February Reflection 2025
Monthly Reflection
What Should I Build?
This question often comes to my mind: What should I build? It feels like a small voice in my head, encouraging me to create something useful. Instead of overthinking, I’ve realized a better approach is to ask myself: What can I design or build to make my daily life easier or more efficient? It’s about focusing on small, repetitive tasks that take up too much time or feel boring.
For example, I noticed I spend a lot of time visiting multiple websites to read articles. Wouldn’t it be great to have a tool that gathers all those articles in one place? That’s why I built a project called Articles Extractor. It’s a web scraper written in Python that extracts article information and sends it to a Google Sheet. Now, I can open one file and read everything in one place. I even added a feature to track which articles I’ve already read. The best part? I automated it using GitHub Actions, so the script runs on a schedule while I’m sleeping. When I wake up, the articles are ready for me. I no longer waste time visiting multiple websites—it’s all done for me!
This month, I want to keep this mindset and focus on building something I would really enjoy using. Something that feels like a gift to future me—saving time, reducing stress, or even just making me smile. After all, isn’t that what creativity is about? Building things that make life a little better, one small project at a time. And who knows? Maybe my next project will be the same idea, but in yet another language!
Build the Same Thing in Different Languages
Sometimes, I spend too much time trying to figure out what app to build when learning a new programming language. I overcomplicate it, thinking I need a completely new idea every time. But I’ve realized it’s okay to keep things simple. Instead of stressing over new ideas, I’ve started recreating the same project in different languages. It’s a much simpler approach, and it still helps me learn new skills effectively.
For example, I’ve re-created the same app multiple times using the REST Countries API. The app displays a list of countries, allows users to search through them, and sort the list based on their choice. It’s simple enough to build quickly but still involves working with APIs, which is a great way to practice. APIs are everywhere, even if we don’t see them. Just because they’re invisible doesn’t mean they’re not there. The user interface (UI) makes it easier for users to interact with the API, but behind the scenes, it’s the API doing all the heavy lifting—fetching data from the server and delivering it to the user.
This approach has taught me that learning doesn’t always require reinventing the wheel. By focusing on the same concept but exploring it through different languages, I can deepen my understanding of both the tools and the underlying principles. It’s a reminder that sometimes, simplicity is the best way to grow.
Ansible
Recently, I started learning about Ansible, and while I’m not an expert yet, I find it to be a really cool tool for automating server management. Right now, I only have a Raspberry Pi to experiment with, but I can already see how powerful Ansible could be when managing millions servers. Okay, maybe not millions of servers—I’m just kidding—but even for something smaller, like managing 5 Raspberry Pis or a handful of servers, it seems like an awesome solution.
It’s fascinating to think about how tools like Ansible can simplify complex tasks, especially as I imagine scaling up in the future. For now, I’m excited to keep exploring and applying it to my current setup, even if it’s just for fun and learning. Who knows? Maybe one day, I’ll be using it for something much bigger!
Books I’ve Read
Cybersecurity All-in-One For Dummies:
- A comprehensive guide covering essential cybersecurity topics like threat prevention, network security, data protection, cloud/mobile security, incident response, and compliance. Practical, accessible, and actionable for all skill levels.
Thank you!
Thank you for your time and for reading this!