I Built in Public for 5 Months. Nobody Watched. 22nd Dec. I Got Fired.

#beginners #programming #python #career

There's a moment in every project when you realize you've been building the wrong thing.

For me, that moment came four times.

The Setup

Nine months ago I moved from Poland to the Netherlands.
Not for a tech job - for a warehouse position. Order picker.
15-20km walking daily, scanning barcodes, loading pallets.

By day: warehouse worker.
By night: building software on a 2014 laptop hitting 94°C.

I wanted to build a PC monitoring tool.
Not another dashboard showing "CPU: 87%"
but something that tells you WHY. Which process. Which background app.
WHAT MAKES VOLTAGE JUMP?
The difference between monitoring and understanding.

Simple concept. What followed was mass less simple.

Rebuild #1: The "It Works" Trap

My first version looked like Windows 95 having a panic attack.
My first version looked like Windows 95 having a panic attack.
``
What I built:

Emoji spam everywhere (thought it was "modern")
Vertical stacks requiring endless scrolling
No visual hierarchy whatsoever
15+ features nobody asked for ``

But it worked. Technically. Numbers updated. Data was accurate.
I was proud for about two weeks.

Then I used it daily and learned my first brutal lesson:
"Working" isnt "Good"
There's a massive gap between "code runs" and "I'd actually want this on my screen."
Lines written: ~15,000 Lines deleted: ~15,000 Time wasted: 2 months

Rebuild #2: The Architecture Astronaut Phase

Classic mistake. Went full "proper engineering":
``

What I thought mattered:

Event-driven architecture ✓
Modular plugin system ✓
Clean separation of concerns ✓
Proper design patterns ✓

What users saw:

Bad mobile app running on desktop
Confusing navigation
Features nobody needed ``

Spent 2 weeks building automatic fan control. Beautiful code. Drag-and-drop curves. Real-time preview.

Then I tested it properly.

One wrong curve is potentially fried GPU.

Deleted everything.
Features built and killed: 29 Lesson: Just because you CAN build it doesn't mean you SHOULD

The 3 AM Moment

Picture this:

Time: 3 AM
Laptop temp: 94°C
Fans: screaming
Me: just finished 10-hour warehouse shift
Git log: 400+ commits saying "fix" and "maybe this time"

And I asked myself: what am I actually building?

I was building a tool for users who want to understand their PC.
But I was coding like someone trying to prove they could write code.

Different goals. Different products.

That night I scrapped the UI. Again.

Rebuild #3: Asking The Right Question

Instead of "what features can I add?"
I asked "what does someone actually NEED to see?"

`
The answer was embarrassingly simple:

┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CPU [████████░░] 78% RAM [██████░░░░] 62% │ ← Side by side. No scrolling.
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ TOP PROCESSES: │
│ ▓▓▓ chrome.exe 43% │ - Darkest = top consumer
│ ▓▓ discord.exe 22% │
│ ▓ windows_update 12% │ - Instant visual hierarchy
│ ░ vscode.exe 8% │
└─────────────────────────────────────┘
Click any process → instant details
`

Deleted 15,000 lines during refactoring.
39,000 to 24,000.

The product got BETTER as I removed code.

Then I Got Fired

December 22nd. Three days before Christmas.

Agency: "Trial didn't work out."
Me: In temporary housing. Dogs in Poland. Laptop dying. Project 70% done.

Logical response: panic, find job, abandon project.
What I did: started rebuild #4.

What 680 Hours Actually Looks Like

Let me be honest:
Hours coded: 680+ (after warehouse shifts) Lines written: 39,000 Lines kept: 24,000 Complete UI rebuilds: 4 Features killed: 29 GPU monitoring attempts: 6 (5 failed) Coffee consumed: 340+ cups Max laptop temp: 94°C (survived somehow)

Tech Stack (for those curious)

Core: Python 3.11+ UI: Tkinter + CustomTkinter System data: psutil, GPUtil, WMI Architecture: Event-driven, modular RAM footprint: ~30MB (optimized for potato hardware)
Why Tkinter? Because 30MB RAM footprint beats 300MB Electron bloat. And it runs fine on decade-old hardware.

What I Actually Learned

Motivation is useless. Disappeared week 2. Stubbornness stayed.
"Working code" is a trap. My first version worked perfectly. It was also garbage to use.
Delete more. Seriously. I removed 40% of my code and the product improved.
Constraints is resources. Dying hardware = zero bloat allowed. Every feature earned its place.
Show up when it's not fun. That's the only difference between shipped and abandoned.