Putting it shortly: everything has changed since I last posted here. EVERYTHING.

This blog post is my retrospective on the last 18 months. Personal. Self-healing. Unblocking.

Moved back to Poland

After 6 years of traveling and working remotely, my wife and I decided to come back to Poland. When we left, there was no specific goal. We just wanted to explore and live this life (and we did to the fuuuuuullest and we still are!). Somewhere in the back of our heads there was this idea of finding a better place. An ideal place to settle down. But as it turned out, no place is perfect. Even living in the paradise of Indonesia for 15 months had its flaws

However, the best side effect (or maybe the main effect) of living in several different countries is the new perspective. Being back in Poland now (which is an amazing country) hits completely different than it was those ~7 years ago. I appreciate it 100000 times more. I am constantly amazed by little things that I previously took for granted or didn’t even notice. This gives me a unique perspective on living here and I really appreciate that.

Longer trips and workations will resume, but for now I am proudly calling myself a self-retired digital nomad

Switched to Mac

In mid-2025, I decided to switch to a Mac. I’ve always been a .NET guy, on Windows since 1998 , but my new job eliminated working with legacy desktop stuff, so I could make the move. I bought a 16-inch MacBook M4 Pro with 48GBs of RAM and 512 GBs of disk space. I was a little worried about the disk space, but after ~1 year it’s just enough for me. Just checked and I still have 260GBs of free space (did the cleanup a few days ago though, before that it was around 180 GBs free). My daily toolbox includes Rider, VS Code, .net&npm, Claude Code, 6-10 docker containers and a few smaller local LLMs running in LM Studio.

I wouldn’t believe saying this 2 years ago, but switching to Mac was the best decision ever. There’s even nothing to write about here. It’s just amazing and I can finally work 8-10 hours without charging it – just in time when I retired from full-time nomading

Started working for a fully remote SaaS company

I also started working for an Australian, fully remote SaaS company. We are building a platform for healthcare professionals, mostly from Australia, US and the UK. The teams are distributed all over the world, but we are not a corporation (there’s probably around 90 of us currently, including ~40 engineers).

It’s been challenging for me to move from a software house to working on an actual SaaS product, which comes with more responsibility, but also more possibilities and influence on the product.

AI… AI everywhere

I didn’t want to start with this point, but this is HUGE. When writing my last article here, in December 2024, the only AI I used was probably the tab completion with GitHub Copilot in VS Code. Early days Since then, my working turned upside down.

I hope to write down more about it one day, but TLDR:

I went through different tools (Cursor, Zed) to – for now – settle down with Claude Code and Codex, which I use every day. Today, I write the definitive most of my code with AI. I also research with AI. I’m building features leveraging LLMs, which bring amazing value to the users. I’m thinking much more about the product, the actual usage of it, the value for the end users, the architecture, security, deployments than about which C# features to use or how to structure the code on the lowest level. I don’t remember when I last visited StackOverflow

And it’s not only work! AI also completely refactored my personal life. I make appointment notes with AI. I research stuff to buy with AI. I rarely use pure Google search. I vibe code apps for solving my daily issues like managing home finances or learning a new language. Fun times

Code generation

I’ve already mentioned this above, but code generation should have its own paragraph. I’ve never been a developer who loves to write code. I always enjoyed everything around it – analyzing customers’ needs, finding architectures that solve the issue, connecting different dots in the project, coordinating cross-team cooperation, maintaining the documentation or even writing tests. So code generation with AI is something I welcomed with open arms

As I’ve already mentioned, the vast majority of my code is AI-generated. I focus more on planning and reviewing it. It opens so many possibilities. I am also never hesitant or feeling blocked to start working on a task, because I always have a place to start – an AI agent.

AI Devs course

A huge step in my AI journey was taking and completing the AI Devs course. It’s been crazy 5 weeks of intensive learning about LLMs, AI agents and multimodality. Very practical, focused on solving real tasks. The course equipped me with solid foundations of the LLMs before the biggest shift with Claude Code and Opus 4.5 happened. It reminds me of diving into .NET internals years ago, just so today I can understand C# and the framework much better. It also opened my eyes to the possibilities LLMs give us. Things that were impossible (or very hard) to realize with pure code are now at our fingertips.

Attended non-technical tech conference

By the end of September 2025 I attended Beyond Code conference. It’s probably the only non-technical IT conference in Poland. The talks and discussions were focused around well-being, mindfulness at work, soft skills and psychology. Very needed type of events, especially in this crazy AI era.

