u/NullPointerLeo

Hi everyone.

I’m 16 and over the last year I’ve focused a lot on backend development, particularly Java and Spring. Before that, I was constantly jumping between different languages and frameworks, and to be honest, I hate that because I’ve always heard that you risk not becoming really good at anything that way.

Lately, though, I’ve been asking myself: what if I’m using the wrong tool for the projects I want to create?

Studying universal concepts like databases, concurrency, design patterns, software architecture, etc., seems to me to be time well spent. But when I actually have to build small, real-world products or do odd jobs, Spring often feels too ‘enterprise’ to me: I end up spending more time on the infrastructure than on the final product.

What’s more, I get the feeling that Spring is in high demand in certain contexts or countries, especially in large companies and enterprise environments, but much less so in the kind of market I see around me in Italy, at least for the projects I’d like to work on. Here I see loads of PHP, Laravel, Node, TypeScript, Python, WordPress, etc., whilst Java/Spring seems heavier and less flexible for building small products, MVPs or quick jobs for clients.

That’s why I’m thinking of moving towards TypeScript or Python, which seem like faster stacks for developing MVPs, automations, small SaaS apps, useful tools, etc. But I’m afraid of starting from scratch again, doing more pointless little projects just to learn the framework’s mechanics and wasting more time.

Another huge problem is that I don’t have a reliable source of knowledge. Everyone tells me ‘use AI’, but AI often tends to agree with you on everything. So I find myself spending hours comparing different approaches because I’m afraid of building a project badly and having to redo everything after months of refactoring. I don’t even know any more experienced programmers in person to really bounce ideas off.

I also have a very engineering-oriented approach to programming: I study it because I enjoy it, but if I undertake a project, I want it to have a practical use. Something that’s useful to me, to someone else, or to a client.

I also feel a bit stuck when it comes to work. My mates manage to find odd jobs easily; I’ve done a few, but looking back, I think I got the time-to-earnings ratio completely wrong:

* €250 for an HTML/CSS/JS/PHP website built for a friend: about a month’s work because I wanted to get the design and the final product just right.

* €100 for a mini inventory management web app: about 3 weeks. Spring backend + React frontend (then rewritten almost entirely using AI). Supabase on the backend for some features.

* €150 for a Laravel project: about 1 month, 2 hours a day excluding breaks and weekends. I basically learnt the framework on the fly, using a lot of AI.

What I’m wondering is:

1. Does it make sense to stick with Java/Spring even though my goal is to create small, quick products?
2. Would switching to TypeScript or Python really mean ‘starting from scratch’, or are the backend basics I’ve learnt still valid?
3. How did you find reliable sources or more experienced people to consult when you were just starting out?
4. Am I thinking too much like an ‘engineer’ rather than someone who simply needs to build and sell?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who actually work in the industry.

I'm 16, been coding for 5 years, focused on backend for the last 2. Stack: Java Spring, Python, Docker, RabbitMQ, Postgres. Learning C and electronics on the side.

The idea: drop a GitHub repo, a bunch of markdown notes, or lecture slides into the system, and get a local AI assistant that understands the whole thing contextually — not just grep, but semantic retrieval with agents and MCP integrations.

The differentiator: fully self-hostable. Zero data leaves your machine. Cursor and Copilot are great, but they're cloud-only and closed. There's a real gap for devs and students who want this on private codebases or offline.

Architecture (if you care):

- Java Spring — data ingest, auth, user management

- Python FastAPI — AI/RAG engine

- RabbitMQ for async, Postgres, S3-compatible storage

- React frontend (last priority)

Plan: start open source (AGPL), validate with real users, add a hosted paid tier if anyone cares.

Honest questions:

1. Is this already solved well enough that building it is pointless?
2. If you were me, what vertical would you focus first — devs, students, or something else?
3. If the idea is bad, what would you build with this stack?