I'm Martin, an engineering student at the FPMs (Faculté Polytechnique de Mons) in Belgium.
I've been experimenting with software for a few years. I started as a self-taught developer before the AI era. I created my own things based on my interests and publicly available resources. This led me to web development (HTML/PHP), Minecraft modding (Java), and Discord bots (using JavaScript).
At some point, I started relying less and less on tutorials and began creating things at the intersection of what I could "copy". This self-taught approach led me to some projects that I'm not quite "proud" of and that, looking at the bigger picture, were really bad.
The good part is that this essentially taught me two important lessons: first, that sustained effort doesn't always produce good results; and second, to see problems not as impossible to solve (though they sometimes can be), but as interesting things to spend time on.
Nowadays, tutorials no longer precede the projects. My engineering studies have also given me the ability to engage with a wide variety of topics. I've stopped working on guided projects and now focus on things that I genuinely find interesting. I work independently, using documentation, source code, experiments, and now generative AI.
- Cloud computing, networks and systems
- Minecraft modding and plugin development
- Reverse engineering of software and other stuff
- Transit systems
- Science and history
Most of my projects are private, but I'm working on making them public. Other projects are stored on my private gitea server, gitlab, and framagit.
Here are some of my notable (latest!) projects:
- mclib2 - A java toolkit/framework for minecraft plugin development
- discord-us - A discord-based 'unlimited' storage solution
- SpotifySTATS - A Spotify statistics application using Spotify GDPR data.
And plenty more unfinished/garbage projects (mostly private)!