Hey all — this is my second post documenting my solo dev journey.
I spent about a week building my first app, and it’s finally live:
👉 https://scandoc.app
It’s a mobile-first PWA that lets users scan documents, crop them, enhance, and share via email or Telegram — kind of a “pocket scanner” for the web.
I used bolt.new for the prototype, and refined it further using windsurf.
Since this was my first real experience building with AI tools, I hit a lot of bumps.
The biggest mistake? Believing YouTubers who claim you can ship a complete app in a day without knowing how to code 😅
Reality check: AI can help a lot — but it’s not a replacement for understanding what you’re building.
Here’s what I learned about the models themselves:
- Claude feels like a reckless junior dev: it writes tons of code fast, ignores instructions, and often skips over what I specifically asked for. Great for prototyping, but chaotic.
- ChatGPT is more of a polite junior dev: it checks in constantly, explains its reasoning, and moves slowly but safely. Super helpful when Claude gets stuck.
Overall, my takeaway: use AI as an assistant, not an autopilot.
From now on, I’ll be more involved, review code carefully, and maybe even write a few lines myself 😉