Gave my first public talk

Another significant event was giving my first public talk at a local meetup in Bielsko-Biala. I presented my approach to working with AI tools and how we transformed the software development at the company I work for. The feedback I got was very positive and it was a very rewarding experience

I was invited to a podcast

Last but no least, as kind of an aftermath of the meetup talk, I was invited to an AI podcast episode. Przemek, who is one of the co-founders of Przeprogramowani (an initiative where the guys teach about AI development, basically), happened to attend my talk at the meetup and later invited me to record the podcast episode. We talked about AI again, this time in more depth. I also shared a little about digital nomad life. The episode got quite a lot of traction and positive feedback.

So… what’s next?

Ufff, I’m very happy that I got to this point. I really wanted to publish this article. I know it’s very personal, but that’s what I needed.

To be fully honest, I have no idea what to do with this blog. When I finally sit to it, I really like writing. This is by the way very common in my life recently – I commit to many projects that I really enjoy when actually working on them, but then I have no time to even start working on them, because they are too many

AI have completely reshaped the way I work and also changed my identity. I don’t anymore see myself as someone who will “help you becoming an independent full stack .NET web developer”, as the description in the sidebar of this page still says The free PDF I’m sharing as part of newsletter signup is completely out-of-date now. I don’t even know how I would need to reshape it to fit the current AI era

I don’t really know what’s next. Next for this blog, as well as for my activity in the IT community. Everything changes so fast… But maybe this is what we all found ourselves in right now? Maybe we just need to accept the current pace of things, outdated websites and blogs, as well as AI tools that become legacy a few days after being released?

The post Everything Has Changed appeared first on CodeJourney.net.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make the most of this time. Since I’m a bit stuck in kicking off this new ‘project,’ I thought I’d write down my thoughts and struggles.

If you’re curious about how I’m planning to use these two months without paid work to improve my programming skills (and why I can’t seem to get my productivity back), read on

Background

For context, here’s a little background about myself:

• 9 years of programming experience.
• I consider myself a full stack web developer (.NET + React).
• I’ve worked the longest with .NET and C# (9 years), but I feel most confident with React and TypeScript (5 years of experience).
• I love talking to end users, product owners, and “business people.” Discussing ideas, finding weak points, and proposing solutions feels like being a kid in a candy store to me
• I once led a team of up to 10 programmers but decided to return to hands-on programming, and I love it.
• My weakest point as a programmer at the moment is UI/UX design. I can create a nice responsive UI with CSS, but it always takes more time than I’d like. I started learning Figma but haven’t yet designed a real app with it.

By the end of February 2024, I quit my job and went on a few-months-long holiday.

After 5 months of travelling in SE Asia and Oceania, I decided it’s enough. Then I realised I had a rare opportunity: two months entirely dedicated to self-development, with no immediate need to earn money. This article is my attempt to navigate this exciting yet daunting time.

That’s more or less it about my background Let’s now move on to what I want to achieve.

Project Goals

As I mentioned, I have around 2 months to dedicate to something full-time, without the pressure of getting paid. I’m calling it a project, even though I haven’t defined exactly what it will be.

My current goals for this self development project are:

1. Build or create something I can showcase in my portfolio. So far, most of my work has been on commercial, closed-source projects, so there’s nothing concrete I can show as a result of my work.
   
2. Prepare myself to return to work in 2–3 months on better terms. This means securing a position with flexible or undefined hours, very few or no meetings, and working on interesting projects (fully remote, of course). This might be working on my own projects or providing services.

As you can see, none of the goals are financial. This means that whatever I do or create doesn’t need to make money right now—no pressure for fit-to-market ideas.

None of the goals are purely technical, either. This is both good and bad, as it’s the root of one of my current struggles: choosing what to actually do We’ll dive into those excuses soon.

I also have a lot of free time for the next 2 months. I’m even treating this as a full-time project (up to 8 hours a day). On the other hand, 2 months is not a lot of time for creating, for instance, an application from scratch.

