7 years in. Still learning. Here's what actually matters.

Marcus Thorne — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 15:43:38 +0000

Hey everyone 👋

So I just hit my 7-year mark as a developer and... honestly? I wish I could go back and tell my younger self some things.
When I started, I thought being a good developer meant knowing every framework. React? Vue? Angular? I learned them all. I stayed up late building side projects, grinding LeetCode, thinking that's what would make me "senior."
Turns out, I was wrong.
What actually happened:
I spent years building stuff. Like, a LOT of stuff:

Enterprise platforms that handle thousands of users
E-commerce sites processing payments at 3 AM (because of course they break at 3 AM)
Real-time dashboards that had to update faster than my coffee could brew
Mobile apps that somehow worked on my phone but crashed on everyone else's And you know what I learned?

The framework doesn't matter as much as you think
I've built the same dashboard in React, Vue, and Next.js. Guess what? They all work. The code structure matters. The database design matters. How you handle errors matters. But whether you use Tailwind or Bootstrap? Honestly, clients don't care.

Timezones are brutal.
Here's my reality: I'm in Japan. Most of my potential clients are in Europe or the US. Do you know what it's like to do a sales call at 2 AM your time? It sucks. I'm great at building things. I'm terrible at pretending to be awake and enthusiastic when it's the middle of the night.
That's why I'm looking for a partner.

Here's the deal:
I need someone in Europe who can:

Talk to clients during normal human hours
Handle sales calls and project scoping
Be the "face" of our little operation I'll handle:
All the coding (React, Next.js, Node.js, Flutter - you name it)
Architecture and database design
Deployment and DevOps stuff
Making sure the thing actually works We split the profits. Simple.

What I'm actually good at:
Frontend: React, Next.js, TypeScript (I've made peace with TypeScript)
Backend: Node.js, Express, some Python when I need to
Mobile: Flutter (because writing code once > writing it twice)
Cloud: AWS, Docker, CI/CD (I've debugged enough GitHub Actions to last a lifetime)
Databases: PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redis (yes, I've had to optimize slow queries at 2 AM)
What I'm still figuring out:
How to say "no" to scope creep. How to price projects. How to find clients without sounding like a spammer. That's why I need a partner who's better at the people stuff than I am.
If you're reading this and thinking "huh, this could work"...
Maybe we should talk. Are you a developer in Europe who's tired of coding 60 hours a week? Do you enjoy talking to clients more than debugging WebSocket connections? Do you have a network but need someone to actually build the stuff?
Let's chat. I'm on Telegram: @Never_Miss_chance
Or just drop a comment below. Tell me I'm crazy. Tell me I'm smart. Tell me about your own journey. I read everything.
What's the hardest lesson you've learned as a developer?
For me, it was realizing that technical skills are only half the battle. The other half is knowing when to ask for help.

I write the code, you close the deals: Looking for a European dev partner to start a boutique agency 🤝

Marcus Thorne — Sat, 20 Jun 2026 06:01:34 +0000

Hey Dev.to community! 👋

I’m Kenji, a Senior Full-Stack & Mobile Engineer based in Japan. For the past 7+ years, I’ve been deep in the trenches building everything from scalable e-commerce platforms and real-time analytics dashboards to cross-platform mobile apps.

My daily drivers are React/Next.js, Node.js, TypeScript, and Flutter, and I'm very comfortable handling AWS/DevOps and database architecture.
I absolutely love the technical side—architecting systems, setting up CI/CD pipelines, and shipping clean code. But let’s be honest: I’m not a salesperson, and I'm not in the right time zone to do client-facing sales in Europe.

The Idea 💡
I want to start a small, boutique dev agency, but I need a technical partner on the ground in Europe.
Here is the model I have in mind:

You: Handle local client acquisition, sales calls, and meetings in European time zones. You're the face of the agency and scope out the projects.
Me: I handle 100% of the technical delivery, project management, and backend architecture. I’m the engine room.

We operate as a team and split the profits. I'm thinking a standard 70/30 agency split (favoring the tech delivery side), but I'm totally open to chatting about what's fair and sustainable for both of us.

Who you are:
You’re a Europe-based developer who actually understands the tech (so you can talk shop with clients and estimate hours accurately), but you prefer the business, networking, or dev-rel side of things over writing code 40 hours a week.

If you’ve ever thought, "I wish I had a senior dev team I could just hand my leads to," we should talk.

Drop a comment below or shoot me a message on Telegram: @Never_Miss_chance
Looking forward to connecting with some of you! 🚀

DEV Community: Marcus Thorne

7 years in. Still learning. Here's what actually matters.

I write the code, you close the deals: Looking for a European dev partner to start a boutique agency 🤝