this is from my newsletter but it included some very important findings i discovered, so i decided to post here too.
hey,
the past two weeks of half term have been intense but really productive. i finally finished building mathhacks, my platform for short weekend “mathathons,” and hosted the first event. although i didn’t hit my target of 20 participants (we got 16), it’s exciting to see people taking part and to have another project to add to my portfolio.
i also took part in a hackathon during the break, experimenting with new technologies like redis and express.js. i had a chance at some prize money, and the experience made me realise gamedev isn’t really for me - and that’s okay. i’m much more motivated building saas-type projects.
i also started on a new stack for iOS development and began working on drinkie, an app that gives reminders to drink water and rewards users with collectibles. i pivoted from a react native version to swift, and it’s already been fun to learn the ecosystem. just discovering that swift now works for android too was a nice bonus.
one goal i added halfway through the half term but didn’t manage to complete was a machine learning/data science hackathon. getting sick and losing time, plus not having any knowledge in the field made it hard for me to start. i’ve learnt that it’s okay not to force everything at once - i still have plenty of time to explore these areas.
here are some key lessons from half term:
- marketing is hard when you don’t have an audience yet - distribution is something i need to focus on if i want future products to reach people.
- it’s okay to not be good at everything - gamedev isn’t my thing, and that’s fine.
- strict schedules and early relaxing can backfire - pacing yourself + not relaxing too early is important.
- if you’re not feeling it, take a break and come back refreshed.
- keep trying new things - exploration helps find what you actually enjoy, like iOS development for me.
for november, my main target is to finish coding drinkie. beyond that, i’m debating a new challenge for myself: either 6 apps in 6 months or diving into machine learning. the next few weeks are all about turning momentum into results.
thanks for following along,
vulcan
i'm a 16 yo full stack dev whose dream is to go to uni debt-free
i've decided in the next 2 years i'm going to set a target to earn £100k through freelancing + building saas
i'm documenting everything i'm doing + learning in my newsletter
you can check out my newsletter here
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