Thoughts, ideas, and technical writing. 2026-03-01T00:00:00+00:00 https://santhoss.me/posts/feed.xml 2026-03-01T00:00:00+00:00 2026-03-01T00:00:00+00:00 https://santhoss.me/posts/hello-world/ <p>Welcome to my little corner of the internet.</p> <p>I've been meaning to start writing for a while now — jotting down thoughts on projects I'm working on, tools I find useful, and things that make me think twice.</p> <h2 id="what-to-expect">What to Expect<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-to-expect" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-to-expect" style="visibility: hidden;"></a> </h2> <ul> <li><strong>Technical posts</strong> — walkthroughs, deep-dives, and quick tips</li> <li><strong>Project updates</strong> — building things in public</li> <li><strong>Occasional musings</strong> — things that don't fit neatly anywhere else</li> </ul> <p>I'm not aiming for a posting schedule, just quality whenever it happens. Hope you find something useful here.</p> <hr /> <p><em>Thanks for stopping by.</em></p> 2026-02-14T00:00:00+00:00 2026-02-14T00:00:00+00:00 https://santhoss.me/posts/side-projects-lessons/ <p>Side projects are one of the best ways to learn, and also one of the most humbling.</p> <p>Over the past couple of years, I've started more projects than I can count. Some shipped, most didn't. Here's what I've learned along the way.</p> <h2 id="start-boring">Start Boring<a class="zola-anchor" href="#start-boring" aria-label="Anchor link for: start-boring" style="visibility: hidden;"></a> </h2> <p>The most useful projects I've built weren't exciting at the start — they solved a concrete, boring problem I had. Fancy ideas with vague goals tend to stall out.</p> <h2 id="scope-ruthlessly">Scope Ruthlessly<a class="zola-anchor" href="#scope-ruthlessly" aria-label="Anchor link for: scope-ruthlessly" style="visibility: hidden;"></a> </h2> <p>The first version should do <em>one thing well</em>. Every feature you add before shipping is a bet that you'll ever ship at all. Cut it.</p> <h2 id="the-good-enough-trap">The "Good Enough" Trap<a class="zola-anchor" href="#the-good-enough-trap" aria-label="Anchor link for: the-good-enough-trap" style="visibility: hidden;"></a> </h2> <p>Perfectionism kills side projects. There's always a refactor to do, a design to polish, a test to write. At some point you have to decide: <strong>done is better than perfect</strong>.</p> <h2 id="what-actually-ships">What Actually Ships<a class="zola-anchor" href="#what-actually-ships" aria-label="Anchor link for: what-actually-ships" style="visibility: hidden;"></a> </h2> <p>The projects that make it out the door are usually:</p> <ul> <li>Solving a problem I personally had</li> <li>Small enough that I could hold the whole thing in my head</li> <li>Fun enough to work on late at night</li> </ul> <h2 id="closing-thoughts">Closing Thoughts<a class="zola-anchor" href="#closing-thoughts" aria-label="Anchor link for: closing-thoughts" style="visibility: hidden;"></a> </h2> <p>Side projects aren't about building a portfolio or landing a job (though that's a nice side effect). They're about learning and building the habit of finishing things.</p> <p>Start small. Ship something. Repeat.</p>