Over the last few weeks, something clicked for me:
Tech doesn’t reward learners. Tech rewards solvers.
For a long time, I used to build full-stack projects just to “prove” my skills — something to put on GitHub or show during an interview.
But recently, while working on a new productivity app, I approached it differently:
👉 I wasn’t building a project.
👉 I was building a product that solves a real problem I face every day.
And honestly?
The difference is massive.
Planning > Writing Code (Even Though It Hurts 😭)
Backend isn’t always the most exciting part.
But for the first time, I forced myself to plan the architecture properly — before writing a single line of code.
It paid off instantly.
Hours of planning saved me from weeks of refactoring chaos.
(Every developer learns this the hard way sooner or later…)
Trying New Things (aka “why is my Docker container not talking to Kafka 😭”)
For this product, I decided to move beyond the classic “routes + controllers” approach.
I’m finally exploring:
Redis for caching
Docker for containerizing everything
Kafka for communication across services
Microservices instead of one giant ball of mud architecture
It’s chaotic, painful, hilarious…
but also the most I’ve learned in a while.
The Mindset Shift
I realized something big:
When you build just to impress, you stop learning.
When you build to solve a problem, you can’t stop learning.
This new mindset feels 100x better — and the quality of my code reflects it.
I’m no longer writing things just to “get it working.”
I’m writing things to make them clean, scalable, and future-proof.
Final Thoughts
I’ve moved from being a:
🟦 Project Builder
to a
🟩 Problem Solver
And honestly… it’s the best upgrade I’ve made in my developer journey so far.
If you’re stuck building projects that feel meaningless, try solving a problem you personally face.
The motivation hits differently.
Top comments (0)