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2025 Year in Review: A Year of Building, Learning, and Gratitude

If you've noticed my blog has been quiet this year, there's a good reason for that. I've been heads-down, completely immersed in development, research, and building things I'm genuinely proud of.

The Numbers Tell a Story # Anchor link

Looking at my GitHub profile, this year brought:

GitHub Contributions 2025
  • 4,738+ contributions across various projects
  • 81 repositories across my personal and FreshJuice accounts
  • 7+ Eleventy plugins published and maintained
  • Multiple HubSpot themes and modules
  • And countless hours of learning, debugging, and shipping

But numbers only tell part of the story.

FreshJuice: From Side Project to Passion # Anchor link

Most of my energy this year went into FreshJuice, a creative development studio focused on HubSpot CMS and modern web development.

What started as a way to share HubSpot development knowledge evolved into something bigger:

Free Tools for Everyone # Anchor link

Speaking of tools, this year I built and launched a whole suite of free online utilities on FreshJuice:

  • SEO Tools: Broken Link Checker, Keyword Density Checker, Metadata Checker, Robots.txt Analyzer, SEO Analyzer, Readability Score Checker
  • AI/LLM Tools: llms.txt Generator for creating AI-friendly site documentation
  • Development Tools: CSS Clamp() Font Size Generator, UUID Generator
  • Marketing Tools: Campaign URL Builder for UTM tracking

All completely free, no sign-up required. Just open and use.

CloudCannon Partnership # Anchor link

A highlight of the year was partnering with CloudCannon. The FreshJuice 11ty Starter is now available in their community themes, featuring full visual editing and page builder capabilities. If you're looking for a modern Eleventy starter with a powerful CMS, check it out!

I've also been maintaining and improving several Eleventy plugins:

Kandji to Iru: My Main Gig # Anchor link

My primary work continues to be with the amazing marketing team at Kandji, which transitioned to Iru this year. As part of the team, I build and maintain their HubSpot infrastructure, internal tools, and marketing websites. I even spent six months working from Kandji's London HQ, where I had the chance to meet and collaborate with some truly incredible people in person.

To the entire team: thank you for your trust, collaboration, and the opportunity to build something meaningful together.

A Special Thank You to Sylvia # Anchor link

I want to give a special shoutout to Sylvia LePoidevin, who I had the pleasure of working with for almost 8 years, even before Kandji.

This year, Sylvia decided to start something new: her own journey in the marketing world. She launched Zero to One Marketer, a blog sharing her insights on marketing, growth, and building from scratch. If you're in marketing or just curious about the field, I highly recommend checking it out. Her experience leading marketing teams and building brands from the ground up makes her perspective incredibly valuable.

Thank you, Sylvia, for almost 8 years of collaboration and the countless projects we built together. Wishing you all the best in this exciting new chapter!

Discovering LinkedIn (Yes, Really) # Anchor link

Here's something unexpected: I started actively posting on LinkedIn in July this year, and I'm genuinely surprised by what I found.

What inspired me to try? Actually, it was Sylvia. After reading her viral post about lessons from going 0 to 1 as the first marketing hire (458,000+ impressions!), I thought: "Maybe I should give this a real shot too."

I expected the usual corporate noise, but instead discovered a warm, supportive community of developers, marketers, and fellow HubSpot enthusiasts who actually engage, share insights, and help each other grow.

The numbers speak for themselves:

LinkedIn Stats 2025
  • 18,623 impressions in just 6 months (starting from zero!)
  • Nearly 4,000 members reached with my content
  • 1,000+ followers who decided to join the journey

These might not be viral numbers, but for me they're huge. I've always treated this blog as a personal journal rather than a platform for engagement: no comment sections, no analytics obsession, just me and my thoughts. LinkedIn changed that. For the first time, I have a space to actually connect with people who share my interests, exchange ideas, and learn from each other. Every like, comment, and connection has meant more than you know.

This Website Got a Refresh Too # Anchor link

And yes, while writing this very post, I updated the design of this website! The navbar now features a liquid glass effect with backdrop blur, a smart sticky header that hides on scroll down and shows on scroll up, and a slick animated mobile menu. I also added a search functionality powered by Pagefind, an amazing static search tool created by the CloudCannon team. Sometimes you just need to practice what you preach and ship something for yourself.

I've also been diving deep into accessibility. I set up automated tests to ensure this site passes WCAG 2.1 AA validation, with plans to reach AAA where possible. The WCAG and ADA guidelines have evolved significantly, covering nuances I used to overlook. In the coming year, I'm committed to learning them all and building better web experiences. When design constraints make full compliance tricky, I'll add controls like high-contrast modes to ensure everyone can use my sites comfortably.

Gratitude # Anchor link

This year reminded me why I love what I do. It's not just about the code, it's about the people.

Thank you to:

Looking Ahead # Anchor link

2026 is around the corner, and I have plans. More open-source tools, more sharing, and hopefully more blog posts here (I promise to write more!).

If you get just 1% better each day, you'll end up 37 times better by the end of the year.

— James Clear, Atomic Habits

Small steps, big impact. Let's keep pushing for progress and spreading good into the world.

But for now, I'm taking a moment to appreciate how far we've come. Thank you for being part of this journey.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year! 🎉

May the 4th be with you,
Alex