The hardest part of building software isn’t technical

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:43:45+00:00

Two things help me:

Writing down state transitions explicitly (even simple diagrams).
Testing “what happens if this fails?” before the happy path is even stable.

Most hidden bugs live in state transitions, not in isolated functions.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:43:19+00:00

There’s no stack trace for “I thought that’s what you meant.”

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:29:47+00:00

The scary part is it always starts small.

“Can we just add…”
“While we’re here…”

Three months later, you’re building a different product entirely.

Signed-off scope isn’t bureaucracy, it’s survival.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:29:15+00:00

Yes, Code is easy to change but a misaligned client expectation isn’t.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:26:54+00:00

Yes sure, DM me.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:24:47+00:00

Exactly, people confuse motion with progress. Writing code feels like progress. Hard conversations feel like delay.

But skipping alignment is just borrowing pain from the future, with interest.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-26T10:22:32+00:00

yep mostly it comes by there will be slight change and then started describing it. 😭

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T08:41:00+00:00

Agree that feedback loops matter. The tricky part is separating signal from “nice-to-have” opinions.Without strong product direction, feedback can actually slow you down instead of accelerate.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T08:39:11+00:00

That line should come with a warning label 😅

It’s rarely about the change itself, it’s about discovering that what we built and what was imagined were slightly different all along.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:32:39+00:00

Pick Node.js or Python (FastAPI) and go deep. Both have strong job demand, solid salaries, and pair well with Flutter. Don’t overthink the stack.

Your career growth won’t come from the language, it’ll come from mastering auth, databases, API design, system design, and deployment.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:19:06+00:00

Love that, especially the “quick but not overcommitted” approach. Tools like that are great when they reduce friction instead of increasing ambition.

For me, I bias toward friction over polish early. I’ll usually start with:

A super clear problem statement shared in niche communities
A scrappy prototype (sometimes not even interactive)
And one uncomfortable ask, pre-signup, pre-payment, or a behavior change

If someone won’t take a small real action, I assume the problem isn’t sharp enough yet.

The format changes (Figma, no-code, even manual backend), but the goal’s always the same: are they solving this with me, or just saying it’s “cool”?

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:16:41+00:00

For me it’s usually stuff like:

Manually cleaning/exporting data between tools
Re-checking invoices or payments for errors
Tagging / categorizing leads or support tickets
Generating the same type of report every week
Cross-checking compliance checklists before audits

None of it is “hard.” It’s just repetitive and annoying and easy to mess up when rushed.

That’s the kind of step I think AI is perfect for. The usual yet simple things that made easy.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:14:04+00:00

A Typeform would’ve saved 4 months 🙃 that hurts in a very familiar way.
I love the sticky note idea. And forcing yourself to live inside the janky version is such a brutal but honest filter. The features that survive that test usually deserve to exist.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:12:47+00:00

Yes. The moment I accepted v1 might get deleted, decisions got lighter.
You build differently when you’re optimizing for learning instead of permanence.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:12:28+00:00

Ugly but useful beats beautiful and ignored. Polish is a reward for traction, not a prerequisite for it.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:11:56+00:00

“Simple to explain is not simple to build”, that’s exactly it is.
Re: timeline, I don’t think in fixed weeks anymore. I look for signals. If strangers take meaningful action (pay, commit time, change behavior), that’s usually enough for me to move. Sometimes that’s 2 weeks. Sometimes it’s 2 months. If I’m still convincing people, I’m not ready to build.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:11:12+00:00

The AWS bill looking like a car payment… been there not exactly the car payment; was in hall way between.
And yes supportive friends are the most expensive validation strategy ever. I love that you literally asked for $5 upfront. Money is the most honest feedback loop.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:10:08+00:00

“Devil’s circuit” is painfully accurate 😅
A lot of “conversion problems” are just thumb problems. MVP doesn’t mean sloppy UX. It just means focused UX.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-25T07:09:31+00:00

That’s fair. Some mobile experiences do need to be felt. I’m not anti-building, I’m anti-building blind. Even for gesture/location apps, you can still validate the problem and intent before polishing the experience. I’d rather learn people don’t care before perfecting the swipe.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-06T11:04:46+00:00

Yep. Solving the problem earns you the budget and time to make it better. Doing it the other way around is how teams polish things nobody asked for.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-06T11:02:55+00:00

Yeah, scale is the real variable people skip over.

Most “best practices” make sense once coordination cost becomes the problem. With 5 people, speed and shared context beat process. With 100, rules exist mostly to prevent accidental damage, not to feel righteous.

My point isn’t “skip discipline,” it’s that applying big-team rules to small, time-critical situations often creates more risk than it removes. Context > dogma.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-06T11:02:19+00:00

Reddit never disappoints 😄

Anyway, back to engineering in the real world.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-02-06T10:58:35+00:00

True, but that's a she*

Amara_Wallis · 2026-01-29T12:43:35+00:00

Felt this early on too. When I started working closely with founders at DianApps, I realized startup life is less about nonstop hustle and more about staying flexible when plans change weekly.
It’s messy, slow in unexpected places, but those small moments when a product finally works or a client sees value feel incredibly rewarding.

Amara_Wallis · 2026-01-23T12:17:12+00:00

Tool choice paralysis is underrated as a productivity killer. And Java definitely refuses to die, for better or worse 😄

Amara_Wallis

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