No Structure, No Plan, Just Dev

I've just finished a Masters in Computing in Games and Extended Reality. I've completed a Fullstack Software Development Course, a Higher Diploma in Marketing and E-Commerce and a BSc in Multimedia. With all of these pieces of paper you'd think I've got a pretty awesome skillset and a portfolio to match... Well. About that.

Across all these courses, I’ve churned out assignment projects that might wow someone who thinks design and dev are some kind of magic — but anyone who actually knows what they’re looking at would probably politely nod and move on with their day.

What I've come to realise, and this is super late in the game to be only realising it, is that I've always been doing projects to fulfill assignment briefs and meet class requirements but not actually trying to learn deeply from them. I was so focused on passing that I forgot to actually learn anything. Every project was a rush job — no iteration, no reflection, no personal investment.
Just deliverables. Deadlines. Grades.

I need to change my approach. I’m done with doing things just to meet briefs. From now on, every project I touch is going to be something I learn from. Even if it fails.
Especially if it fails. Instead of showcasing where I'm already strong (spoiler: nowhere really), I’m going to focus on building actual understanding — layer by layer — and letting the portfolio emerge organically from that.

I want to go from "checking boxes" to growing knowledge.

So first off: we’re dumping Windows. Yeah buddy — we’re getting that bloated spyware outta here and replacing it with Arch Linux.
Yeah yeah, I know. “I use Arch btw.”

But this isn’t just for the flex (though it is partially for the flex) — it’s about the mindset.

The mindset of doing things the hard way or the way that interests me so I can actually learn from it. This is about embracing the hard way — the manual config files, dotfiles, and curses-based package managers kind of hard way. If you’re a dev and you’ve ever thought “One day I’ll learn Linux properly” — consider this your sign. Let’s suffer together. It’s character-building.

So here's the new rule: Every project must teach me something.

Not “look good for recruiters.”
Not “fulfill a requirement.”
Not “copy a tutorial with a few changes.”

It has to push me. Confuse me. Force me to look up things I’ve never even heard of before. And end with experience and knowledge that I can keep leveraging into more and more projects. For this process, I’m limiting AI use to a nudge, not a crutch. It is a extremely competent auto-complete and I will be using it as such. And no more copy-paste solutions from someone smarter than me— we’re reading the docs. No fear of the rabbit holes, there might be something cool down there.

I’ve considered starting blogs and creating websites, evens starting YouTube channels so many times before.

I’d make branding. Plan the channel, the content. List out every video I’d ever make. Outline the ideal upload order. Maybe even make killer banners and icons and a clever username. And then I’d get distracted or overthink it or convince myself I needed to “wait until I had something polished.” And I never actually posted anything.

But this time is different. Because this time... there is no plan. No pipeline of future posts and projects. No content calendar. No illusion of a perfectly structured journey from zero to influencer-dev-gamer.

Just this blog post.
Just me saying:

“Here’s where I’m at. Here’s what I’m figuring out.”

And when it’s done?

I’ll move on to whatever I’m working on next — and I’ll make something about that. Maybe a devlog. Maybe just a weird, buggy prototype. Maybe even a game. But if it results in me learning a thing that I can talk about confidently and helps me solve a future problem in a better way that thats a win.