2021 has passed. Taking advantage of the New Year holiday, I’d like to look back at the year. This will be a casual review—writing whatever comes to mind. 2021 for me was marked by becoming a father, changing jobs (including a long, boring spell at home in between), and making new friends. Overall, it was a pretty good year.
However, in terms of personal growth, I feel like I might have stagnated or even regressed, which is a bit alarming. Learning is like rowing upstream; if you don’t move forward, you fall back. In 2022, I need to spend more time working through things properly. I hope to progress together with everyone reading this.
I’ve also tallied some data related to my technical sharing, shared my income from these platforms, and listed some hardware and software I recommend. Feel free to take a look.
Historical record (reviewed October 2026): This post preserves my 2021 experiences, platform statistics, and personal reflections. The software and hardware lists describe what I used then; “latest” models and old shopping links are not current buying guidance.
2021’s Greatest Achievement: “Little Orange”
The highlight of my year was definitely the addition of “Little Orange” to our family. Experiencing fatherhood has been incredible—our duo became a trio. She’s almost ten months old now and is an absolute angel. We don’t ask for much; just that she grows up healthy and happy. Mom and Dad will always be your strongest support.
Technical Sharing Statistics
Blog Data
I added 8 new articles to the blog in 2021. The Systrace series is finally complete with 18 articles total! (Go ahead and read those while I prepare the Perfetto version…)
- Systrace Smoothness in Practice 1: Understanding Jank
- Systrace Smoothness in Practice 2: MIUI Desktop Scroll Analysis
- Systrace Smoothness in Practice 3: Common Questions
- Systrace Responsiveness in Practice 1: Understanding Principles
- Systrace Responsiveness in Practice 2: Case Study — App Launch
- Systrace Responsiveness in Practice 3: Extended Knowledge
- Android System Development (1): Downloading, Compiling, and Flashing Android 12
- What Should a Book on Android Smoothness Contain?
Writing only 8 articles is a far cry from my initial goal of one per week. That was a bit ridiculous in hindsight. I won’t set such a high bar for 2022—perhaps two per month is more realistic.
I also maintained an Android Weekly column on Zhihu. Feel free to subscribe: https://www.zhihu.com/column/c_1278963991947780096
The blog AndroidPerformance uses Google Analytics. Comparing 2021 to 2020, the numbers are looking good:
Active Users grew by 38.9% compared to 2020. (The obvious dips are the New Year, May Day, and National Day holidays—good to see people aren’t “grinding” during breaks!)
Most Visited Pages are still primarily from the Android Systrace series.
WeChat Official Account Data
Followers for the AndroidPerformance account currently stand at 7,364. Since I don’t post many original articles and have many reposts, growth is slow. Most active users are long-time followers. Data for individual posts doesn’t mean much in the closed WeChat environment, so I won’t list it. I hope to break 10,000 in 2022.
Writing on WeChat is convenient for readers but unfriendly for creators—mostly because you can’t include external links. It feels like turning the internet into a local area network.
Zhihu
I have over 20,000 followers on Zhihu, but the platform seems to care less about technical content these days, so I haven’t been very active. Most articles I see are just reposts. I find myself spending more time on Jike and Twitter, where real developer activity is higher.
Juejin
Juejin still has a strong technical atmosphere. I browse it often, although it feels like it’s missing “something.” I’ll continue syncing my articles there, otherwise, others will just do it for me (and change the author!).
Jike
Fellow “Jiyou” (Jike users) can add me:
Other Platforms
- CSDN: …can be ignored.
- Weibo: …can be ignored.
- Twitter: I follow many domestic and international tech gurus. The technical vibe is quite good.
Making Money? Just Making Friends
I listened to Happy Xiao’s podcast recently, where he shared that his technical sharing earned him about 2,500 RMB a month. Looking at my own 2021 income in this area… it’s quite humble.
- Blog Income: 0. Actually negative, if you count domain and server costs.
- WeChat Account: I don’t use mid-article ads, so ad revenue is negligible. It’s mostly donations from readers, which totaled 1,039 RMB.
- Xiaozhuanlan: Totaled 560 RMB.
