I have been revisiting project ideas I first built 11 years ago, and the contrast is hard to ignore.
Back then, even simple apps took weeks. I was learning everything while building: setup, architecture, UI, edge cases, deployment, and all the mistakes in between. Every feature felt expensive because every decision had to be discovered the long way.
What I did not expect is how emotional this process would be.
Getting laid off recently did something to my mindset. The first reaction was the normal shock, then uncertainty, then a lot of internal noise. But after that settled, another feeling came back: the itch to build.
Not to build for optics. Not to build to stay busy. To build because making things is still how I process change, regain momentum, and prove to myself that I can create value quickly.
I wrote more about the layoff here, but this post is the other side of that story: what happened when I got back into creator mode.
Now I am channeling that energy into projects like React Chat, Secret Santa Pair, Math Game, and QikPoll.
- React Chat let me revisit real-time product thinking: rooms, message flow, commands, presence, and social interaction loops.
Project | Site | Repo
- Secret Santa Pair brought back the fun of solving a narrow consumer problem with clean UX and almost no friction.
Project | Site | Repo
- Math Game pulled me into game loops again: progression, streaks, feedback, retention, and motivation design.
Project | Site | Repo
- QikPoll let me revisit realtime systems from another angle: anonymous voting, live results, and practical anti-abuse guardrails.
Project | Site | Repo
What changed is not the ideas. What changed is the speed between intent and execution.
With Claude and Codex from OpenAI in my workflow, a lot of old bottlenecks are gone. I can scaffold quickly, generate first-pass implementations, tighten rough logic, and iterate on UI in tight loops. Work that used to take me a week now often takes a few focused hours.
Eleven years ago, building one meaningful project meant long setup cycles, lots of context switching, and slower feedback. Today, I can move from idea to deployed draft fast enough to stay in flow.
That speed matters more than productivity stats. It changes emotional momentum. When you can ship quickly, you can recover quickly. When uncertainty is high, that loop is powerful.
The biggest shift is this: I spend less time fighting blank files and more time deciding what should exist.
Quality is still on me. Taste is still on me. Product judgment is still on me. AI does not remove the need for craft. It removes dead time between decisions.
That difference is why these project revivals feel so meaningful right now. I am not just rebuilding old ideas with newer stacks. I am rebuilding confidence through output.
In a way, this feels like circling back to a younger version of myself. The same curiosity is still there. The tools are better. The feedback loops are faster. And after the layoff, the act of creating again feels less like optional side work and more like how I move forward.
Eleven years ago, I needed weeks to prove an idea. Today, I can usually prove it in hours. Right now, that changes everything.