The latest articles on DEV Community by DEVANSHU PATIL (@devanshu_patil). https://dev.to/devanshu_patil https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4112603%2F2dbe1932-ed99-4536-bdd7-f380a1fbe42d.png https://dev.to/devanshu_patil en DEVANSHU PATIL Sun, 06 Sep 2026 18:18:32 +0000 https://dev.to/devanshu_patil/im-building-not-just-learning-367l https://dev.to/devanshu_patil/im-building-not-just-learning-367l <h2> I'm Building, Not Just Learning </h2> <p>I've spent a lot of time learning software development through tutorials, courses, documentation, and small experiments.</p> <p>But recently, I've realized something:</p> <p><strong>You don't really understand software until you try to build something that actually needs to work.</strong></p> <p>That's why I've been working on <strong>FinLedger</strong>, a personal lending and borrowing ledger application.</p> <p>What started as a simple idea quickly turned into something much bigger.</p> <p>I had to think about things like:</p> <ul> <li>How should transactions be structured?</li> <li>How should lending and borrowing records be connected?</li> <li>What happens when a person completely repays their balance?</li> <li>How should past records be handled?</li> <li>What happens when an existing person is added again?</li> <li>How should the UI behave as the application grows?</li> <li>How do you keep the architecture maintainable?</li> <li>How do you deploy and manage the backend?</li> <li>What happens when the codebase becomes large enough that changing one thing breaks another?</li> </ul> <p>And that's where the real learning started.</p> <p>I'm currently exploring <strong>Android development with Kotlin and Jetpack Compose</strong>, while also going deeper into <strong>backend engineering, databases, APIs, system design, Linux, VPS infrastructure, and self-hosting</strong>.</p> <p>I'm not trying to learn everything before building.</p> <p>I'm building, finding problems, understanding why they happen, fixing them, and then building again.</p> <p>That's what I want to document here.</p> <p>I'll be sharing the things I learn while building real software — including the mistakes, architectural decisions, debugging lessons, and solutions that actually worked.</p> <p>This is the beginning.</p> <p>Let's see where building takes me. 🚀</p> <h2> #android #kotlin #jetpackcompose #programming #buildinpublic </h2> buildinpublic learning softwaredevelopment