Okay, so, “i miss the idea of it but not the truth,” huh? This title kinda sums up my last project perfectly. Let me walk you through this whole mess.
It all started with this shiny idea. I envisioned this app, right? Super sleek, solving a problem I thought a lot of people had. It was all clear in my head, the features, the UI, everything. I was pumped. This was gonna be the one.
First, I started sketching out the basic flows. Just pen and paper, nothing fancy. Get the user from point A to point B to C. Seemed simple enough. Then I hopped onto Figma and started mocking up the UI. I spent way too much time on the color palette. Seriously, hours. Should’ve been a warning sign right there.
Next up, I dove into the code. I decided to use React Native, because, you know, cross-platform and all that jazz. I spent a day just setting up the environment. Dealing with Node versions, dependencies… typical JavaScript stuff. Already feeling a bit of the initial excitement fading. But I pushed on.
The first feature I tackled was the user authentication. Okay, this wasn’t too bad. Used Firebase for that, pretty straightforward. Got the login, signup, and password reset flows working. Felt like I was making progress. Small wins, right?
Then came the core functionality. This is where things started to unravel. The backend was a nightmare. I chose to use a serverless architecture with AWS Lambda and API Gateway. Sounded cool in theory, but the configuration was a pain. Spent days debugging CORS errors. I wanted to throw my laptop out the window.
The UI started looking clunky. What looked great in Figma didn’t translate well to a mobile screen. Spent ages tweaking styles, trying to get everything to align perfectly. Responsive design became my nemesis. I started cutting corners.
And the testing? Forget about it. I barely wrote any tests. Just manual testing, clicking around, hoping for the best. I knew it was bad practice, but I was so burned out. I just wanted to be done.
Finally, I got to a point where the app was “functional”. I could use all the core features, but it was buggy, the UI was meh, and the performance was sluggish. I showed it to a few friends, and their feedback was… lukewarm. They pointed out issues I already knew about, and some I hadn’t even considered.
I was crushed. All that time and effort, and it ended up being a mediocre app that nobody would use. I felt like I had failed.
So, what did I learn? The idea was great in my head. The truth was, the execution was terrible. I rushed things, I didn’t plan properly, and I underestimated the complexity of the project. I missed the “idea” of the project, the sleek, problem-solving app I envisioned. But the “truth” of it was a buggy, half-baked mess.
I ended up abandoning the project. Cut my losses and moved on. It stung, but it was a valuable lesson. Now, before I even think about writing a single line of code, I spend way more time planning, designing, and testing. And I’m okay with letting go of ideas that turn out to be more trouble than they’re worth.
- Sketching: Started with basic flows on paper.
- UI Mockups: Figma became a time sink for color palettes.
- React Native Setup: Dependency hell.
- Firebase Auth: A small win!
- Serverless Backend: AWS Lambda and API Gateway = pain.
- UI Clunkiness: What looked good in Figma didn’t translate.
- Testing Skipped: Manual testing only. Bad, I know.
- Lukewarm Feedback: Friends weren’t impressed.
- Project Abandoned: Cut losses and moved on.
Yeah, that’s my story. Hope someone can learn from my mistakes. Now, time for a beer.
