Rick Carlino

Software engineer and tinkerer.

2025 Year in Review

Happy 2026! I'm continuing my yearly tradition of reflecting on the past year. 2025 was quiet, but it certainly was not uneventful. Much of my time was spent supporting family through health issues and caring for my dog, who sadly passed away this year. I also stepped into a new role at work, which kept me busy. Despite all that, there were still bright spots: travel, running, and a handful of side projects.

Family, Health, and Life Events

This year was heavily centered around family. My mother's health required significant attention, and my brother had health issues as well. Balancing work and these responsibilities was tough. We also said goodbye to our dog in 2025. Losing a pet is never easy, but I'm grateful for the many years we spent together.

On a happier note, my wife and I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe we've been married for 15 years already.

I managed a couple of short trips. In the spring, I took a weekend trip to Boston to enjoy some history (and chowder). In the fall, I traveled to Door County, Wisconsin. This doubled as a race weekend: I participated in the Door County Fall 50 ultramarathon. Door County was beautiful in October, and crossing the finish line of a 50 mile race there made it even more memorable. My finish time was ever so slightly above the statistical average. Not a bad time, but no personal records this time around.

Work

At work, I was promoted to an engineering manager position. After years as an individual contributor, moving into management has been a new challenge. I'm now learning the ropes of leadership from a different angle. My work enrolled me in an Advanced Leadership Program. That program had me reading many leadership books and case studies, which I'll list later. I'm still writing code, but a lot of my day now involves one on ones, hiring, and planning.

2025 marked three and a half years at Qualia. It's hard to believe I joined the company back in 2022. With the new management responsibilities, I've had to become more intentional about time management to balance work, family, and hobbies.

Side Projects and Tech Hobbies

Even with a busy professional and personal life, I managed to squeeze in some tinkering.

This year marked a turning point for Koala Cards, my open source Korean language learning app. I've worked on it for a little over two years now and use it almost daily for studying vocabulary. In 2025 I added a few features like remixes, remedial quizzes, an equivalence checker, and an AI assisted grader. I also got some outside contributions on the project. Thanks to everyone who submitted PRs.

That said, Koala has not gained much traction with other users. I've come to realize that the target audience (intermediate and advanced Korean learners) is a small niche. Most people learning Korean are beginners, and they already have plenty of tools in that space. Because of this, I've made the decision to wind Koala Cards down in 2026. I will keep it running for my own studies and fix bugs or update libraries as needed, but I will not be adding major new features.

Koala Cards: https://github.com/RickCarlino/KoalaCards

With Koala winding down, this frees up time to brainstorm a new project. I am not sure what that will be yet.

Other Projects

Community and Makerspace

Outside of work and solo projects, I tried to stay involved with the local tech community, though not as much as I would have liked.

A big milestone is coming up for Fox.Build, the makerspace I co-founded. In 2026, Fox.Build turns 10. If you are in the area, keep an eye on our Meetup page for events and announcements: https://www.meetup.com/fox-build-coworking-hacking-maker-space-in-st-charles/

I also attended Vintage Computer Festival Midwest in Schaumburg, IL. VCFMW 20 ran on September 13-14, 2025: https://vcfmw.org/

I also started attending a Korean conversation table meetup group in Naperville. We did a fun kimjang event where I took home several pounds of homemade Kimchi.

Running in 2025

I ramped running back up in 2025 and ended up doing three races.

https://www.mtecresults.com/runner/show?race=19753&rid=133

Overall, I'm happy with my running year even if it was not as spectacular as 2023.

Reading List

I read more books than usual this year, mostly due to the leadership program at work and extra audiobook time during ultramarathon training.

  • Difficult Conversations
  • Harvard Business Review: Emotional Intelligence (collection)
  • Drive
  • Radical Candor
  • How to Win Friends and Influence People
  • You Are Not Expected to Understand This
  • Getting Things Done
  • Never Split the Difference

Korean

I continued studying Korean and kept my yearly tradition of taking TOPIK in April. I took the 99th TOPIK in April 2025 and missed level 4 by a mere one point. I took a TOPIK Zoom class and a conversation class, and I plan to try again in 2026.

Looking Ahead to 2026

  • New projects: pick a new project now that Koala is winding down.
  • People and community: more meetups, more face to face time, and more community involvement.
  • Health and running: keep training, sign up for a couple races, and stay consistent.

Thanks for reading. Wishing you all the best in 2026 and beyond.

-- Rick