Forem: Muthoni Hailu

Another week, another small step forward

Muthoni Hailu — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 11:43:54 +0000

There's honestly not much I can report on this week. In fact, I am thinking of switching to making updates on here once every fortnight instead of weekly.

This week, I was able to finish:

Khan Academy's Statistics and Probability: Displaying and comparing quantitative data - Describing and comparing distributions
Complete my client's backend

I did not make a submission to the competition I had planned for (Kaggle's TPUs + Cassava Leaf Disease competition). I realized I should have started with Petals to the Metal which is an introductory competition but I gave up on doing that after like my hundredth "Your notebook used all its memory" error. So that will be my main focus this week, not the completing the competition bit but not giving up because of error messages.

Working with a freelance client is still a pain in the ass but its not like I have an option. I also really struggled fighting my depressive tendencies but I was still able to finish all this which makes me feel kinda happy.

The plan for the next two weeks involves:

Khan Academy's Statistics and Probability: Analyzing categorical data - Review
Khan Academy's Calculus: Differentiation: composite, implicit, and inverse functions - Review Differentiating inverse trigonometric functions and Selecting procedures for calculating derivatives: strategy
Make a submission to Kaggle's Petals to the Metal competition
Try to get my client to respond on what type of chatbot they want.

That's all for this week. Bye.

The most important lesson I've learnt as a dev so far

Muthoni Hailu — Sat, 04 Apr 2026 14:58:48 +0000

I am mediocre.

I am not the smartest, nor the fastest, nor the most passionate. Being the best student in my high school class meant nothing. There are millions of other top students all across the globe, probably thousands just in my country. In comparison to them, I'm just average. And maybe that's ok.

Maybe I don't have to have landed a FAANG role a few weeks post my final university exam. Maybe its OK that there's a likelihood that I will graduate with a second class honors and not a first. Maybe my fear of mediocrity is the reason why I have not done anything at all, let alone something mediocre.

This week I was struck with this blatant fact while revisiting my Khan Academy Calculus work. I had to actually put in effort. I failed multiple quizzes and had to go through the material multiple times to pass. I've never had to do that before. It's a painful experience realizing that the one thing you had pride in, your intellect, is actually nothing special. But I'm glad I worked through it. I'm glad I didn't give up. I'm glad I cried yet got up the next day and kept practicing. I'll probably still be jobless 6 months from now. Considering the job market, I'd be extremely fortunate to land a role (not freelancing) before the end of the year. But if I don't give up, I'll still be content with that, hopefully.

As mentioned, this week I revisited some differential calculus work. I completed the Statistics and Probability work I had set out to do in my previous post as well as Kaggle's Computer Vision course. I was also able to build the frontend for my freelance project (I am realizing the toughest part of freelancing is working with the client and not really the development. Though, the fact that I am so grateful for the job kinda helps me through that)

As for this coming week, my goals are:

Khan Academy's Statistics and Probability: Displaying and comparing quantitative data - Describing and comparing distributions
Make a submission to Kaggle's Getting Started: TPUs + Cassava Leaf Disease competition
Complete my client's backend

That's all.

First Week's Progress

Muthoni Hailu — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 20:01:21 +0000

So, the first week of my attempt is coming to a close and things are much better than I expected them to be actually.

But first, I'll start with the boring bit. This week, my main focus was supposed to be progressing through Khan Academy's Statistics and Probability course by completing one unit. Surprisingly enough, I did just that. I was even able to do a bit of review for the Calculus course that I "finished" last year (I finished in the sense that I got to mastery level for all units, mostly by using Google Image search to answer the questions for me. Why would someone do that when they actually want to learn? I guess I just value the dopamine spike you get from that little tune that plays when you finish a level over actual learning. So now I have to go all the way back like someone who's never stepped foot in a Calculus class). Tangent over, back to Stats and Probability.

The course was rather simple, too simple actually. I am scared because I know that eventually things will get tougher. What if I'm unable to keep my motivation then? The only place I struggled was with identifying trends in categorical data. I guess my logic skills are absolutely awful. But for some reason, for the first time ever, I am motivated to practice and get better. I have chosen to use a random worksheet that I found online. I'll make an update on my progress next week.

