Why I Chose Golang for My Platform

#programming #webdev #startup #go

My First Encounter with Golang

Back in 2018, I was working as a front-end developer using Angular. That was when I first found out that our backend was written in Golang.

My boss asked,

“Do you like backend? Try learning Go.”
At that time, I wasn’t into backend at all, so I said no.

After that project launched, I returned to my hometown. Suddenly, I had more time — and curiosity pulled me toward Go.

Later, a friend from my hometown invited me to join his remote team in Da Nang. He gave me a chance to learn and try things out.

After some time, I couldn’t keep up and left the team, but I decided to stay in Da Nang with what little money I had, studying Golang on my own.

That was where my journey with Go truly began.

Startup and Learning Together

At the end of 2019, I met a few friends who shared the same dream of building something meaningful.

We talked about startup ideas, and I took on the backend developer role using Golang.

Our app helped people in Vietnam order products from South Korea.

We were a small international team — one friend in Korea, one in China, and me in Vietnam.

We collected data from Korean websites and displayed it in our app.

Everything was going well until COVID-19 came.

We couldn’t raise funds, and one teammate from Wuhan had to return home right to the center of the outbreak.

That was when our team fell apart.

And when my next chapter began.

Returning Home and Starting Over

In 2020, I went back to Tam Kỳ.

My life felt adrift, like a leaf floating down a river with no direction.

I told myself:

“Just stay home, eat what you have, and keep writing code.”
So I started a small local delivery fanpage in Tam Kỳ. It kept me busy, gave me a little money, and helped me stay connected to something I enjoyed.

At night, I dreamed about building my own platform.

So I began again, with Golang.

I wrote code, rewrote it, deleted it, and wrote again.

Each time a little cleaner, a little closer to what I imagined.

The First Website Project

After months of small delivery work, orders slowed down.

I started looking for something new to do.

It took me more than six months just to write my first DNS module in Golang.

Six months. Just for DNS.

But that’s how it started.

Later, I built my first interface. Around that time, a friend who often asked me about Facebook Ads mentioned that his family needed a website.

That became my first real client.

After delivering the site, I earned enough to pay for my server and daily expenses. It wasn’t much, but it was the first time I got paid for something I truly built myself.

Why Golang

Because Go gives me everything I value most — speed, simplicity, and lightness.

Just build it, deploy it, and run.

It has been a long journey filled with trial and error, but Go continues to be the foundation that keeps my ideas alive.

Sometimes, I can’t even explain what my platform really is.

It’s a tool for creating websites, but more than that, it’s modular and flexible — it can be a site or a service, depending on the goal.

At first, I built it to create websites for clients.

Later, when the client work slowed down, I used it to build affiliate sites.

Now, I’m exploring new directions.

Some projects are systems I build and rent out as modules.

Others are experiments in building something sustainable from the ground up.

What I’ve Built with Golang

With Go, I’ve built:

A blog system
A link shortener
A price comparison tool
And soon, an affiliate network At one point, my project even reached the Top 66 SEO-ranked e-commerce sites in Vietnam. I couldn’t afford to keep the server running, and the rank eventually dropped. Still, that experience was priceless — it showed me what was possible.

The Road Ahead

When I first touched Golang, I didn’t plan for it to become the heart of everything I built.

But somewhere along the way, between endless rebuilds and quiet nights staring at the terminal, it became my companion — fast, simple, and light enough to carry my dreams.

Golang has always met my three essential criteria: Fast, Simple, and Lightweight.

Build it, ship it to the server, and just run.

At first, everything was messy. Builds failed, errors filled the logs, and I didn’t even know where to start fixing them.

Even now in 2024, I’m still learning, still fumbling my way through. But I love Go because it gives me exactly what I need — a clear, quiet space to build what matters.

The road ahead isn’t easy.

But no road is.

Even the path covered with roses has its thorns.

So I’ll keep walking, one step at a time, one line of code at a time, hoping that one day, I’ll reach the dream I’ve always carried within me.

NOTES

Article originally posted in 2023 and reposted here.
AI-powered translation.
Read the original Vietnamese version here: hnq.vn/blog/tai-sao-toi-lai-su-dung-golang-cho-nen-tang-cua-minh ### More about me

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