This year has been a wild ride 🎢. So much has gone into Ash Framework this year, and our user base has increased massively in that time frame, and there is so much more to come. We have some huge things just around the river bend 🎉, and I can’t wait for you all to see it!
When I set out to build Ash, it was about technology💻. It was about what I felt was missing from the Elixir ecosystem and from the programming ecosystem in general. It was something I believed in, and something that I thought other people would want to use, but it was fundamentally about what I wanted. Then the users started trickling in, and it became about a whole lot more. This work has become so much more meaningful than I ever thought it could be and, perhaps a bit delusionally, I think this project can make a real difference on the lives and livelihoods of the people that I’ve come to care so deeply about. Just like the amazing people who built Elixir and its community up to what it is today. That is what this project is about for me now, and it is what keeps me going.
I’d like to start by thanking the community 🫂 in general, which is exemplified by the Ash Framework Discord. It has become a thriving place, filled with wonderful and helpful people. I thought it was going to be a place for Ash Framework support, but its turned into a place for people with similar ideas about how things ought to be built to talk about anything under the sun. A few fast friendships have sprung from the community, and its been an amazing pleasure to help you all and to see you help each other. If you want to meet and learn about all these amazing folks, join us!
Contributions come in many forms, but I’d like to kick this off by thanking everyone who contributed directly to Ash. To all those who added features, fixed bugs, or improved documentation, you have my eternal gratitude. I’ve never been more busy than I have this last year, so contributions like those that take work directly off my plate are invaluable. More importantly than helping me, these contributions compound over time and help every Ash user, and as such even small contributions have an incalculable impact on the trajectory of Ash. I hope you feel empowered to contribute again, and I hope that anyone else who is interested feels just as empowered to do so.
Another way that people contribute is by creating issues, making feature requests, or just making us aware of issues. It would be easy to see these as a burden. After all, they do typically mean more work for me to do. Maybe on my most cynical days, I feel this way 😆. In reality, it couldn’t be further from the truth. I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to point out issues, either by writing up a Github issue or by letting us know in the discord. With each issue resolved, the experience for the next person is that much better. With each suggestion of what Ash could do better or differently, we come to a better shared understanding of where Ash is headed and how it can be made better. Thank you all for your time, effort, and ideas!
Last but not least, I’d like to thank my sponsors, the largest of which (if sponsor is even the correct term) is my employer Alembic. They were among the first to see the potential of what Ash could be and where it is headed. Thanks to them, I can work on or with Ash effectively full time, either by continuing to add to the framework or by helping with their various client projects using Ash. Their insight, input, and investment has been invaluable, and is absolutely the driving factor behind the Ash ecosystem. If you have any software projects that you’d like built at breakneck speed with the latest and greatest tools, if you have any stalled initiatives due to tech debt or lack of resources, if you are building with Ash and want the experts to help, contact us. I’ve worked with a lot of technical teams in the past, and the staff at Alembic is the most pragmatic, intelligent, and value-driven that I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with. Thank you to all of those at Alembic who have welcomed me and helped with Ash, and for all of your effort helping Ash become everything we know that it can be!
In addition to Alembic, there are other sponsors who fund my work, both individuals and companies like Coinbits. Ask anyone who knows, and they’ll tell you that Ash is essentially two full time jobs for me, and these sponsorships are one of the ways that I manage the level of support and effort that I put into this project. Knowing that my work is impactful, to the point that you want to buy me a coffee (or more), is worth more than I can say. Thank you all for your support.
I can’t wait to see what 2023 holds for Ash and its community. If 2022 is anything to go by, we’ve got a huge year ahead of us 😎. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season, and keep your eyes peeled because we have a very big announcement coming up!
- Zach