How i started building software

When I started as an article assistant, i could see that so much work was being done in a redundant manner. Hours went into setting things up. It could be formatting spreadsheets, extracting data, cross-checking numbers.

It ranged from the irritatingly simple. "Hey, I have a scanned PDF. I need this in a proper Word doc."

To broader problems "This financials is taking ages to even finish making. When are we going to review and finalise?"

I could sense that people were spending their best hours on completing the rudimentary work that value addition became secondary.

Starting small

I began implementing small automations. A script here. A macro there. Things that shaved off thirty minutes, then an hour, then half a day.

Building products

As years passed, the automations grew. As i had been consistent with building, i noticed that i grew from making one-off scripts to building products. The major change between them was that these products created a workflows which changed the perspective on what's possible. A trial balance extractor that came pre-tallied with hierarchy attached. A transaction extractor that surfaced cost centres and adjustments. A cash flow tool that, when combined with the ledger data, showed accruals against actuals.

The gap

That's when I realised something bigger. There is a massive gap between the worlds of experts in specific domains and technology. This was not because the tools don't exist, but because the people who understand the problems deeply rarely build, and the people who build rarely understand the problems deeply.

I sit in that gap. It's where everything I've built comes from.

If you're anyone who's ever stared at a screen at 11 PM wondering why a process that should take ten minutes is taking three hours, you're at the right place.

I build privacy-focused desktop apps. These apps run on your machine. And they were designed by someone who has sat exactly where you're sitting.

The only difference is that i took that as gap and started building.