Open Projects
I have worked on a large number of projects over the past 10 years. The last time I calculated, the total was more than 100.
It wasn’t always the full project - it varied from specifications to implementation and then to deployment. Sometimes it was just a prototype or a landing page.
Overall, this allowed me to get a lot of experience in building different types of applications - from simple landing pages to backends, IoT, and mobile apps.
This is the benefit of working in a digital agency with a focus on building products.
I have learned a lot by being involved in these projects.
Unfortunately, after all these years, there is nothing to showcase on my blog or GitHub.
Most of the projects required signing non-disclosure agreements. Startup founders are very paranoid, they think once everyone else hears their idea they’ll drop everything and start stealing it.
In addition to my work, I’ve done some side projects, mainly to learn some new technology.
That’s how I’ve learned MongoDB, AWS Lambda, TypeScript, React, and others.
For example, a few years ago, I wrote a small API microservice to optimise and minimise images (tech stack was Golang, Redis, CDNs) which in some cases was reduced 60-80% of the image size. I’ve learned a lot in terms of how caching works and different types of image compression formats.
But now I realise I can’t show my process of thinking about these projects, how to build them and can’t really showcase my skills or code as I shut down all these projects at some point.
Most of my side projects were coded in a short period of time, as I wanted to improve my skills and I was looking at it this way. But, I was missing a bigger picture, as I could make more deliverables and write about other parts or about what I have learned.
Going forward I will take this into the account.
Over the past year, I had one idea brewing in my head, and I’ve started to work on it a few months ago in my spare time. The v0.1 is now live and I will write a separate post about it. It’s a small app that helps you to review your weeks or months.
Before I repeat my mistakes - work on it, and then it just disappears into the void I thought it would be a good idea to blog about the process of building the projects.
Focus more on being transparent and open about the process of building these side projects. This includes publishing specifications, documentation, architecture, and other types of research.
I hope it will be beneficial to someone who plans to build their own project. I will aim to write about these projects in a way it is easy to read to both technical and non-technical people.
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