Before AI, I built my own PC
I’ve always liked understanding the things I use. Building my own PC was part of that.
Dijedon Tahiri 2 min read
Before AI became part of my work, I was already interested in the things people make with technology.
I liked computers enough to build my own PC. I wanted to understand the parts, make choices about how they fit together, and end up with a machine I had put together myself.
That is still a good way to explain what draws me to building things.
I like seeing how the pieces fit
A PC makes its parts visible. Memory, storage, power, cooling, the motherboard: each has a job, and the choices need to work together.
You can look at one component for a long time. Eventually, you have to think about the machine you want to use.
I like that balance between the details and the whole. There is a reason to learn what each part does, and a result you can actually sit down and use.
Building software gives me a similar interest, with a different set of pieces.
The screen is one part of a product
A working product has an interface, data, permissions, and often several services connected behind it. Someone using it should be able to follow the flow without having to understand all of that machinery.
That is the part of product engineering I enjoy. I can think about the experience someone needs, then follow the decisions through the design, implementation, testing, and release.
The details matter because they affect the experience. A form can look finished while its error messages leave someone stuck. A page can look good on a desktop and feel cramped on a phone.
I want to understand how those pieces behave together. I like being able to take responsibility for the result someone ends up using.
A long-running interest in making things
AI has given me more ways to build, and I’m enjoying learning what I can do with it. It brings its own questions about what to ask for, which decisions to make, and how to check the result.
The interest underneath it is familiar. I wanted to understand my computer. Now I want to understand the products I work on, from the first idea to the details of how they behave.
I don’t think every interest needs a bigger explanation. Sometimes you like computers, so you build one. You find a tool that looks interesting, so you spend time with it.
Over time, those interests can lead somewhere. For me, they led to web and mobile products, experiments with AI, and this website.
I’m still curious about the next thing I can make.