I spent five years building my personal site. Went through countless iterations and lost motivations midway. But in the end, it was all worthwhile. Learnt from many mistakes and finally, I feel like I’ve hit the sweet spot between my ideal design aesthetic and engineering standards.
So, why did it take so long?
I won’t go into great details, but I’d like to share a few reflections — things I’ve learned along the way, and what I would do differently if I were starting over.
- Mental health - Always prioritise your well-being. Work gets busy, deadlines pile up, but none of it matters if you're running on empty.
- Feedback - Don’t wait for perfect product — share your work early. A bit of feedback can save weeks of second-guessing.
- Design paralysis - Stop chasing the “perfect” design. Start with good enough, improve as you go.
- Shiny tech syndrome - Use tools that serve your goal — not just because they’re new. Simplicity scales better.
- Celebrate the journey - Every version of your project reflects growth. The process is just as meaningful as the result.
Tech stack
With that out of the way, here's the list tech & tools I used to build my site:
You can go plus ultra with tools, however, simplicity has its own beauty. The less you have, the less you need to maintain and scale.