Hey, I'm Łukasz, a 19-year-old Fullstack Developer. Two months ago, I left university, freeing myself from a system I’ve always despised. Before that, I spent two years working on BookFreak, an ambitious platform for book lovers that never saw the light of day. It was a failure—but one that taught me a lot.
How It All Started ?
I began coding in July 2022 when my English finally reached a level where I could follow courses. Before that, I struggled—reading a Polish JavaScript book six times without understanding a thing. That’s when I decided: programming should be learned in English. No translations. Just pure, direct knowledge.
I started with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but I was a complete beginner. My CSS skills were laughable, and JavaScript felt like a foreign language. Just as I was making progress, school got in the way. My math teacher was a nightmare, pushing outdated, fear-based teaching methods. I ignored school subjects and focused on coding, but she made sure I paid the price. Eventually, my mother was called in, and I had no choice but to pause programming for a few months to secure passing grades.
2023 – The Year of Too Slow Growth
In January 2023, I picked up React, finished a course by mid-February, and immediately started BookFreak. Initially, it was just a passion project—I wanted to create a space where readers could track progress, connect, and compete. Reading was never my thing, and I thought gamifying it could make a difference.
Although the app is not released, you can checkout the projects, although the web-app is not finished and the mobile app doesn't work because of removal of the function call endpoints to Firebase and there is no more Stripe attached to this project:
-💻 Web-app Code
-📱 Mobile-app Code
Unfortunately, life hit hard. My family experienced two losses. While I wasn’t deeply affected, it drained the energy around me. Still, I kept coding.
As I kept developing my project, school kept sucking even more. Every time I stepped into that place, I just wanted out. That feeling was always there, but it intensified.
Back then, AI wasn’t as advanced, so I was grinding through Stack Overflow posts, online articles, and whatever I could find. I wasn’t the type to copy-paste code without understanding it. By May, I had what I considered the “first version” of my project—basic features, but enough to call it that. Managing school and personal development was a mess, and by the end of May into June, it became absolute madness. I learned React Native and TailwindCSS but couldn't balance everything.
Then came my math teacher, who failed me and forced me to take a classification test in August. She was straight-up hostile, even humiliating me in front of the whole class, shouting,
HAS YOUR MOTHER NOT BROUGHT YOU UP?!
That moment cemented my hatred for her, though I kept it inside.
From May to September, I barely touched my project, mainly focusing on refining the UI, which was complete garbage and slowed my plans. I took a CSS course again, practiced more, and saw improvements, though nothing close to what I can do now. I also kept practicing React Native and even deployed a basic travel-diary app to the Google Play Store—nothing special, just for practice—while also preparing for that damn math test.
The Final Judgment
Somehow, I passed. Honestly, I think the committee was just told to let me through because, with my knowledge, even I wouldn't have let myself take that test. But whatever, I was done with it.
Last Years of "Slavery"
From the very start of the 23/24 school year, I said, "Screw this. Exams are for idiots, and I'll pass without studying." My frustration with the system, the teachers, and the bureaucrats was at its peak. I coded like never before, except for a one-week break in Manchester. Still, my focus was all over the place, and looking back, the results speak for themselves.
From January to March, I built a mobile version of my app, but my design skills were absolute garbage. April to June was about smaller projects and deep-diving into TypeScript, Next.js, and Node.js. I also got into THREE.js because 3D on the web gets me excited (yes, it’s a joke—don’t take it too seriously). I built two clones (Twitter and Spotify), a marketplace app with Three.js, and a small portfolio I plan to fix in November after finishing my curriculum.
In June, I took a Figma course to enhance the UI of BookFreak, spending 1.5 months building and refining my mockup. Around the same time, I applied for 300 jobs (May–August 2024), landed six interviews, got rejected by three, and never heard back from the other three.
I avoided university like the plague because, once again, I HATE THE SYSTEM. The state is oppressive, and I’ve always despised school—except for 2019, when I had a math teacher who actually believed in me and pushed me to learn. Now, I push myself, and I see my past mistakes more clearly.
