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The Art of Failing Forward: Why I Build

Most "About Me" pages are a polished list of victories. But if you're an engineer, you know that the most valuable things we own aren't our certificates—they're our scars.

2025-02-07

I’m Stefan, and I’ve spent the last few years learning exactly how to build the wrong things, the wrong way, for the wrong reasons. Here is how those failures turned me into the engineer I am today.

The "Tuition Fees" (My Project Cemetery)

I don’t call these failures; I call them my master's degree in reality.

  • TypingCompetition: I built a high-performance, real-time competition platform. I used a complex microservices architecture because I wanted to "learn the tech."
    • The Lesson: I ended up paying €60/month for 100 users. I learned that simplicity is a feature, and over-engineering is a tax on innovation.
  • MyStudentJob & MyStudentCard: Technically solid, but I ignored marketing and sales.
    • The Lesson: Great code in a vacuum is a hobby. A product only exists if it reaches the people who need it.
  • Meditation Builder: I built something for a market that didn't exist.
    • The Lesson: Validate the "Why" before you write the "How."

The Human Bottleneck

In my professional career, I’ve faced the hardest bug of all: Communication. I’ve seen great tech stacks crumble under "management decisions" and seen teams get stuck because the bridge between engineering and leadership was broken. I used to blame the blockers; now I realize that as a Senior Engineer, my job is to be the translator. If I can’t explain the ROI of a performance upgrade or the risk of technical debt to a non-technical stakeholder, that’s a bug in my own system. I’m committed to building "Clean Code" and "Clear Communication" in equal measure.

What I’m Building Now

I am currently pivoting from Frontend Engineering to AI Engineering. I’m moving from building the skin of applications to building the brains. My focus is on making intelligence lean, human-centric, and useful.

  1. MyIndependent AI: My lab for personal data sovereignty. I’m building systems to pipe messy data (WhatsApp, Dropbox, Mail) into a private AI that actually understands you. No over-engineered microservices—just utility.
  2. Tatiland: My heart project. We’re creating bilingual children's books and materials to bridge cultural gaps. It’s my constant reminder that tech must serve a human purpose.

My Philosophy

  • Standardize before you optimize.
  • Be the engineer who solves business problems, not just code problems.
  • Truth over ego. If it's not working, kill it and learn.

I’m looking to connect with people who value radical honesty and lean engineering. If you're building the future of AI and need someone who has already made the expensive mistakes so you don't have to—let's talk.