Hey bioinformatics lovers,

You can't reach a destination without a map.

This week's newsletter arrives late because norovirus took down my entire family—kids with stomach bugs, everyone exhausted. But between taking care of kids sessions, I kept thinking: we're closing out 2025. How did that happen?

More importantly, what did you actually accomplish this year?

Here's the uncomfortable truth: Most of us will hit January 1st with vague intentions ("learn more deep learning," "get better at Python") and by February, we're back to our old patterns. I've done this. You've probably done this.

The difference between people who level up their bioinformatics skills and those who stay stuck? A blueprint.

Think in decades, plan in years

I look at my career in 10-year horizons. Sounds grandiose, but here's why it works:

• 10-year milestone: Where do you want to be? (Leading a computational biology lab? Building AI tools for genomics? Teaching the next generation?)
• 5-year milestone: What capabilities get you halfway there? (Publishing in top-tier journals? Mastering spatial transcriptomics? Shipping production-quality software?)
• 1-year milestone: What single skill moves the needle most? (Finally learning linear algebra? Building your first deep learning model? Analyzing your first spatial dataset?)

The 1-year goal is what you're betting on for 2026.

Your assignment (actually do this)

Write down three things:

1. One technical skill to master - Be specific. Not "learn deep learning" but "complete fast.ai course and build a genomics classifier."
2. One tool or method to own - Something you can teach others. Could be Seurat for single-cell analysis, spatial transcriptomics, or prompt engineering for bioinformatics code.
3. One thing you'll create - A blog post (I have advised so many times to build your own website; how many of you have done that?), a GitHub repo, a tutorial, an analysis pipeline you're proud of.

That's it. Three concrete goals. Not ten. Not "do better." Three things you can point to in December 2026 and say "I did that."

What I'm committing to

For 2026, I'm diving into AI engineering fundamentals. Just ordered "AI Engineering: Building Applications with Foundation Models" by Chip Huyen. The future of bioinformatics isn't just using AI tools—it's building them.

For my "From Cell Line to Command Line" ebook readers: I'm finishing a 3-hour hands-on data visualization workshop that I'll send you as a Christmas gift (If you have already bought the book, I will send it to you for free). That's my December commitment. Clear. Measurable. Done.

Why this matters

Without a plan, you're reacting. With a plan, you're building toward something.

The bioinformatics field moves fast. New tools, new methods, new datasets every month. You can't learn everything. But you can deliberately choose what matters most for YOUR next step.

So: what's your single most important goal for 2026?

Hit reply and tell me. I read every response, and I'm genuinely curious what you're working toward.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a 2026 blueprint to finish—and a lot of laundry to do.

Happy Learning!

Tommy aka crazyhottommy

P.S. - If you haven't grabbed "From Cell Line to Command Line" yet and want the free data visualization workshop, grab it here. The workshop alone is worth the price.

Stay awesome!