Building Side Projects

Building side projects changed my life. here’s how:

I’m a builder. Always have been. Started at 18. Self-taught dev. Learn by doing.

First, iOS. No iPhone though. Switched to Android.

Found MIT App Inventor. Drag-and-drop stuff. Got bored. Moved to Android Studio.

No mentor. Skipped class. Stayed late. 21km commute home.

Loved every minute.

Watched tutorials. Tried new things. Tweaked code. Made it work.

Got good at coding. Design sucked though. So I learned that too.

Already knew art. Painting, sketching. Helped a bit.

Copied Dribbble designs. Daily practice. Got decent after a few months.

Joined open source. Learned tons from bright minds.

Started YouTube. Reduced my inferiority complex. Made mistakes. Got traction.

Founded a dev community. Learned from others experiences.

Got design jobs. Improved products from scratch.

Worked at companies. Gained experience. Got bored. Quit.

Started my own ThisUX – Design Led Product studio. Tough at first. Got better.

Became full-stack. Tried all frameworks. Fell in love with Svelte/Kit.

Built client products. Made my own too. Always top-notch design.

Still build side projects. For fun. Keeps me curious.

It’s not wasting time. It’s connecting dots.

You become what you consume. I believe that.

Building keeps me proactive. Gets things done.

Won’t stop. Build. Share. Do it forever.

That’s the power of building. It’s not just about the product. It’s about you.

Few things I’ve learned:

• Ok to failure. First hackathon? Dead last. Next one? First place.
• Collaborate. Solo for years. Joined a team. Mind-blowing growth.
• Document everything. Future you will thank you. Trust me.
• Sleep on it. Stuck on a bug for hours. Slept. Solved it at breakfast.
• Take breaks. Coded 16 hours straight. Burned out. Now? Regular walks. Better code.
• Read the docs. Struggled with an API. RTFM saved days of work.
• Give back. Answered StackOverflow questions. Learned more than I taught.
• Version control. Lost a week’s work once. Now? Git is my best friend.
• Accessibility matters. Made apps for everyone. Opened new markets.
• Design with care. First app? Ugly as hell. Now? Pixel-perfect every time.
• Build Templates. Repeated code? Made a template. Saved hours.
• Invest in tools. Bought a Mac. Design improved. Bought a new monitor. Productivity doubled. Bought a new chair. Back pain gone. Invest in yourself.
• Follow peers. Twitter, GitHub, Reddit. Found new tools, new ideas, new friends.
• Ignore community drama. Wasted time on Twitter fights. Now? Mute, block, move on.
• Say no. Overcommitted once. Burned out. Now? Prioritize. Focus on what matters.
• Watch people closely. Learned from the best. Copied their habits. Got better.
• Imitate, then innovate. Copied designs. Learned the why. Made my own. Better than before.
• Ego is the enemy. Thought I was the best. Got humbled. Now? Stay humble. Keep learning.
• Appreciate good work. Saw a great design? Tweeted about it. Made friends. Learned from them.
• Passion needs money. Loved building. No money. Burned out. Now? Charge what I’m worth.
• Don’t buy domains. Bought ~65 domains. Never used them. Now? Buy only when needed. (bit personal haha)
• Reddit is a goldmine. Found clients, friends, tools. Always learning. (Read the comments too)
• Bringing traffic to your site is easy. Built a site. No visitors. Now? share on Reddit, Twitter, HackerNews. Boom. Traffic spike in hours. (This is a secret sauce)
• Give talks. First one? Nervous as hell. Now? Regular speaker. Helps me learn better.
• Give feedback. First PR? Got roasted. Now? Give constructive feedback. Help others grow.
• Security first. Got hacked once. Never again. Now it’s built-in from day one.
• Optimize later. Premature optimization killed my first big project. Now I make it work, then make it fast.

Each lesson? A story. A struggle. A breakthrough. They shape how I build today.

Find your playground. Build. Learn. Grow. Innovate. Stay ahead.

P.S. follow me on Twitter i document my journey as a designer, developer and startup founder!