Ideas

I have several ideas on how to use (or not waste? ) this time. Let me just list them here:

1. Develop a mobile task and life management app. I’ve been using Nozbe for years (and even recommended it to everyone), but the team behind it recently stopped developing the app (they switched to a version for teams, which I don’t like) and also increased prices. I don’t find the app worth it anymore. I have specific needs for a task management app (like custom masks and computations based on them), so it could be a useful product for me. However, task management apps are so cliché… Anyway, there are unique ideas in my mind to make this app different from others and to make the process more fun. It would need to be a mobile app, since a smartphone is where I need it the most.
2. Develop a mobile app for specialty coffee enthusiasts. It could help with tracking different types of beans, brewing methods, preparation conditions, and the taste of the coffee. Sounds like a cool app I’d use myself. Again, mobile-first is a must here.
3. Contribute to some open-source projects. This should be quicker and easier to start. It’s also a nice way to show my activity on GitHub to potential future clients. Open-source contributions could lead to new connections and possibilities.
4. Spend this time learning programming skills I feel I’m missing or not very good at. See: UI/UX, Next.js, authentication in .NET, etc. However, such “to-learn” lists are infinite (I guess you also have one ), and this involves mostly passive learning (watching courses, YouTube, reading blog posts). It’s hard to make it a practical experience, and there wouldn’t be much to add to the portfolio afterwards.
5. Generally: build an app in public. Take one of the app ideas and build it in public. For instance, publish an update every day on Twitter and weekly on the blog. Or maybe share my progress on YouTube? This could work great or be disastrous and kill the project on day 1.

I had many more ideas, but I think it doesn’t matter much at this stage. These are just ideas. The only thing that matters now is the execution. But, of course, there are hundreds of blockers… eghm, excuses

My Doubts and Struggles (Also Known as Excuses)

This is the therapeutic moment of writing this article. I want to lay out everything that’s blocking me right here, right now, on paper—all the excuses, all the reasons I procrastinate and write this article instead of getting things done I’ll shed a bit more light on each of them below.

Excuse 1: Leverage My Existing Skills or Learn New Ones?

Should I leverage my existing skills (.NET + React) and build using only those, or should I dive into a new technology like React Native? Does it even matter? Is the choice of a tech stack more important than the idea (goal, final product) itself? I’m a software engineer; technology is just a tool in my toolbox. But that doesn’t change the fact that a new framework or tool must be learned. Do I want to learn it now, on the go? Do I need it? What will learning React Native give me at this point? Do I want to become a mobile app developer? Will developing one app make me a mobile app developer?

If my ideas are mobile-first, is using .NET and React enough (I can always make it a PWA), or do I need a native approach (React Native, again)?

While the choice of technology is a major decision, it’s not the only thing on my mind.

Excuse 2: What to Do?

Which idea should I pursue? Are 2 months enough to build something I can showcase to future clients? Maybe contributing to open-source projects is a better idea than creating a product from scratch?

But… should I think about money here?

Excuse 3: Build for Fun or for Money?

Everywhere I look, people are building their SaaS applications. “Find the perfect market fit,” they say. “Don’t waste time building something no one will buy. Validate your idea before writing a single line of code.”

I get that. But I don’t want to do anything like that right now. I want to have some fun and learn something new. However, I still hear those little whispers in my head: maybe think of a “real” product idea… Do more market research… Find the perfect idea… They’re telling me to use my time wisely, not just for fun. But hey, who wouldn’t want to have fun for 2 months?!

Excuse 4: How to Actually Start Creating?

I watched a fantastic React Native crash course (which is what I love to do when diving into new technologies). I was motivated to start working on Quiker (codename for my todo-life-everything-management app).

And then it hit me. How do I actually start this app? I need a design. But I don’t have one. Ok, let’s start simple with the login and register screens. But I still need a design. Should I learn Figma now? Should I design with StyleSheet or learn NativeWind (it looked so neat in the tutorial)?

I guess it’s going to be like that with anything I choose to do… So why not write an article instead?

Excuse 5: I Prefer Writing About Doing to Actually Doing

As you may have already noticed, I prefer writing about stuff to actually doing it I’ve always been like that. I love sharing knowledge, writing, and publishing. My tendency to put everything down in writing has been with me for years. Maybe it’s actually an advantage? I need to think how to leverage that.

But there must be some boundaries here. Nevertheless, I decided to write this article after a few days of no progress on the project itself. We’ll see if it helps with the actual doing.

Excuse 6: Should I Build in Public?

My secret dream is to be a YouTuber. I actually started 15 years ago – pretty badly, but still

I’ve been thinking about building an app in public. Sharing all my struggles and excuses (have I already started?). Showing how I’m learning and approaching the creation of something from scratch. Weekly updates on YouTube sound very appealing, but I’ve never done that for programming.

Building in public could have great benefits, like increased motivation and the accountability of a public declaration. On the other hand, it might kill the project if I put too much pressure on myself and stumble along the way. Especially if I… fail.

Excuse 7: What if I Fail?

What if I start building and don’t deliver? Even worse, what if I start building in public and don’t keep my promise? I know rationally that I’ll learn something along the way, but The Chimp still keeps saying, “if you fail, you will be a failure”.

