My Plan for 2026

Why 2026 Is a Reset

For the last six years I have been working professionally as a software engineer, primarily on full stack web applications. The web dev ecosystem runs on continuous hype cycles, from frameworks and libraries to AI tooling and workflows. I prioritized reacting to industry noise over committing to technically deep projects that actually held my interest. It’s 2026 and the noise is only getting worse. I’m writing this post as a reference plan for the goals I want to hold myself accountable for.

Optimizing for Depth

This year I’m optimizing for depth. I’m focusing on narrowly scoped projects tied to learning specific technical domains, simplifying my stack, and staying away from framework and abstraction hell. I want to build the things I am curious about, not because they might make money. In the past, most of my projects were SaaS applications solving problems I wasn’t passionate about, following a ship fast mentality.

Committing to Go

My primary languages are Node and Python. At work, I write Python in a Django backend and for personal projects I usually prefer Node. I’ve grown frustrated with both languages despite their excellent community support. Python has multiple officially supported concurrency models and navigating between them can feel fragmented depending on the system you're building, and the Node/TypeScript ecosystem has become exhausting. This year, I’m committing to Go for all personal projects. Its simplicity, excellent concurrency model, and compiled binary output align well with my goals.

Building for Myself + Writing More

This year I’m focusing on building projects for myself. In the past, I chased business ideas and tried to solve problems I didn’t have firsthand experience with. That usually led to burnout because I didn’t fully understand (or have the desire to understand) the problem space. Instead, I’m focusing on lower-level projects to deepen my technical understanding: a persistent job queue, an HTTP server and WebSocket server from scratch and deploying a K3s cluster on my home server.

One of the most underrated skills in this field is communication. Being able to cleary explain technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences is extremely valuable. This is an area I’ve neglected and haven’t made a real priority. Having a mental model of how something works is very different from being able to explain it verbally or in writing. This year, I’m making writing a major focus by documenting my thinking and doing deep technical write-ups on my projects to solidify my understanding.

This post is the roadmap I’m committing to for 2026. It’s a reset in how I choose what to learn, what to build and what to ignore. I’m trusting my instincts, ignoring the noise and building the things I actually care about.