DEV Community: Giacomo

Friendcatchers

Giacomo — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 06:33:50 +0000

To bring on connections between people. To give and receive. That's the beauty of it.

Serendipity on the internet only happens by putting things out in the world.

There's this blog post I keep thinking about over and over. I found it 2 years ago by chance on a random personal portofolio/website and it stuck with me.

I guess it resonated with something in me so much I needed to write about it. Here it goes:

You need to build the things that will allow you to engage an audience and improve them over time.
Friendcatchers are part of this. Friendcatchers are small, contained lists, essays or apps that solve resonant (emotional, relevant), tractable, underserved problems.
One way of doing it is writing in depth specialised guides. The beginners guides to everything have already been written. What's missing is more advanced content. This sort of content tends to stand out and be highly appreciated in places like Reddit and Hacker news.

Another way of doing it is by sharing polarising, unconventional ideas you have. These ideas will repulse those that are close minded towards your ideas and attract more people like you.

It's not some deep lesson or some unknown truth, but I like the idea of viewing my personal projects as friendcatchers. As a way to attract like minded people.

In a way that's all I've done since I started sharing my projects.

I think that's a powerful motivation to make things. To bring on connections between people. To give and receive. That's the beauty of it.
Today I felt like sharing it.

Why Self-Hosting and Open Source Matter More Than Ever 🎇

Giacomo — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:30:00 +0000

In today's world everything you do online can be tracked, stored and monetized.

Free apps, smart devices, AI assistants - they all come with a hidden cost: your data.
Even the platforms you trust most are constantly harvesting information under the name of "personalization" or "improving user experience."

The explosion of AI has only made things worse. Privacy policies are just legal shields, and regulation is still stuck in the 2010s.
So yeah, in 2025, digital privacy is… tricky.
But lately there's a simple and alternative way that's becoming more and more popular.

Open source software changes the game.

It's transparent and community-driven so there are no black boxes. Self-hosting takes this one step further : it puts you in the driver's seat.
You run your own services on your own hardware or a trusted cloud.
No middlemen. Just you and your machine.

Not Just for "Hackers" Anymore

Self-hosting used to be a niche hobby for sysadmins, coders or command-line cowboys, but in 2025 the scenario has changed dramatically.

Platforms like CasaOS have made it insanely simple to set up your own services and providers like Hetzner give you basic tier servers for less than 5$ a month.

Chances are, most of what you do with Google or Microsoft can be replaced today:

For notes, try Joplin or Standard Notes
For file sync, Nextcloud is a beast (and only getting better) ¹
Want to ditch Google Calendar? Use Radicale or Baïkal
Replace your password manager with Bitwarden, self-hosted and secure ²
Follow news with FreshRSS or Miniflux
Matrix is the decentralized Slack of the future (or present really!)

The ecosystem is rich, modern, and surprisingly stable. And every service you host is one less point of surveillance in your life.

Closing thoughts

Self-hosting won't fix everything. But it will give you a piece of the internet that's actually yours. You don't need to be a developer or a Linux guru.

Just curious, a bit patient, and maybe willing to repurpose an old laptop or Raspberry Pi.

In 2025, digital privacy isn't dead. It's becoming a movement.

- It's a bit resource intensive and slow sometimes, but I can put up with it
- Or even its rusty alternative Vaultwarden

My 2026 Plan as a Junior Dev 🚀

Giacomo — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 14:19:57 +0000

I've been "learning to code" for longer than I'd like to admit. I've watched countless tutorials, started dozens of courses, and convinced myself that this time would be different. It never was.

But 2026 is going to be different. Here's my plan.

Pick one language and get good at it

I have a bad habit: I juggle too many language tutorials at once. I finish some, forget everything, and start over. It's not working.

In 2026, I'm choosing a single language and sticking with it. No choice is perfect, but the longer I wait, the more time I waste. I'm thinking Rust, Go or Python... any advice?

No more than two weeks to learn the basics

I'm done with tutorial hell. I'll pick one learning resource to get started, then learn by doing. I keep postponing projects because I think I don't know enough. Result? I watch videos endlessly without gaining real experience.

Two weeks max for fundamentals, then I build.

Build at least 3 small projects and 1 big one

I'm going to pick 3 simple projects based on my daily life: automating tasks, nothing fancy, just to get my hands dirty. After that, I'll focus on one big project that solves a meaningful problem I actually care about.

Share and connect to get visibility and feedback

There's no growth without feedback from more experienced developers. I'm going to share every step of my journey: the wins, the mistakes, the confusions, etc.. I want to learn what I could do better.

Find a community to learn from and contribute to

I want to know what people in the industry are building, what problems they're solving, how they think. I'm joining communities of builders and developers to support others and be supported in return.

Be patient, keep working, stay consistent

Nothing worthwhile is built in a day. I know there will be moments when I feel stuck, when my code breaks for the tenth time, when I question if I'm cut out for this. But that's part of the process. Growth doesn't happen in the highlights: it happens in the repetition, in showing up even when progress feels invisible.

I'm committing to patience, consistency, and intentional work. Not perfection, just forward motion.

This is just the start of my journey. I don't have all the answers, and I'll probably make plenty of mistakes along the way. But I'm tired of being stuck in the same cycle. It's time to pick a direction and move.

If you've been where I am (or if you're there right now) I'd love to hear from you. What worked? What didn't? Let's figure this out together.