Forem: Zaid Ali

These Days, I Feel Alone

Zaid Ali — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 10:38:31 +0000

These days, I feel like I’m walking alone.

I’m in my final year of B.Tech, and everywhere I look, people seem to have figured out their paths. Placements, projects, internships, communities — everyone is moving, running, achieving. And then there’s me. Sitting with my laptop, staring at lines of code that blur into nothing.

It’s not like I’ve done nothing. In fact, I’ve been doing tech things since my very first year — projects, coding competitions, internships, open-source, hackathons. From 1st year till now, I’ve kept showing up. I’ve worked, learned, built, tried. And still, somehow, I feel invisible. Like no matter how much I do, it’s never enough for anyone to notice.

It’s not just the errors on the screen that wear me down — it’s the silence around me. No teammates pinging me to collaborate. No friend saying, “Let’s build this together.” No late-night debugging calls. Just me, my screen, and a room that feels too quiet.

Sometimes I wonder if I’m invisible. Like if I stopped showing up, no one would notice. Not in class, not online, not even in the dev community I admire so much. It hurts to scroll past other people’s wins — their open-source contributions, their internship offers, their shiny projects — while I sit here, questioning my worth.

I go to sleep with thoughts like, “Maybe I’m not cut out for this. Maybe I don’t belong in tech. Maybe people just don’t like me.”
And honestly? Some nights, I believe it.

These Days, Coding Feels Heavy

Zaid Ali — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 11:11:00 +0000

I’ll be honest — lately, I’ve been struggling a lot with coding.

There are days when I sit in front of my screen for hours, staring at the same error, and it feels like no matter what I try, nothing works. I jump from one solution to another, and still… stuck. And when I finally solve it, another bug comes up, almost laughing at me.

Some nights I go to sleep thinking, “Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.” Other times I compare myself with others and wonder why it looks so easy for them while I’m stuck in this loop.

But here’s the thing I’ve started to realize:

Struggle isn’t a sign of failure — it’s part of the process.

Bugs aren’t enemies — they’re little teachers in disguise.

And every time I finally fix something, no matter how small, it reminds me that I am moving forward, even if it’s slow.

It’s not easy though. Some days are heavier than others. Some days I just close the laptop and walk away. And that’s okay too.

I guess I’m sharing this here because I know I’m not the only one going through it. Behind every cool project or polished repo, there’s a story of someone who struggled, doubted themselves, and still kept going.

Getting Started with API Testing in Python using PyTest

Zaid Ali — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 06:32:27 +0000

As developers, we spend hours building APIs — but how do we ensure they actually work as expected? That’s where API testing comes in. A reliable testing framework saves us from endless manual checks and helps us catch bugs before they hit production.

In this blog, I’ll walk you through how to get started with API testing in Python using PyTest — a lightweight, developer-friendly framework that makes writing tests almost fun.

🔹 Why Test APIs?

APIs are the backbone of modern applications. A single broken endpoint can:

Cause your mobile app to crash.

Lead to failed transactions in production.

Break integrations with third-party services.

By testing APIs early, you ensure:
✅ Correct responses
✅ Faster debugging
✅ Happier users

🔹 Setting Up PyTest

First, install PyTest:

pip install pytest requests

We’ll also use the requests library to make HTTP calls.

🔹 Writing Your First API Test

Let’s say we’re testing a sample API endpoint that returns user data.

import requests

BASE_URL = "https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com"

def test_get_user():
response = requests.get(f"{BASE_URL}/users/1")
assert response.status_code == 200
data = response.json()
assert data["id"] == 1
assert "username" in data

👉 What’s happening here?

We call the API.

Check that the status code is 200 (OK).

Validate the response structure.

🔹 Parameterized Testing

Instead of writing separate tests for multiple users, PyTest lets you parametrize:

import pytest

@pytest.mark.parametrize("user_id", [1, 2, 3])
def test_get_multiple_users(user_id):
response = requests.get(f"{BASE_URL}/users/{user_id}")
assert response.status_code == 200

Now with one function, you test multiple cases. Neat!

🔹 Why PyTest for API Testing?

Minimal boilerplate → just write test functions.

Easy to scale → supports fixtures, parametrization, plugins.

Works well with CI/CD → automate your tests as part of deployments.

🔹 Wrapping Up

Testing APIs might seem tedious at first, but with tools like PyTest, it’s surprisingly straightforward. Start small, add tests as your API grows, and you’ll thank yourself later when production bugs don’t keep you up at night.

💡 Next step: Try writing a test suite for your own project’s APIs. You’ll see how quickly it becomes part of your development workflow.

🔹 Final Thoughts

Developer productivity is all about removing friction. Automated API testing ensures we can build faster, with confidence.

If you’re just starting out, PyTest is the perfect place to begin.