So, total income was 1,039 + 560 = 1,599 RMB. That’s about 133 RMB per month. Clearly not a gold mine! As the saying goes, “just making friends.” But I truly appreciate the donations—they pay for the extra egg in my breakfast! (If you’d like to support, you can scan the code at the end of any of my original articles.)
Speaking of friends, I did add many new tech peers this year. We started four WeChat groups. My general feeling there is: “Everyone’s a master except me.” Sometimes I wonder how I ended up in the group. There’s so much I don’t know, or only half understand. My goal for 2022 is to solidify my foundations and systematize my knowledge to keep up with their discussions.
If you find my content helpful, you can “buy me a chicken leg” below:
2022 Plans
New Year goals are a cliché, but here they are anyway. I’ll set them first and then break them into weekly and daily actions. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually manage them:
- Fitness: Walking to work, basketball, running, rowing machine, and home gym equipment (holding “Little Orange” counts too!).
- Improve English Reading/Listening: Listening to English podcasts, watching tech videos, and reading English books/articles. Using iPad split-screen with Youdao Dictionary is a great workflow.
- Systematize Knowledge: Read and write more code, read more books, and write a performance-related ebook.
- Update the Blog More Frequently: Goal set above.
- Grow The Performance Knowledge Planet with the team (June 20, 2022 update: paid membership temporarily paused): I can only do so much on my own. A few of us started this paid community to help readers and put a little pressure on ourselves. (How else will I find out what I can squeeze out of myself?)
- Try New Content: Podcasts, video, Vlogs, photography.
- Efficient Work: More thinking, summarizing, and sharing. Use tools to boost productivity.
2021 Software Recommendations
The software that brought me the most joy in 2021:
- Notion: For notes and planning. https://www.notion.so/
- Typora: The tool I used to write this very blog. https://typora.io/
- GitHub Copilot: Your AI coding companion. https://copilot.github.com/
- flomo: For recording fleeting thoughts. https://flomoapp.com/
- DeepL: Marketed then as the world’s most accurate translator; that slogan is not a benchmark covering every language and text type. https://www.deepl.com/
2021 Hardware Recommendations
Hardware I’ve tinkered with and highly recommend:
- NAS (Personal Cloud): Essential for data management.
- Electrostatic Capacity Keyboard: A godsend for programmers and writers.
- Xiaomi 27-inch 4K Monitor: Great value for the price.
- Apple TV 4K: The new model in 2021 was the second-generation A2169. A NAS, software router, and iPhone were parts of my setup, not universal prerequisites. Basic setup needs internet, a display with HDMI, and a suitable HDMI cable; manual setup works without an iPhone. 4K/HDR playback needs the corresponding display capabilities. Check account-region and availability requirements for the services you use rather than assuming everyone needs a Hong Kong or US account. See Apple’s setup guide.
- JOY25 Electric Standing Desk: The 1.8m width feels great. I couldn’t find a Loctek that wide, and I reckon this desk could last me ten years. Tired of standing? Sit down. Tired of sitting? Stand up again.
What Do I Want Most in 2022?
I feel my M1 Mac Mini is already starting to feel slow compared to the M1 Max MacBook Pro… Cook must be practicing remote magic.
Wanting one and needing one are different things. I need to be sensible about spending. (If the Mini breaks, though, I can replace it.)
Also, this chair looks amazing! (https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=614505490996)
And of course, who would say no to the latest iPhone 13 Pro Max?
Conclusion
2021 was a bit underwhelming professionally, but family life with “Little Orange” brought a lot of joy. Personal growth felt stagnant, which comes down to my own lack of self-discipline.
I hope everyone reading this can make progress together in 2022. Let’s keep at it!
About Me && Blog
Below is my personal intro and related links. I look forward to exchanging ideas with fellow professionals. “When three walk together, one can always be my teacher!”
- Blogger Intro
- Blog Content Navigation: A guide for my blog content.
- Curated Excellent Blog Articles - Android Performance Optimization Must-Knows
- Android Performance Optimization Knowledge Planet: The paid community stopped operating in 2026 and no longer accepts new members; this link preserves its history.
One walks faster alone, but a group walks further together.
