NewBie Discussions

Hi Chat,

I'm 26 and recently started building an application. I truly believe in the process and have a clear vision for its growth. Even if it doesn’t turn into a huge success, I’m happy gaining experience and learning along the way.

Some fun facts about my journey so far: Age 14–16: I was casually solving math problems, explored a bit of physics, and completely ignored chemistry 😄. My parents never pressured me. We’re a middle-class family—no debts, no assets, just peace.

Age 16–20 (B.Tech ECE): College was mostly fun—trash talk, games, some backlogs, and somehow clearing them. I had zero coding skills back then.

Age 21: Got a 4.5 LPA offer off-campus thanks to my communication and math skills.

That 4.5 LPA turned into 9 LPA after a switch, and in 3 years, with promotions and hikes, I was at 18 LPA.

The twist: I genuinely enjoyed learning, upskilling, and started seeing the world differently. I’ve never been the kind to compete with anyone. But in my previous company, I was constantly compared to peers.

The irony? When I asked my manager about this, he’d say, “You shouldn't compare yourself with others” — his classic trump card 😂

I took it personally. Documented everything. Reported to HR. And eventually resigned.

Joined a new company: Before resigning, I was doing great — respected, promoted, and had a wide circle of friends across all age groups. But why did I resign?

Honestly, I don’t know. Something felt off. It was tough.

Now in my new company (a new GCC setup in India), I’ve been workless for 2 months. That free time pushed me into starting my own project.

For the past 6 months, I’ve made 600+ commits, working until 2–4 AM most nights. When the work stopped, it hit hard. So I created my own challenge — and started solving it.

The realization: In my previous job, I had no time for personal projects. Ironically, now I have all the time in the world — and I started building something that I never imagined I would.

I do have regrets:

For leaving my ex-company

For joining this current company

But the one good thing — I finally started building something for myself. I’m still learning.

Now the struggle: I’m preparing for interviews because I know this current company isn’t where I want to stay.

But here’s the real issue:

Interview prep and DSA is breaking my dev flow

And dev work gets interrupted by interviews and calls

I just want to join a good product-based company like my previous one — to work on complex systems and continue growing while working on my side project.

Final thoughts: We do amazing work for big companies — but with the right 15–20 like-minded people, a positive attitude, and a great culture, we can build our own impactful company.

But the real hustle is finding those right people.

Most of my current friends are trolling me for starting a company 😂 So I’ve kept all my work in private repos.

Would love to hear if anyone else has gone through something similar or is building something while working. DMs open.

Thanks for reading ❤️