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Huỳnh Nhân Quốc
Huỳnh Nhân Quốc

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Da Nang and the Dream I Accidentally Left Behind

#startup #go #technological #opensource

🌊 Where It All Began — Da Nang

In 2019, in Da Nang — often called Vietnam’s most livable city — my journey into technology began.

I was in my early twenties, burning with passion and the wild belief that I could build a platform that would change the world.

Those were the days when I worked until time disappeared —

leaving home before dawn, arriving at the office as the first sunlight hit the windows, and returning only when the city lights had long awakened.

What was I chasing?

Perhaps a dream too fragile to explain — a dream only a kindred soul could understand.

In those lonely nights, I gave myself a name: Song — like a reflection in a mirror. Solitary, but steadfast.

I dreamed of building a startup that could write code powerful enough to shift the world.

But then, the dream collapsed. The startup failed.

And I was left with nothing but my two hands and the lingering echo of that fire.

I went back to my hometown — Tam Ky — carrying failure, but also a small, unextinguished flame.

That’s when I realized:

The dream was never gone.

It was just waiting for me to be strong enough to continue it.

🌙 Living Two Lives

Back then, I lived as two different people.

By day, I worked as a delivery driver, surviving one order at a time.

By night, I sat in my small room, fingers typing lines of code as if they were lifelines holding me together.

I built websites to keep my servers alive.

Tried affiliate marketing just to make ends meet.

There were nights when my body felt broken, but the fire in my heart wouldn’t let me stop.

Because I believed:

If I could keep the passion alive — if I could endure —

one day my dream of a Golang-based independent platform would come true.

🧭 Learning Again — From the Roots

There was a time I believed Angular or RxJS could solve everything.

But I soon realized — depending too much on frameworks only distances you from the essence of programming.

When I faced SEO challenges, I discovered the quiet strength of static web pages.

So I returned to Golang — a language that felt solid, free, and close to who I was.

At the same time, I forced myself to relearn JavaScript from the ground up.

No skipping fundamentals.

No hiding behind frameworks.

Just me and the DOM, learning to manipulate it, writing small libraries to solve my own problems.

That’s when I understood:

Frameworks are tools.

Real power lies in how you think.

⚙️ Dynamic Stack Web — From Idea to Reality

I started with static websites, tuned for SEO — but I didn’t want to stop there.

I wanted them to live, to breathe, to become real applications.

The concept of hydration in Jamstack inspired me —

a server delivering static HTML that JavaScript wakes up into a dynamic experience.

I built my own interpretation and called it Dynamic Stack Web —

a system combining the reliability of the server and the flexibility of the client.

In this model, JavaScript is no longer the whole story —

just one piece of a much bigger picture.

💡 Lessons From the Journey

From Da Nang to Tam Ky,

from bitter failure to countless nights in front of my laptop,

I’ve learned three timeless truths:

  1. Perseverance is the flame that never dies.
  2. Failure is a harsh but honest teacher.
  3. Problem-solving mindset matters more than any technology. Technology changes every day. But patience and clarity — they take you the farthest.

🌱 Spreading the Dream

Today, my dream is no longer a private one.

I want to share it — the spirit of open coding, open learning, and open creation.

To tell my story not to impress, but to remind others:

If you’re quietly building something, nurturing your dream alone,

you are not alone.

I no longer dream of redefining the world.

I dream of redefining myself —

and if, along the way, I can touch a few like-minded souls,

that’s already happiness enough.

☀️ Memories That Stay

Da Nang — the city where my tech dream was once forgotten —

is now a memory I can’t separate from who I am.

It reminds me:

No matter how many times you fall,

as long as the fire in your heart still burns,

your dream will never disappear.

Every day I sit down and type the first few lines of code,

I know I’m alive —

truly alive — in a simple, quiet kind of happiness.

I still remember the afternoons in Da Nang,

sunlight pouring through the trees along Tran Phu Street.

Back then, I dreamed of success.

But today, I understand something deeper:

Growth is the truest success.
For me, success is no longer a spotlight.

It’s peace.

It’s sharing.

It’s nurturing a dream —

and doing my small part to make this world a little better.

📝 NOTES

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