Build it for yourself

One of the goals for our development team this year is to "level up" our skills. Particularly in learning new technologies like Laravel and VueJs. I am a pretty serious follower and fan of both of these technologies.

I was given the green light to organize a hackathon for the team. One day, full of learning and code. So I challenged the team to build a todo list app using laravel. I added a couple of restraints and offered brownie points for building it using TDD and the interface in VueJs.

The experience was fantastic and everyone learned a lot, including me. I ended up building this:

A crucial shift happened along the way. At some point I realized that I could actually use this app I was building. Everything changed. As soon as I started building this todo app for me and my needs, my whole self was engaged. Pouring over lines of css, designing an interface that pleases me. Perfecting the backend with tests. I had a ton of fun.

I've been using my new app hosted locally for myself ever since.

Takeaway: Build things for yourself, you discover super powers.

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