# The Dream of a Fool ## Four Years Ago, I Returned In **2020**, I went back to **Tam Kỳ**. I was chasing a dream after our startup fell apart. I didn’t know how to explain what happened — not to anyone, not even to myself. I didn’t know where to start, or how to continue. Ten years earlier, after finishing military service, I discovered technology. I began fumbling my way through **HTML** and **CSS** until I finally got into university and started learning programming properly. Back then, I dreamed of creating a platform — or a tool — that was easier for people like me to use. Before 2020, I was obsessed with front-end development. **Angular** was my world. Nothing could compare. But after 2020, I started learning more about **Golang** and **Vanilla JS**. I stopped using heavy JS frameworks. I can’t explain exactly why, but I simply knew what I needed — and what I wanted to build. I learned about **JAMstack** and wanted to create something different. Security, for me, wasn’t just about the client side anymore. It had to start from the **server**. My learning path became more than just programming or security. It was about finishing a product and turning it into a **service**. Others could build a website in a few hours or days. It took me **two years** just to reach a basic form. Six months of that went into building a single **DNS module**. I never really explained to others what it was, but any developer would understand. For years, I didn’t know exactly what I was building — only that it was a **website system designed for myself**. Someone once asked me, “How will it make money?” I could only answer with two ideas: 1. Build websites for clients. 2. Add **Google AdSense**. That was it. ## Things Don’t Always Go as Planned I spent more than a year building that website. I rebuilt its architecture countless times. There were months when I stayed awake night after night, restructuring everything just to make it simpler for myself. Then **Samdy.vn** was born. I gave everything I had to finish it. For a brief time, it worked. Samdy even made it into the list of top e-commerce websites in Vietnam. But everything that comes fast… goes fast. Overconfident, I ran the entire platform on a single **VPS with 1 CPU core and 1GB RAM**. Of course, the server crashed. I bought a new server, rebuilt the system — but it was already too late. * * * ## Failure is a Lesson After that failure, I learned how to deploy websites automatically. I started designing systems with more structure, more discipline. I began experimenting with new models like **affiliate marketing** and more. In **2022**, I thought about giving up. Maybe I should get a job. But even then, I kept nurturing my platform — slowly, stubbornly. I couldn’t really explain to others what I was doing. I didn’t know **NGINX**, **Apache**, or half the technologies people talked about. I didn’t even use **React** or **Angular** anymore. Instead, I wrote my own **JavaScript components**. I spent months studying frameworks, **Web Components**, and other ideas. In the end, I realized something simple: > “Pure things last longer.” So I learned **Vanilla JS**. I started building small custom elements, wrapping them into my own components, and using them across my platform. ## Why I Did It Because I needed something new — something I call **Dynamic Stack**. It’s a concept built on **SSR rendering**, where each **node** and **component** has its own role, updating only when necessary. It’s still primitive — even rougher than **AngularJS 1.0** — but it does exactly what I need: synchronize and reuse across my system. ## Between Earning and Dreaming Every developer I know seems to have moved forward — funding rounds, IPOs, startup stories. Meanwhile, I’m still struggling between **making a living** and **chasing a dream**. I’ve achieved small things here and there, but there’s still so much to learn. And even now, I can’t really explain to people what it is that I do. Lately though, my mindset has changed. It’s wider. Clearer. Back when I worked with my startup team, my friend often talked about **MVPs** — Minimum Viable Products. I never understood it back then. I told him, > “A product can fail, but a platform rarely fails.” Now I realize I was wrong. Because if you never publish that platform, then it’s already failed. The path I chose is long, complex, and difficult to explain. But now that I’ve learned about **SaaS** and **Build in Public**, I see that this — this is the path I should have been on. I started renting out my first websites without even realizing that what I was offering was already a **service**. ## SaaS Modules When I learned Angular, I heard the term **Headless API** many times but never understood it. It wasn’t well explained or practically applied. To me, it simply meant: > “An API for rent.” If **Firebase** is a backend service you pay for, then my vision is similar — offering **preconfigured APIs** and models that developers can rent and plug into their systems. Maybe I’m too ambitious for building so many things on one platform, but that’s how it began. And I still haven’t forgotten the original goal: **One Account for All Services.** ## The Dream of a Fool I once dreamed of building a **Vietnamese social network**. It failed. But I still want to create a platform — for Vietnamese developers, or at least for myself. Maybe that’s naive. But this fool keeps doing foolish things. Four years ago, I had nothing. Now, at least, I have a **mindset** — even if it’s a foolish one. Lately, I’ve been building something I call **SSO** — just a simple module, but it’s taught me a lot. Sometimes, I even chat with **AI bots** about my ideas, asking them to show me code snippets or new ways of thinking. It’s strange — I now feel like I live between two languages: the **human one**, and the **machine one**. I sometimes laugh at myself — confident, yet still struggling. But finishing a module I built from scratch still makes me happy, even if it’s just for a moment. ## What Comes Next I don’t know what to call my next dream. Should I seek funding? But how do I value something like this? Or should I try **crowdfunding**? Would people call me a scammer for that? For now, I just want to **finish my modules** and **rent them out** — small steps to keep funding this dream. Some people dislike me because I dropped out — because I “quit.” But sometimes, life teaches you lessons only when you experience them yourself. Lately, I’ve been both blaming and forgiving myself — and smiling through it. I’m still just a fool in love with code. **Coding and life.** ## No Money, No Everything Without money, nothing moves. No one will help you — not even yourself. I used to expect more from life. Now I have nothing but debts. Debts in money, love, and life itself. So, if one day I get a big project, what would I do? I keep asking myself this question. Because in this world, when you have no money, you have nothing. I could hire a team, build faster — but how do you manage people when you’ve trapped yourself in your own thoughts and your own code? Sometimes, I talk with chatbots just to explain my own ideas to myself. If I apply for a big company, they might think I’m arrogant. If I take a small job, I’d be throwing away the years I’ve already spent. Right now, I feel like a **spear** — or maybe like my favorite language, **Go** — just moving forward. People often think all I want is money. But if that were true, I wouldn’t still be here — still coding, still dreaming, still trying to escape this circle. Sometimes I look at my own hands — aging, tired, yet still dreaming of ambition, wealth, or beauty. Now, I just want to live like a melody. A song called **“The Life of Passion.”** Even through pain, I still wish and still dream. This lullaby continues, and I’ll keep writing it — for tomorrow. ### NOTES - Article posted in **2024** and **reposted** here - **AI-powered translation** - Read the original Vietnamese version here: [hqn.vn/blog/uoc-mo-cua-ke-dai-kho](https://huynhnhanquoc.com/blog/uoc-mo-cua-ke-dai-kho) ### More about me - **Blog:** [huynhnhanquoc.com](https://huynhnhanquoc.com) - **GitHub:** [github.com/huynhnhanquoc](https://github.com/huynhnhanquoc) - **Open Source:** [github.com/kitmodule](https://github.com/kitmodule) - **Buy me a Coffee:** [buymeacoffee.com/huynhnhanquoc](https://buymeacoffee.com/huynhnhanquoc) - **Keep me Dreaming:** [ko-fi.com/huynhnhanquoc](https://ko-fi.com/huynhnhanquoc) Thanks for reading Huỳnh Nhân Quốc’s article! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.