Why a finished toy project is better than an unfinished masterpiece. Lessons learned from failing a 6-month project and succeeding with a weekend tool.
The code works, so why did I fail? What reviewers actually look for in take-home assignments and live coding sessions.
Does a developer really need to study every weekend? We explore the difference between 'Tutorial Hell' and 'Just-in-Time Learning'. Learn how to filter noise, build T-shaped skills, and maintain passion in a fast-paced tech industry without sacrificing your mental health.
I thought being a Senior dev meant writing perfect code. I was wrong. It's about decision making and unblocking others.
I used to be overlooked everywhere. After rewriting my resume, I heard back from 4 out of 5 companies. Reviewers don't read every word. I reveal the 'Number-Driven' writing method that communicates real career value in just 3 seconds.
When I was job hunting, I decided to build "The SNS that will change the world." React, Node.js, AWS, Kubernetes... I used every buzzword tech I could find. I locked myself in cafes every weekend for 6 months purely coding.
The day I finally deployed, I had 0 users. Even my friends signed up and left because it was slightly buggy. Bugs exploded, and I was bleeding $50 a month in server costs.
Interviewers didn't care about my "Grand Architecture." When asked, "So what problem does this solve?" I was speechless. I hadn't solved a problem; I had put on a Tech Show.
After getting a job, I hated manually converting Excel data to JSON. One Saturday afternoon, I spent 3 hours hacking together an "Excel to JSON Converter" webpage. Design? None. Login? Didn't bother. Just one feature: Upload file -> Get JSON.
I pushed the code to GitHub and posted a one-liner in a dev community: "Use this if you need it."
Next day, GitHub Stars crossed 100. Traffic nearly crashed the server. I even got a job offer from another company. "Looking at your code, you solve problems very practically. Our team needs that."
It was a shock. A 3-hour converter proved my worth more than the 6-month SNS aimed at changing the world.
Many developers mistake this: "Side Project = A portfolio to show off tech skills."
No. The real value is the "Experience of making End-to-End decisions."
This process builds the 'Engineering Muscle' to answer "Why?" And most importantly, you learn the power of "Done."
My SNS failed because of Perfectionism. "The code is too messy to show," "Just one more feature before launch."
But software without users is dead code, no matter how clean it is. Undeployed code has zero value.
The key to side project success is "Start Small, Ship Fast, Get Feedback."
For those saying "I have no ideas," here are 3 recommendations:
Building for fun is great, but building for Profit forces you to level up your engineering skills. To make money, Revenue must exceed Cost. This forces you to Optimize naturally.
A story like "I acquired 1,000 users and covered my $50/month server costs" is much more impressive to others than "I used Kubernetes."
Building is not the end. If you don't market it, it doesn't exist. Developers usually spend 90% on Code, 10% on Marketing. To succeed, aim for 50/50.
Learning marketing teaches you to distinguish between "Features that sell" and "Features that look cool." This improves your product sense.
My first SaaS failed. I spent 6 months coding but 0 days marketing. I built a "Perfect" architecture with Kubernetes for 0 users.
Mistakes to Avoid:Don't waste time choosing tech. Use what helps you ship fast.
Pro Tip: Don't build your own Auth. Don't build your own Admin Panel. Buy or use libraries. Your core value is the feature, not the infrastructure.
If you sell SaaS globally, you must pay VAT/GST in every country where your customers live. If a user in Germany buys your $10 app, you owe ~19% to the German government. Doing this yourself is impossible for a solo founder.
Solution: Merchant of Record (MoR) Use Lemon Squeezy or Paddle.
Stripe is just a payment processor. You still have to calculate and remit taxes yourself (though Stripe Tax helps, MoR is easier).
90% of you reading this are thinking, "I'll do it when I have time." "When I have time" never comes.
Open your terminal right now and type npm create vite@latest.
You don't need a grand plan.
Build something tonight that you can show a friend tomorrow.
Those small experiences of "Completion" will stack up and make you a real developer.
What raised my salary wasn't a fancy tech stack, but "The experience of solving discomfort with code and shipping it."
