Solve a Real Problem for Someone You Love (and Why You Should Have a Side Project)
How a weekend app reminded me why I became a developer in the first place
During the last holiday, I went to visit my father. He’s in his early sixties, an Electrical Inspector on construction sites and — contrary to most retirement narratives — he still wakes up excited to work. He likes what he does. He likes being on-site, he likes the smell of dust, he likes explaining to younger technicians what’s right and what might become a problem down the line.
We were talking about his daily routine when he mentioned something casual — something he didn’t even notice, but that stayed echoing in my head:
— “Half of my time goes into transferring everything to the spreadsheet afterwards.”
Half.
Fifty percent.
Hours every single day just to “move” what he had already done on-site into Excel.
That’s when it clicked: he wasn’t looking for a tablet.
He was looking for a better workflow.
And I know someone who can fix workflows. → Me.
What do you do when you see a problem that can be solved in 48 hours?
I did what anyone who loves technology would do: walked to the kitchen, grabbed a coffee, opened my laptop, and started sketching a prototype.
That’s how Inspec.io was born (yes, the name is an inside family joke).
A simple, offline-first web app that stays by my father’s side on the job:
a clean, visual checklist
quick recording of OK / Non-Conform / Not Applicable
mandatory comments when something is wrong
photos attached directly to each item
item-by-item progress tracking
local saving + safe sync
automatic PDF generation in his exact template
No glamour.
No AI.
No unnecessary features.
Just friction removed.
And the following week, there he was: helmet, safety vest, busy construction site… and the web app running on his phone.
Today, he estimates he saves almost 4 hours every week.
Four hours that used to be swallowed by the most repetitive and bureaucratic part of his job.
Why am I telling this story?
It’s not about code.
It’s not about showing a cute MVP — this one isn’t visually special at all.
It’s about side projects.
We underestimate the impact a simple project, built in a couple of nights, can have.
Side projects remind us of the fundamentals:
that technology exists to improve real life, not just to inflate portfolios with “Twitter clones”
that solving small problems can change someone’s entire routine
that building something outside work reignites the creativity that corporate life tends to dull
that experimenting without permission is one of the purest ways to learn
And most importantly:
Side projects give you control back.
You set the scope.
You decide when it ships.
You make the calls.
You own the impact.
Inspec.io (despite its startup-sounding name) won’t become a SaaS.
It won’t scale.
It won’t be a YC case study.
But it did something I consider far more valuable:
it gave my father his time back.
And it reminded me why I entered this field: to build things that matter.
Here’s the point:
If you work in tech and don’t have a side project — start one.
It doesn’t need to be grand.
It doesn’t need to be pretty.
It doesn’t need to be “the next X for Y.”
It just needs to solve a real problem.
For a real person.
A friend, a family member — your choice.
Preferably someone you love.
The return is immediate: clarity, purpose, hands-on practice, autonomy, and the reassurance that you can still build useful things in a world increasingly dominated by bubbles, frameworks, and hype.
And sometimes, you get a bonus: a smile, a genuine thank-you… or four hours a week back in someone’s life.
That’s enough for me.
Thank you for reading.