Recap '23

• Shifted to Bengaluru (where magic is built in India) and locked in at my new software job (learn about how I got it)
• Practised backend development Node.js + Express and VPS hosting basics
• Built quite a few projects of mine. Although, I did not try to sell/monetise those products (which in hindsight I should have), I always thought of them as products rather than a project/hobby,
  • Basic Note taking app to get me familiarised with Typescript
  • Habit Tracker App where you maintain a streak of your habits. This was a 100% TS project using React and Express.
• Practiced basics of Next.js by contributing to
  • AI Flow Builder
  • OS Authentication/Clerk Alternative
  • AMA with up votes is where I really built my first monorepo app, self hosted to EC2. After shipping this product, is when I considered myself a cracked engineer.

The best way to learn is by contributing to a real project. Specially if the project has xped devs.

The second best way is to build shit tons of products. Thinking of them as products boosts your chances of shipping and focusing on a few core features that can challenge you, both as an engineer and as a founder.

• Honing Next.js, because I feel it is the fastest way to ship full stack apps
• Learning more about backend dev, self-hosting, databases, in general, more CS Fundamentals.