The Elixir Year: Month 4 Review
This post is the 4th entry in The Elixir Year Series.
April was a month full of asking hard questions:
- Was quitting my job right before the November election a mistake?
- Why am I devoting a whole year to elixir if it has yet to solve a real problem for me?
- Is it worth pivoting to elixir instead of capitalizing on 14 years of python experience in the AI goldrush?
- Should I risk more of my savings to self-fund 2026 and build a business, or play it safe and get another job?
- Is there any hope for getting hired as an elixir dev after only a year of self-guided study?
It's been 6 months since I quit my job; plenty of time for fear, uncertainty, and doubt to creep in. The pressure to figure out what to do after 2025 is ramping up as the months tick by and savings dwindle.
To try and answer some of these questions, I deviated from the syllabus to hedge some bets, make new ones, and double down on the rest.
Minding My Own Business 👔
In the original syllabus, I penciled Q4 2025 for "Business OR Recurse Center" but decided to tackle both in April. I submitted Articles of Organization to form an LLC at the beginning of the month, taking the first important step in regaining control of my employment. There's so much to learn about solo entrepreneurship and the best time to start is now. I highly doubt I can put out a product/business idea that'll bring in enough cash to sustain me before my savings get too low, but it can't hurt to try.
The end goal for my career is to have a handful of low-maintenance software products making a modest income. Elixir will play a big part of that as it seems to be the best language for writing durable software. It'll likely take me a few years, and even if I have to find another job in 2026, I'm still going to push towards this dream until I get there.
Recurse Center 👨💻
Speaking of dreams, I applied to the Recurse Center and have my final interview next week! For the uninitiated, the RC is a 12-week program for software engineers to devote themselves to code in a self-directed manner, while also being part of a larger cohort for support & collaboration. If accepted, I'll spend the last few months of this year in Brooklyn, coding my little heart out.
This is where I actually spent the most amount of time writing elixir. To apply, I wrote a simple FizzBuzz-style program, and a small HTTP-backed database server to store key-value pairs that'll serve as my peer programming final challenge.
Wish me luck! You'll certainly hear about it in next month's update.
Snake Charming 🐍
It's been a long time since I've written something in python. Two years before I quit my job, I moved to a more infrastructure/platform role and wasn't writing as much code. Today, I'm super rusty and need to timeshare my elixir year with python so I can keep my money-maker market fresh. Seeing as how elixir is embedding python, using both regularly can't possibly be a bad bet, especially if landing a full time elixir job next year doesn't work out.
First SaaS Product 🏗️
With a newly-minted LLC, a rekindling of python, and a few months of elixir under my belt, the next logical step is to build my first SaaS product! I can move a bit quicker with my python background and will introduce elixir where it makes sense, so I can solve real business problems and learn by doing.
While my focus will undoubtedly be stretched across elixir, python, and business fundamentals, I've never had so much time or autonomy to get it right. I plan to time-box this endeavor to 1 month, giving me plenty of time to return the syllabus (focusing on Phoenix Liveview) around July.
All this to say, I'm not giving up on The Elixir Year. I'm putting it right in the heart of a new business and betting my future on it.
But first... 🐢
I'm slowing down in May and prioritizing time with family & friends before jumping on the SaaS project. My mom will be visiting for Mother's Day, a close friend is throwing a 5 day wedding, and many other exciting events are already in gcal.
Slowing down is hard; the pressure to make the most of my freedom and focus is tempting, especially given how fast AI/LLM tech is advancing, but it wouldn't be a sabbatical if I didn't actually step away from the screen to enjoy it.
As for the big questions up top, most of them will stay unanswered for at least this year and partly into the next. The only way to find out is to take some risks, try new things, and be willing to learn from both failure and success.
I can do that.