscription has meant the world to me.
Growth of our Community
At the beginning of 2024, we were a community of 4212 readers here. We have just about doubled this year, and currently stand at 9380 readers.
The articles were viewed almost 443,682 times from various sources all across the Internet this year, which has also doubled from last year.
As far as paid subscribers are concerned, we started the year with a total of 12 paid subscribers, and the support has grown to 80 paid subscribers. The numbers could have been higher, but it has been an uphill battle because of the issues with Stripe and Substack.
What makes my work stand out is how deep we dive into systems topics and link them with real-world implementations. There aren’t many places where you’ll find this kind of detailed content. Without your support, I wouldn’t be able to keep this up, and unfortunately, such unique content could disappear.
By subscribing, you're not just helping me pay the bills, you’re ensuring that this nerdy deep dive continues and flourishes. I genuinely appreciate each of you who helps keep this alive. Let’s keep exploring these complex systems together. Thanks so much for considering supporting this adventure!
Plans for 2025
I will continue to put out my best work this coming year as well and it will remain available to all of you. However, I am planning to introduce a few small changes and features to give few more extra perks to the paid subscribers. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about.
Early Access to New Articles
My articles are available freely, and will continue to remain that way.
However, moving forward I will release some of my new articles in early access mode exclusively for the paid subscribers. After a period of two weeks, the article will unlock and become available for everyone.
Early access gives you an insider access to what is happening, you can ask me questions on the article while it is hot in my head. Two weeks later I might have a new piece out and moved on to something new.
“What’s in My Browser Tabs” Series
I'm going to start a new series exclusively for paid subscribers.
While writing any article, I explore numerous papers, articles, videos, and books. Rather than letting these valuable resources fade away, I'll share them in a bi-weekly digest called "What's in My Browser Tabs", giving you insight into the materials that inform my work.
There are more resources than I can write articles about and these are too valuable to keep them locked with me, so the best thing I can do is to share them with you. I am confident you will find them valuable.
Research Papers Discussion and Live Sessions
I will continue doing the live sessions in the format you've enjoyed, such as the 1BRC session, whenever I find an interesting topic. Additionally, I'm introducing a new format: research paper discussions.
For example, we might dive into a seminal paper like "Implementing Light-weight Threads" by D. Stein and D. Shah, or explore a cutting-edge research paper on programming language design. These sessions will be interactive discussions where we collectively break down complex ideas, with everyone bringing their unique perspective and insights.
We'll decide on the paper beforehand, read it offline, and then explore its nuances during the session. This is meant to supplement, not replace, the existing live session format.
Upgrading to a Paid Subscription
If you wish to upgrade to a paid subscription, here are the options.
Through Substack
You can do it through Substack itself. The monthly subscription is priced at INR 550/- which is USD 6.5. The annual plan is priced at INR 4999, which is $59.
Through GitHub Sponsorship
For many people, the Substack payment fails. So I offer a few alternatives. One of them is GitHub sponsorships. I will manually upgrade you to a paid subscription on Substack.
Become a Member at Buy me a coffee
Another alternative is to become a member on my buymeacoffee page and I will upgrade you to a paid subscription here.
If you don’t want to become a member, you can also buy me a few coffees and I will upgrade you to a paid subscription for the equivalent number of months.
Final Thoughts
I’ve poured my heart and soul into this project. It's been deeply rewarding, and I’m excited to continue sharing, exploring, and growing with you. Whether you’re new or have been here since the start, your readership, appreciation, and support mean everything. Thanks for joining me on this adventure. Here’s to uncovering new insights and venturing into the unknown in 2025!
Good luck for 2025 Abhinav, keep up with the great content.
Thanks a lot for the content Abhinav, I can understand how much effort you might have put in for these. I enjoyed reading these article even though a lot went over the head ( was never in to knowing system level details) but it gave hints on what should I read to consume it. And I think I am bit better than 2023.
Hoping to learn more from you in 2025 to be better than 2024.
Happy new year.