In this video I’m taking you along for a pretty realistic day in my life as a software engineer: morning routine, cortado on the balcony, a gym session, and then a couple of focused work blocks. I’ve got a few things to wrap up—fixing bugs before releasing my gold tracker app, putting together an App Store listing, and continuing to polish the onboarding for my current app, Evolo. I spend a lot of time on onboarding because clarity + trust = better conversion, and that stuff matters if you’re trying to make indie apps work. I also talk about a question I get a lot: do I use a database? For most of my apps, I keep it simple and use local storage because they don’t need a full backend. Still, learning backend development is a super valuable skill, which is why I’m shouting out boot.dev (they sponsored this one). And yes—being a programmer often feels like getting paid to Google stuff, but it only works if you actually understand how to code. If you rely on AI to build everything for you, you’ll never build the fundamentals you need to ship real products long-term. End the day with dinner (Tuscan pasta, because Italian cuisine is undefeated) and a reminder to take short breaks between sessions to stay sharp.