The general consensus is that 2016 was a terrible year. Within my own social circle, I know that some of my friends certainly had a tough time of things. Plus, all the celebrities died. On a personal level, however, 2016 was not bad at all. I've had much... much worse years. For example, most of the years between 2005 and 2012 just felt like a whole bunch of this: Comparatively, the last three years or so have been a fucking blast and 2017 has gotten off to a fine start. I think this year's reoccurring theme will be "acquiring pieces of paper that confirm that I know things". Finally, after about 2.5 months of studying and some encouragement from my mentor, I got up yesterday morning and finally took/passed the PSM I exam . As someone who essentially side stepped — ninja-stylez — into a project manager position (with dabblings in Scrum), I occasionally feel a bit inadequate with my lack of certifications. I know this isn't an indicator of ability,