During the summer, I was focused on redesigning and refactoring my Next.js code. However, my mother’s partner (2010-2024) forced me to enroll in university under threat of eviction. He also pressured me into getting a driver’s license, which I neither needed nor wanted. I feel much safer on a bus than in a car. The period from August to September drained me mentally and physically due to stress, wasted time learning driving rules, and taking unwanted tests.
When university started in October, I quickly realized it was an even bigger mess than high school. A 90-minute lecture covered less than what was taught in 45 minutes in high school. I continued working on my project, but progress felt slower than expected. That same month, my mother’s partner was exposed for his manipulative and malicious behavior. I have zero tolerance for deception, and since October 2024, I have not spoken a single word to him. He moved out but left his belongings behind, retaining access to our house until January 2025, when he finally took everything. I have no mercy for traitors.
In November 2024, I was scammed and lost 0.125 BTC after accidentally exposing my seed phrase. It wasn’t due to ignorance but exhaustion after a long workday. December made me realize that if I wanted real personal growth, I needed to leave university and commit fully to my project. January was a challenging month; I couldn’t work much as I processed everything that had happened. I decided to support my mother financially, as I had made enough money to sustain myself for over a year in a rented home without a job. However, she only accepted a small amount since I also contributed to household responsibilities.
By February, I concluded that my project no longer made sense and decided to terminate it. Instead, I committed to the Cyfrin course from scratch, as I had struggled to learn Solidity effectively since October.
Background – My Relationship with My Father Figures
I never had a real father who genuinely cared about me. I don’t dwell on self-pity—just stating facts. My biological father died when I was five. He was a serial cheater with multiple families and physically abused my mother, as confirmed in court documents. I refuse to call someone like that my father, regardless of genetics. My mother tries to paint a better picture of him, but I reject it.
Her next partner (2010-2024) was abusive in a different way—financially and emotionally. Unlike my biological father’s physical abuse, he manipulated my mother, registering his cars in her name and attempting to make her financially dependent on him. He controlled my access to resources, ensuring I always had the cheapest, least efficient tools. He also threatened to throw me out if I refused to attend university, pushing me toward financial dependency so he could exploit me in the future.
In October 2024, my mother finally revealed the full extent of his deceit. He had been cheating on her all along. From that moment, he became nothing to me. I don’t care that he provided for me for 14 years—I only care about intent, and his was never pure. When he finally took his things in January, I struggled to work, so I spent my time reading and contemplating my future. By February, I regained my focus and returned to serious work.
Now, I feel truly free. I’m getting a new, much better PC, financed through my investments and inheritance from my biological father’s wealth, which I managed to grow. If necessary, I could live off my savings for over a year while covering rent and other expenses. For the first time, I’m learning what I want, free from manipulation. There is nothing greater than freedom.
People chase endless wealth, but in doing so, they become slaves to their own ambitions. Knowing when to step away is crucial. Money is important but ultimately just a tool. The current monetary system, established in 1973 by Nixon, is fundamentally broken. Central banks can create digital money at will, yet when I argue for a better financial system, people look at me like I’m from another planet. Maybe I am a bit unconventional—but I’m still from Earth, no worries. 😅
This is one of the key reasons I embraced cryptocurrency, beyond just avoiding KYC restrictions at every turn.
What are my goals for now ?
I want to devote this year for complete learning things from my curriculum, building projects and getting more and more knowledge.
I intend then to find a job. It might seem as a looser journey, complaining about not being GOOD ENOUGH to be hired, and there might be comments from here and there, that:
Another looser who didn't get the job and now he's typing on dev.to to be noticed.
Absolutely not, I'm just sharing my story to point out to other people, what they actually might want to avoid in their programming journey.
So if you're one of such person, who thought this way, take your head, and hit it against the wall. Perhaps then you'll be wiser.
If you've reached until the end, thank you very much, remember to checkout me on X and Github. You can also connect with me on discord, my nickname is Luftjunkie#1566
See ya !
Top comments (1)
Your dedication and hard work truly stand out. Keep inspiring!