Who Am I?
Hi, I’m Abhay Raj.
I come from a hilly state in India — Himachal Pradesh. Most foreigners who visit India know about this place. For many Israelis, this is the state they look forward to relaxing in after completing their intense military service.
Even locals don’t usually want to leave. People here often find joy working close to their hometowns.
But that doesn’t hold true for me.
I’m an explorer at heart. I value experiences over comfort.
To feed this inner explorer and gather countless stories (so my grandchildren don’t get bored of me), I want to live life in its rawest, most adventurous form. But over the past 3–4 years, I haven’t done justice to myself. This has led to deep restlessness and a sense of despair.
Enough is enough.
I’m turning 27 in three months — physically fit, mentally sharp, and hungry to solve complex development problems. I’ve decided to own my time and my place of work, because life is short and unpredictable.
Yes, I’m taking a huge risk. I left something important in between to pursue this path.
What was that?
A story for another day.
What Am I Gonna Do?
The rant before was necessary to lay the foundation. Thanks for reading.
Now, what’s next?
To own my time and location, I believe remote freelance software development is the right path. I know it’s one of the hardest and riskiest paths in software — I’m not fooled by the glamorous marketing videos.
But I’m skilled and mature, I understand real-world problems, and I know how to build solutions.
So, I’m taking the plunge into freelance development.
This is one way I can make enough money to live a meaningful life.
Here on Hashnode, I’ll document everything — from starting at zero to building a solid client base that funds my wildest dreams.
I’m already in my late 20s and haven’t done much to chase my dreams yet.
That’s what’s lighting the fire under me.
I’m writing this with the hope that someday, when I achieve what I set out to do, people like me — especially burnt-out devs sick of micro-managed jobs — can look back and realize:
“Yes, it’s possible.”
I’ll share the full journey — my mindset, my learning path, and my client acquisition struggles. It’ll be raw, real, and unfiltered.
I’m not worried about how the market is treating developers right now (though I do worry about AI!).
What matters is:
I’m hell-bent on becoming a solo software developer who owns their time and freedom.
What I Did on Day 0?
I bought a course on Udemy:
“Next.js 15 & React - The Complete Guide” by Maximilian Schwarzmüller.
I completed about 1 hour of content today. I wanted to brush up on React before diving into Next.js for an upcoming project. Believe me, I have some solid project ideas that I’ll be building over the next 1–2 months. So, stay tuned!
My goal: Finish the course in a week. I already have decent experience with TypeScript, React, Vanilla JS, MySQL, and Node.js. I know C as well. So fingers crossed 🤞 I should be able to wrap up Next.js in a week.
I also set up my official accounts on:
Dev
Surprisingly, the hardest part was not setting up the accounts — it was finding a good display picture.
The one I was using was 4 years old. And I’m not a fan of clicking photos. So… I paid a cameraman ₹10 to click a high-res picture of me 😅.
In 2025, I’m paying for pictures. Odd, right?
Then I had to edit the background, contrast, all that jazz.
Yes, yes — it’s the same white-background picture on Hashnode.
Anyway, it’s work. I’m being professional.
Oh! And my portfolio is live too — click here.
Inspired by my first love: Linux (Ubuntu).
(Although I broke up with Ubuntu recently and switched to Arch, because… it's hot 😎.)
I might change my portfolio in some days but till then I will make use this one.
Final Note
It’s 1:35 AM as I’m writing this.
Before I sleep, I’ll be watching some tutorials for another 2–3 hours.
I need to push beyond my limits. Time is short. Stakes are high.
I’m doing this not just for myself — but for my parents too.
I want to give them the life they deserve.
Abhay Raj, signing out.
📅 May 31, 2025
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