Behind the Scenes — Part 1 (Days 1–3)
The Making of Notes From a B. Tech Brain — Website Edition
(Sept 28 – Oct 1 – Oct 27)
Day 1 — 28th September 2025
When I opened VS Code on 28th September, I wasn’t trying to build a website. I was trying to stop feeling like a guest on my own newsletter. Seven months of writing lived across LinkedIn, Notion, screenshots, drafts, PDFs — everywhere except in one place that felt like home.
So I installed Next.js, created a blank folder, and whispered a prayer to npm.
Day 1 wasn’t smooth or aesthetic or romantic. It was ten straight hours of debugging, wrong commands (“mpm run deb” 💀), Tailwind arguments, Git CRLF warnings, and that moment when Netlify refused to render because I used <a> instead of <Link> like a clown.
And all this while building the earliest structure: Markdown support, a fragile homepage, a first draft of the slug page, and the barebones navigation.
Halfway through, I questioned why I was doing this at all. I had made a clean HTML/CSS prototype back in May, when the newsletter only had the three original categories: Friday Insights, Tech Pulse, and World Watch. Simpler times.
But something kept me going. Maybe it was the thrill of seeing Markdown actually render. Maybe it was wanting a home for every edition in Volume I. Maybe it was just stubbornness.
By the end of Day 1, the site was alive — plain, confused, but real. And I had no idea how big this would eventually become.
Day 2 — 1st October 2025
Day 2 wasn’t about code. It was about clarity.
I finally sat down to understand the backend instead of avoiding it like a cursed forest. Node, Express, MongoDB, Mongoose… all the things that used to feel like a distant world.
Slowly, they started making sense.
I realised that the project already had the frontend and runtime — what I was missing was the API layer and a real database. I learned why MongoDB fits MERN, how Postman fits into the workflow, why environments matter, and how a server simply “listens → fetches → replies.”
It was my first real mindset shift: backend isn’t terrifying. It’s structured logic.
And this was also the day I began imagining the blog as a full product. Not just a collection of pages — but a system.
I didn’t touch a single style or component that day. But Day 2 was the day the fog lifted. And weirdly, that mattered more than any commit.
Day 3 — 27th October 2025
After a month-long pause, I came back with just one goal: understand how the backend breathes.
So I built my first Express server. Typed ten lines. Hit run.
“Hello Zee, your server works 🚀”
Instant serotonin.
Then came the big leap — setting up MongoDB Atlas. Creating Cluster0. Connecting through VS Code playgrounds. Running my first query. And watching “First Post from Zee” appear inside a real cloud database.
That moment changed everything.
Express became the brain. MongoDB Atlas became the memory. Mongoose became the translator. And the blog went from “frontend-only” to “full-stack-in-progress.”
Day 3 wasn’t just progress — it was identity. The moment I realised I wasn’t just building pages… I was building a system with a real heartbeat.
And funny enough? I still had no idea how many categories the final site would grow to include. Girlhood & STEM? Financial Month? Milestones? None of that existed in my head yet.
Day 3 me genuinely had no clue where this journey was heading — and that’s exactly what makes this chapter feel so honest.
A Sneak Peek into Part 2 (Days 4–6)
If Days 1–3 were about construction, then Days 4–6 were about electricity, polish, chaos, and comebacks.
In the next edition, you’ll see:
- My first successful cloud DB connection
- The emotional meltdown courtesy of Netlify variables
- Building the first server–frontend bridge
- Redesigning the entire gradient
- Fixing banners, grids, and mobile menus after a 20-day break
- Converting Volume I into Markdown one post at a time
Part 2 is where the site stops being a skeleton…
and starts actually looking like home.