How I went from learning to code, ideation and development in 2 years.

Hello everyone, I hope you're enjoying the holiday season!

My name is Terry, and this marks my debut indie hacker post! As a frequent reader of the indie hacking community, I've witnessed its tremendous growth. I'm grateful to all the inspiring individuals consistently adding value. I am an amateur developer with little to no experience but a lot of determination. The reason behind my decision to make this first post is to share how I went from having no coding knowledge to developing my first app in 2 years with the help of chatGPT. I firmly believe that your choice of methods, whether coding or using no-code solutions, shouldn't hinder your vision or app development. As the say, execution will always trump a great idea. Ultimately, the end-user won't be concerned with the technical approach as long as the user experience is great.

Creation is at the core of what makes me happy. Providing value to people based on what I create is immensely fulfilling. I've embarked on entrepreneurial journeys, faced failures with companies and startups, but here I am, two years after venturing into coding—a journey I find both exhilarating and regrettable for not starting sooner. Continuously failing and learning from past experiences has become ingrained in my DNA. Forging my destiny and picking myself up to do the work fuels an unyielding flame within me. There is no other road but to continue.

I started with free Coursera courses, which took me to learn scratch, and thereafter I decided to continue my studies with some youtube videos. Little did I know what I was getting myself into, but my curiosity caved in and it just opened a world of possibilities. Merging my creative instincts with the logical facets of coding was a revelation. Clueless but determined, I ventured into mastering three coding languages—Python, Javascript, and Java. Yes, it was foolish of me to do it this way, and it was the price to pay for self-learning and not asking around how to properly learn the craft.

While learning how to code I decided to visit my mom in Panama, where she runs a sanctuary for cats and dogs housing over 220 cats and 25 dogs. Her passion and devotion to them is heartfelt, it courses through her veins. She knows the name and history of every single animal, including their names, rescue stories, illnesses, behaviors, and even the most nuanced details about them. However, despite her incredible dedication, she manages the sanctuary's logistics manually, inputting data like vaccines and checkups into an Excel sheet. Witnessing this, I couldn't help but recall a fundamental lesson in software development: the sight of someone utilizing an Excel sheet for information management represents an opportunity for software facilitation and improvement.

And so here I am, several months later after visiting my mom working on an app whose fate remains uncertain —whether it will thrive or join the ranks of my past ventures. I aim to maintain a balanced perspective, steering clear of excessive enthusiasm or undue pessimism, striving for rational optimism. I fiercely embrace the Stockdale Paradox philosophy – “Maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”

While not an expert, my background in UI and UX design from years spent crafting websites provides a solid foundation. The app will simply provide medical reminders, maintain a medical history and track your pet’s activity in one convenient place. My long-term vision is to extend this concept and develop software tailored for shelters and sanctuaries at a larger scale. While it's possible similar software exists, I'll address that challenge when the time comes.

As some of you may know, mastering coding and launching an app solo within a year or two is challenging yet not impossible. During this timeframe I relied on ChatGPT to leverage my learning growth whilst working on my app. In order to develop the app I first started by researching the tech-stack that best suited my basic knowledge, which led me to react native. Following that, I conducted research on the latest YouTube videos with the highest views on developing an app in React Native. Once I grasped the First Principles of how it works, I started to work little by little on each screen of the app, establishing API connections, and leveraging both ChatGPT and my limited knowledge. As of this writing, the app is 70% completed. This might not be the best path, but it has proven effective for me, imparting a valuable lesson in the process.

Some may argue that I'm taking shortcuts or not engaging in traditional coding practices, and I understand those concerns. However, all I care is to provide this asset I am creating to people who might need it and who will not care how it was developed. While purist might cringe at this approach, I am committed to launching the app while expanding my knowledge throughout the entire process. My goal is to collaborate with a team for my next project. All I want to do I create “Art” that connects with people no matter the means, as long as ethical practices are upheld. I am happy to have discovered a way to create things that can be of service to people. May you uncover your own brush to craft the art our world so desperately craves.