I Challenged Myself to Ideate, Create, and Publish an App in Just 7 Days. Here’s Where I Succeeded .. and Where I Failed

Warning (caveat lector): this article will have a copious amount of self-congratulation. So much so, in fact, that I may need to ice my rotator cuff after I finish aggressively patting myself on the back. If this sort of thing is a turn-off for you, stop reading here. But, if you do, you’re off my Christmas list. Hanukkah is, as ever, highly negotiable.

For those of you who are carrying on with me, here’s the tale:

The Challenge of Finding a Challenging Challenge

Last Friday evening, I decided that I needed to challenge myself during the Covid-19 lockdown in Silicon Valley, lest I sit on the couch eating Cheetos and sucking down milkshakes. A variety of appealing options tantalized my brain, from learning a new language (or finally learning more than pick-up lines in Mandarin) to mastering the elusive (to me) art of Tunisian Double-Ended Crochet. I quickly dismissed most of the physical pursuits as unrealistic (100 push-ups in a row? Who am I kidding?), and of course put aside any activities that would bring me closer than six feet to another human.

Because I’m an engineer by trade, and best known for that, I sometimes fight against creating technology as a personal pursuit. The reasons for this are myriad, but sometimes you have to accept the inevitable for what it is: if somebody says Charlie seduced…