As for this coming week, I plan to work on the next unit which is displaying and comparing quantitative data. But, I will avoid a pitfall that I have made previously which was assuming because the first unit was too easy, that I can rush through all the other units at a similar place. So, I will only aim to complete at least the first subsection (it seems to have a lot of quizzes so I may take some time on it).

Next, I had planned to work on DSA, focusing on heaps. Then, at the start of the week, I randomly decided to focus on Computer Vision instead and work on a new project idea. I did finish four units in Kaggle's CV course and made the frontend for my project, which is really cool. Then I went to see a dentist, and this is where things changed.

My dentist happened to ask what I was studying. When I told her I had just completed a CS course, she randomly offered me a gig building a website for her. I am still in shock. If you had told me, as I was sitting my final exam, that I would end up with a freelance gig just a week later, I would have slapped you probably (I may be a bit too violent now that I think of it). But, here I am. Granted, this gig won't make me much money and my experience is definitely an inaccurate depiction of the current freelance market, but its something. And it gives me hope.

However, I am panicking. My hope is that I can make a website so good that she'll recommend me to more of her friends who are seeking a similar service. But, what if my site is shit? I've never built anything professional before. Heck, I've barely built any substantial project outside of the school ones that I vibe-coded and halfassed. I am scared. But its not like I can back out now. This change does put a pause to my study plans for a bit though. Yes, I'll continue studying, but I'll be going at a much slower rate.

Based on all that, here's my plan for next week:

Khan Academy's Statistics and Probability: Displaying and comparing quantitative data - Displaying quantitative data with graphs
Kaggle courses: Computer Vision - Custom Convnets and Data Augmentation
Work on the frontend for my dentist's website

That's all for now. If I was a praying man I'd be on my knees right now because I am scared as hell. But oh well...

Attempt at a new beginning

Muthoni Hailu — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 14:09:04 +0000

Hello, my name is Muthoni.

I am 22 years old and I just did my final university exam 4 days ago. I was taking a BSc in Computer Science from the University of London distance learning program but despite that, I feel like I have no programming skills. I have no portfolio, I barely remember high school math, let alone having a college level understanding and I am basically unemployable.

This is through no fault of the university (except for the math part, they do not offer much when it comes to that). It is my fault. I have spent the past three and a half years mostly bedrotting and being depressed while my peers participated in hackathons, contributed to open source projects and built portfolios through freelance work. I have tried to get my life together multiple times during those three and a half years. I have started and quit multiple fitness journeys. I have vibe-coded a bunch of shitty projects that I am not proud of, and have started and quit multiple attempts at completing Khan Academy's math courses.

Well, what makes this attempt different? Nothing. Maybe the fear of becoming homeless because now I have finished university and my parents will be expecting me to get a job and move out soon. But even that prospect doesn't seem to scare me enough to get my life together. I don't know if this attempt will work. I don't know if this will end up being a dead blog after three weeks and I'll go back to my miserable reality. But I can't afford to not to do anything.

So this blog will mostly detail my progress. Currently, I am mostly focused on learning AI. I will be following the AI roadmap guide by Jean, a Stanford graduate. I am starting from the very beginning with the Math courses. I hope I'll be done by March 23rd 2028. I will be making updates every week, detailing the progress I have made, any insights I got and my plans for the next week.

The first week for me starts on Monday, that's March 23rd. My main focus will be learning Probability and Statistics and making some Data Structures and Arrays progress. I will try and finish:

Khan Academy's Probability and Statistics Course: Analyzing one Categorical Variable - The first unit
Learning Heaps Data Structure by pooling from various online resources

That goal is small, but hopefully it is small enough that I won't feel the urge to quit after two days.

I don't expect anyone to read this, I mostly just want something to look back on and see how far I've come if this is successful, or feel shame about if it isn't. If you've actually read this, I'm glad you took interest but I'm also really scared about you continuing to follow my progress in case I fail. But I can't stop you from following along, can I?