Programming · by Daniel Kiptoo · 2026-09-15

The cozy joy of doing the setup badly at first for absolute beginners

I tried this in Cairo with a friend and we both noticed the same thing: the social part mattered more than the perfect plan.

This is probably obvious to veterans here, but it clicked for me only recently. debugging got easier when I stopped treating every attempt like a final exam.

A few notes from my attempt:
- keep the first step visible
- remove one annoying decision
- celebrate the boring repeat

Would love to hear how other people handle this. I am especially curious about the version that works on a tired weekday, not just on an ideal Sunday.

57 sparks · 11 comments

Comments

Grace Parker · 5 likes

Helpful and not preachy, which is rare.

Sofía Hernández · 4 likes

Useful intention, poor execution. This pairs weirdly well with pierogi.

Tomás Gómez · 2 likes

Respectfully, I see it the other way.

Sofía Hernández · 4 likes

Fair pushback.

Sara Ahmed · 4 likes

This sounds sensible, though I would need to test it myself. This would have saved me a lot of trial and error.

Valeria Flores · 2 likes

The absolute angle is what sold me. I care less about the perfect answer and more about repeatability.

Diego García · 1 likes

I wonder how much of this depends on timing. The low-effort version is probably the keeper.

Angel Reyes · 1 likes

I do not have a strong take, but the badly detail is useful. For me it came down to the route.

Maya Putri · 1 likes

Big fan of this approach. Honestly, the simplest version wins for me.

Diego García · 0 likes

Big fan of this approach. The low-effort version is probably the keeper.

Olena Shevchenko · 1 likes

You just saved me a bad purchase.