Summary

If anyone ever reaches this part of the article, I’m surprised (and honoured) I just wanted to get all my thoughts down on paper. At least I’ve clearly defined my current goals and discovered how many excuses I can come up with in 2 hours (the time it took to write this article)

What if I had taken these 2 hours to write some code instead? I wouldn’t have, anyway I simply needed this.

Have you ever faced similar dilemmas when starting a project? How did you overcome them? What would you work on if you had 2 entire months decidated to self-development as a programmer? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

The post What I’m Doing with Two Months of Full-Time Coding for Fun appeared first on CodeJourney.net.

Today I’d like to announce you a change that will happen on my blog in the days to come, so you’re not surprised post factum

Purpose of this blog

I’ve actually never defined why I conduct this blog and what’s the purpose of it. When I started in the beginning of 2016, I planned to launch my own technical blog to have a single place in which I collect some useful information about software development, mostly for myself. This was the main idea at that time.

Then I didn’t write anything here for some time, until the Daj Się Poznać (en. Get Noticed) programming competition begun, in which I decided to take part. It kind of forced me to publish 2 blog posts per week and it was the moment when you – my Dear Readers – started more actively consuming and interacting with my content.

By that time I noticed that some of you find my articles really useful. I started receiving emails with programming questions and I was crazily happy when I could solve someone else’s problem and help them go further. There are not many things in life that motivate that much as pushing someone towards his/her goal by sharing your own knowledge, which you anyway possess. Sharing knowledge, which is useful for someone else is really addicting and making me willing to do more.

That’s how I came to the conclusion that here, in my tiny own place on the Internet, I’d like to help you get closer to your goals. I’d like to achieve it by sharing my knowledge and showing you that some at a glance complex concepts can turn out to be very easy when properly explained. These will be mostly programming goals, as this blog is about software development.

I think that sharing knowledge we already have is our common duty. I’ll keep publishing useful – I hope – articles on this blog, mostly on programming, to allow you to obtain the same knowledge which I possess and maybe omit some mistakes I made gaining it. As long as this makes your skills even a small bit better, I’ll keep doing it as it also helps me by bringing a huge amount of self-satisfaction. Knowing that I could make your programming journey less painful is a great reward

Rebranding

As my website’s name and URL – dsibinski.pl – is (or was? ) kind of personal, I decided to rename it. The goal of this change is to make it more content-oriented. The new name (and address) of my blog is going to be codejourney.net. Actually, you can already use this link, but for now it just redirects to the old URL.

Why CodeJourney?

Why did I choose such a name? Apart from software development, I love traveling in my spare time. I think that programming is somehow similar to traveling:

• looking for and choosing a new place or country to visit ==> looking for a new framework/technology to learn
• packing your traveler’s backpack with all necessary items ==> preparing your developer’s tools and IDEs
• hiking or traversing switchback roads ==> meeting issues during development
• … etc.

Visiting inaccessible or not very touristic countries seems unreachable sometimes, but it often turns out to be easier than you’d expect. There are also other travelers who already visited the place you want to see – they are eager to share their knowledge to make your journey smooth, helping you to avoid the common mistakes which they maybe made themselves.

I think that we, as software developers, form similar community to travelers – we explore different technologies and meet a lot of issues on our way to the goal. That’s why it should be our mission to help others making their coding journey easier and straight to the point. One day, for sure, someone else’s knowledge will be a lifesaver for ourselves

What’s next?

So what does it mean to you, my Dear Readers? In the next several days, this website’s address will be changed to codejourney.net. Of course I’ll make sure that all old URLs still work and point to the correct articles, but be prepared that something may not work correctly during the changes period.

Next step will be a new layout of the blog – I’ll modify it a bit to be more readable and attractive, I hope

It also means that in the next weeks activity on the blog will be a bit lower, but after the rebranding is finished you can expect a loooot of new stuff here

Last, but not least, we’re going to have a new awesome logo! See below

Wrapping up, I’d like to thank all of you for being active readers of my blog so far Thank you for every minute you spent here, every comment you left, every email you sent and every of my posts you shared in your social media. It would make no sense without you, folks!

I hope you’ll stay with me on this new, exciting code journey

Stay tuned!

The post Rebranding – dsibinski.pl becomes codejourney.net appeared first on CodeJourney.net.

If someone ever reads this post, this is just a “hello” message to you all. I’ve decided to start my blog today as sometimes I would like to store and (potentially) share some of my ideas somewhere, so I thought it would be a nice idea to have one place in which I can put them.

Now I need to spend some time configuring all the stuff here. Then I will try to post my first insights

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