My side projects

I’ve always valued side projects

Side projects are satisfying. You pick the problem, the scope, and the pace. No one grades the result. The reward loop is yours.

I value them for another reason: I built many of my skills through them. They’re how I learned to build software (I had only one programming course in academia).

They’re also a safe playground: low stakes, fast feedback, lots of repetition. They taught me tech, but also product, writing, communication, and marketing.

And they tend to find an audience. Sometimes because the project is useful. Sometimes because you share something honestly and it resonates. Either way, they often connected me with people I genuinely enjoy talking to.

Over time, I noticed my side projects weren’t as random as they looked

I usually start because an idea won’t let go, or because something feels broken, or because I’m curious. I start them for their own sake—no hidden intent, no optimization. But looking back, most fall into one (or more) of three themes.

The first is repairing messy workflows and user journeys. kaba.eco is an example: a collaborative meal‑planning tool for holiday groups. It came from a small but repeated annoyance—group meal planning turning into chaos and wasted time.

The second is spreading rigorous scientific knowledge. liglou.fr is my attempt to turn complex environmental topics into clear, grounded infographics. The hardest part wasn’t the science. It was saying something complex in ten words. We reached an international audience, and the infographics were displayed at universities and forums across Europe.

The third is promoting my Ukrainian roots. Welcomeukraine.fr (now closed) helped people fleeing the war find urgent answers fast, and helped French–Ukrainian pairs communicate when they didn’t share a language. maisondukraine.fr is an association that organizes cultural events around Ukraine.

A few projects sit around the edges.

Noscandidats2017.fr (now closed) helped people find the closest presidential candidates based on the themes they cared about, using dynamic forms. I also built an app for festivals to convert money into tokens spendable across stands. And I prototyped a chatbot to help precarious workers create a French CV from a mobile chat, in their native language.

I have many projects in mind for the coming months. But the main one is to write a series of articles about my Ukrainian ancestors. I want to use a family lens to shed light on history, and on the state of mind many Ukrainians carry today.

It’s slower than software. More personal, too.