A new name to surf 2017

2016 was a year of change. I stopped working full-time as a programmer and decided to dedicate some of that time to personal projects. I made plans. During the course of the year most of those plans got changed, a lot. My intention was to build "paint.pt", a online painting tool, while supporting myself with some savings and with the money i could make by training people in programming skills.

I took teacher training and got a teacher certificate with the highest possible grade as i was full time on it. Then got a few schools contacts that needed trainers for specific modules of some courses.

That was when I collided head-on with the portuguese reality of a fragile economy. I knew jobs were better here for programmers than for most other professions, so i was already somewhat mentally prepared to embrace a harsh reality.

"I'll pay you next week"

After a few courses money didn't came. Excuses started to pile. It took a few months until the first bit of money appeared.

I ran to seek advice in a multitude of older, wiser people. What should i do ?

"Hugo all of this is normal, you have to understand that most companies are struggling economically."

"In portugal companies are trying to stay above water."

"Don't expect to be paid before 6 months."

I did try to extend my good will to parties that hire with the expectation of paying as late as possible. The result of it was the realisation that ~10EUR/hour isn't enough for the time spent preparing the course, giving it and managing the debt until the employer decided to pay.

Time has come to scratch the initial plan and start fresh with a new strategy for 2017.

Change of name, change of plans

"What are you working on ?"

"A painting application"

"Cool, whats it called ?"

"paint.pt as in paint point"

"That already exists"

A new name for the project was needed, and that is how Pixnit showed up. Pixnit a simple name that reads as "pixel knit" which is exactly what i want the tool to do.

I believe that people want to use custom shapes to create beautiful patterns and logos so that they can express themselves better and enhance current works, and that they will find value in it because trying to create logos, icons and patterns by using traditional software is hard and takes forever.

The domain was registered (pixnit.com) just in time for a complete change in strategy:

1. Take 1h each day to write in the blog;
2. Don't work on anything else besides it and pixnit;
3. Push to release self contained small parts of pixnit as soon as possible;
4. Create a patreon;
5. Create a landing page;
6. Talk to people;

Lets see where this goes. So no more trainings, no more certifications, no more noise. Just pixnit.