2026-01-01

I've Been Building Quietly

personal, reflection, engineering

I owe you an introduction.

More importantly, I owe myself one.

I've spent years learning, building, shipping, and quietly moving forward — while still feeling shy, sometimes inferior, and occasionally wondering if I belonged in the rooms I found myself in. This post is me correcting that. Not loudly. Not arrogantly. Just... honestly.

Let's do this properly.


who i am

My name is Chibueze Michael Aniezeofor.
Most people know me as codad5. Some call me blue_bueze.

I'm a software engineer. I also study Mechanical Engineering at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN).

I don't see these as conflicting paths. Engineering is engineering. I care less about titles and more about outcomes — what gets built, how it's built, and why it matters.

This is not a success story. It's a still-building one -- and I’m okay with that.


where it started

My first real interaction with code was around 2017.

Back in secondary school, two friends and I were obsessed with ideas — hardware, software, games, cartoons, random things that would "make humans happier". We even formed a company in our heads. Still not launched. By God's grace, one day.

Reality hit hard though.

Hardware was expensive. Prototyping was expensive. Dreaming was free.

So I pivoted. If software was cheaper to build and could scale ideas faster, then I'd become really good at it.

Shoutout to Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates — teenage me genuinely believed I could do what they did. That delusion was necessary.


learning with vibes and no resources

No stable internet.
One desktop.
My dad's laptop (that I later colonized permanently).

I touched Python. Installed Kodu Game Lab. Played with turtle graphics and pygame like I knew what I was doing.

I did not.

But I read anyway. I wanted to understand how computers worked physically — chips, hardware, signals — but I knew I had to start somewhere.


lockdown changed my brain chemistry

Boarding school slowed things down for years. Then COVID lockdown happened.

HTML.
CSS.
JavaScript.

I learned mostly on my phone. When my phone spoiled, I used my mum's phone.

Day.
Night.
Repeat.

No Instagram. No TikTok. Just YouTube and curiosity.

This obsession cost me academically — my WAEC result could've been better, and I knew it. But at the time, my bigger fear was graduating broke and abandoning all those ideas.

Then my dad asked:

"If I buy you one thing — laptop or phone?"

I didn't think.
Laptop.

Two weeks later, I got my first personal laptop — with help from my uncle (forever grateful).

8GB RAM.
500GB HDD.

That machine carried dreams.


university reality check

Eight months later, UNN. Mechanical Engineering.

I chose it deliberately. I believed I could learn Computer Science online — but going the other way would be harder.

Here's the thing though:

I'm not good at being average.

I don't need to be first. But I can't be complacent. I care about outcomes, not titles. I love engineering because of what it lets me build.


finding my people (harder than coding)

Making friends wasn't easy. I'm picky. I wanted vision and hunger.

Eventually, I met Paul — my first real friend in school. Solid guy. Bright mind. Disciplined.

Paul wanted to top the class.
I wanted to become a cracked developer and survive school.

Our first tech money came from a ₦5,000 website gig.
₦2,500 each.

Small money.
Big validation.


quiet but consistent growth

By early 2021, I moved from basic JavaScript and basic PHP to:

  • PHP (OOP)
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Next.js
  • Tailwind
  • Rust (baby steps)

First interview.
More gigs.

My first major role came from Twitter — literally from my replies. The internet is wild if you actually show up.

Big shoutout to Trulyao — genuinely incredible engineer and constant motivation.


2025 was proof

2025 was important.

I defended my B.Eng project.

I also worked as the founding engineer at AwaDoc. 100k users in the first year. Fast delivery. Zero internal downtime.

That experience answered a question I had been asking myself for years:

"Can I actually build serious systems?"

Yes. Apparently.


what i'm building now

Some current projects:

  • cilbup.site — anonymous messages + tipping for creators
  • resurgee.xyz — an AI-powered calendar & task manager
  • Supporting Sakura AI
  • Still deeply invested in AwaDoc

More coming. Quietly. Then loudly.


gratitude (because nobody does this alone)

My parents.

Some of my aunts and uncles: Dr. Catherine, Aunt Jane (to name a few).

Some of my friends: Paul, Mike, Sarah, Peter (the dev), Jerry, Michael Nuel — and many more I can't fit here.

From AwaDoc: Jesse, Michael Tyler, Michael Piper.

From Fusion Intel: Kolade.

Bosses who became friends. Friends who became family.

Thank you.


2026 goals (written so I can't dodge them)

This year, I want to:

  • Get very good at chess (not vibes-chess, real chess)
  • Get properly good at Rust
  • Build and publish a mobile app
  • Improve leadership & management skills
  • Communicate better (already seeing progress)
  • Learn how to appreciate small wins instead of downplaying them
  • Take more risks

one last introduction

I'm Chibueze Aniezeofor — a software engineer who enjoys real problem-solving.

I don't limit myself to stacks or tools. I care about systems, scale, and impact — especially in this AI era.

I like:

  • Gaming
  • Coding
  • Movies with actual stories
  • Conversations that go somewhere

I dislike:

  • Brain rot
  • Noise without direction
  • Being asked "what language do you code in?" as if that's the whole personality

I've been building quietly.

Not anymore.