Late November 2023. The day I bought my laptop.
I didn't know that along with the laptop, I was also buying a completely different life.
The Confused Kid
When I passed my 10th grade, I was 15. No plan, no direction. All those free hours? PUBG. All day, every day. I wasn't the best student — average at best, and honestly, even that's generous some days.
Then one day, guilt hit me. Hard.
I talked to my father about it. He's a tailor — our shop and a computer shop were right next to each other. My Abbu spoke to the owner, and he agreed to take me in.
The owner's name was Vishu Bhaiya.
A Note Before We Continue
Before code, before web development, before any of this — there was Vishu Bhaiya.
He didn't have to take me in. He didn't have to teach me. But he did, patiently and genuinely. He introduced me to computers when I was just a confused kid who didn't know what he wanted.
A Huge Thanks to him ❤️✨
My first month there? English typing and basic Excel. Add. Subtract. Nothing glamorous.
But I kept showing up.
The Moment That Changed Everything
One day, I watched Vishu Bhaiya build something in Excel using the IF formula. A small program that calculated prices based on weight — kilograms, grams, all automatic.
I was stunned.
I asked him to teach me. He did — efficiently, no shortcuts. And something switched inside me that day. The Abu Bakar who spent his days dreaming about becoming an Esports player suddenly couldn't stop thinking about that small program.
What could I add to this? How could I make something shop owners would actually want to buy?
I also used to fit CCTV cameras for customers alongside my mate Suman — he was my senior at work but younger than me in age and grade. Life was busy, messy, and genuinely fun.
Eventually I had to leave Vishu Bhaiya's shop. Academics got in the way. But that little Excel program never left my head.
The Laptop Changes Everything
Late November 2023. I finally bought my own laptop.
The moment I opened it, that old Excel idea came rushing back. And ChatGPT was booming — I'd tell it what I wanted and it would give me outputs. Together, we built a small billing program for shops.
It wasn't pretty. It wasn't sophisticated. But it worked — it generated bills and saved them into a folder called "Bills".
Here's what it actually looked like:
I was so happy. I had taken something from my imagination and made it real.
Then paranoia set in.
What if I give this to shop owners and they copy it? What if someone else sells it?
I thought — I should make this into proper software. Something protected, something scalable. That thought led me to search "how to build software". Which led me to Python. Which confused me completely. Which led me to web development. Which led me to CodeWithHarry's Sigma Web Development Course.
And something clicked.
Why Web Development?
People ask why I chose web over Android or desktop software.
Honest answer: my laptop is an i3 1215U. Android Studio would have melted it. Web development runs efficiently on almost anything. And the other reason — everything is moving toward SaaS. That billing program I built in Excel? I wanted to rebuild it as a proper cloud-based product that shops could actually subscribe to.
I wrote my first Hello, World in late December 2023.
console.log("Hello, World")
One line. But it felt like everything.
From There to Here
From that confused 15-year-old to a motivated 20-year-old (almost 21 now).
From PUBG all day to building websites for real clients.
From an Excel sheet to a full portfolio you're reading right now.
Things are still left — a lot of them. But I'll tell those later. Maybe in a Part 2, maybe in something else entirely. I'll share it all, I promise.
Take care. And remember me in your prayers.
Thanks for reading. 🤍