My Journey from .NET to Python and TypeScript
September 9, 2024
They say if you know one programming language, you know them all. I began my career with .NET, spent many years away from development, re-kindled by love of programming with Unity3D, spent two years as a Java developer, and then returned to .NET for another two years. It's been a winding path. When I left my job in February to focus on generative AI and entrepreneurship it was clear to me that I needed to take another turn, to embrace Python and TypeScript. I wanted to ship and iterate quickly (in fact, I named by company "Time to Value", to reflect this commitment to delivering value swiftly).
Moving On
My decision to move away from .NET was driven by the desire for greater efficiency and simplicity. .NET’s complex structure often felt like a barrier to quickly producing a functioning website. It felt like you had to jump through hoops to get the framework to output HTML and Javascript - why jump through the hoops? Just write web code from the start. I jumped in with both feet and immediately started using Vue (Nuxt) and TypeScript.
Moving Fast
I found I was able to more quickly and flexibility ship web applications. I've always felt like I knew just enough basic HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to skate by but in the 6 or so months since leaving I feel like I've made tremendous strides. I'm still learning every day (I just began my Tailwind CSS journey, for instance) but man does it feel great to spin up a quick app. As a person who's got more ideas for apps than time, this is critical.
Getting to Value
On the backend, Python’s role in my journey is equally significant. Its powerful libraries, such as NumPy and Pandas, have been instrumental in quickly achieving results with minimal code. Python’s compatibility with APIs from generative AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic has made it a natural choice, allowing me to use the examples they provide without conversion. There's little to no framework hell, it's just code and go. Along the way I've been trying to learn the best practices for architecting a Python solution (hello FastAPI), but LLMs (hello Claude) have been great tutors. Together, Claude and I quickly figured out database migrations (Alembic) and object-relational mapping (SQLAlchemy) for FastAPI, and I was off to the races.
Embracing these technologies has not only aligned with my entrepreneurial goals but also empowered me to move quickly in the fast moving world of AI. I'm looking forward to continuing my journey with each, and continuing to ship, faster and faster.
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